Update on the war against "Al-Qaida"

[Larry Gude (Premo)]

Originally Posted by Lenny

What Went Wrong? by Bernard Lewis

The Looming Tower by Lawrence Wright

It might come in useful for you.

...I recommended 'What went wrong" about four years ago in the book section of the forums. From that book I learned a basic understanding of Islam and it's geopolitical history. Helping those folks modernize absent Westernization over the years has been a mistake. We were far better off letting the Soviets arm them with crap weapons and leaving Israel to deal with the rest. It's not for us to 'westernize' them. They have to come to it themselves. We, our actions, legitimizes every fundamentalist doomsday scenario they preach to the masses of whom, I also learner, perhaps 10% can actually read the Koran.

Haven't read the Tower. From the synopsis, what would you expect me to learn from it?

[SamSpade]

I was vaguely under the impression we were conducting a war against global terrorism. I know of no such war against "al-Qaeda".

[Larry Gude (Premo)]

Originally Posted by cwo_ghwebb

Their motivation is not relevant. They can state their reasons for being your enemy all they want.

If someone takes a swing at me because I insulted his family, does it really matter when I take him out?

If someone takes a swing at me because he doesn't like my clothing, does it really matter when I take him out?

If someone takes a swing at me and I don't have a clue why, does it really matter when I take him out?

All that does matter is that I protected myself and took the dumb azz out.

...just wrote yourself a license to behave in any fashion you see fit and hold yourself to no standard. Correct?

[Lenny]

Originally Posted by Larry Gude

...I recommended 'What went wrong" about four years ago in the book section of the forums. From that book I learned a basic understanding of Islam and it's geopolitical history. Helping those folks modernize absent Westernization over the years has been a mistake. We were far better off letting the Soviets arm them with crap weapons and leaving Israel to deal with the rest. It's not for us to 'westernize' them. They have to come to it themselves. We, our actions, legitimizes every fundamentalist doomsday scenario they preach to the masses of whom, I also learner, perhaps 10% can actually read the Koran.

Haven't read the Tower. From the synopsis, what would you expect me to learn from it?

1.) how the entire Arab perspective grew from a year or two of teacher college in Greeley, COLORADO (promiscuous, liberal,
2.) how the Islamist can declare war on even their own by deciding the other is not Islamist-enough and therefore a heratic
3.) how the Islamists are not happy just getting rid of Americans, they want to go back to pre-electricity days (they're a lot like Amish with Attitude)
4.) how they used OBL for his money and not his smarts to declare jihad on America. OBL is NOT the real head that needs to be severed from the snake.

That's a beginning.

[This_person]

Originally Posted by Larry Gude

...mind our own business.

Do you mean isolationism?

We don't belong in Afghanistan. We don't belong in Iraq.

Agreed. If there hadn't been a need to go to those places, we should not have. Do you believe there was not a national interest for Afghanistan? For Iraq?

We trade with people who are willing to trade with us and we deal with them based on that.

Are we doing anything different than this now? Do we FORCE people to trade with us? Do we tell them we'll nuke 'em if they don't import McDonald's cheeseburgers?

I would like to think that I would not have an energy policy that is predicated on dependence.

I fully agree with this. We made the mistake of growing faster than we could supply ourselves, and in the wrong directions often. But, that's where free trade and the market put us. I fully agree that it is in our national interest to change this, and change it as fast as we could be expected to do so.

[This_person]

Originally Posted by cwo_ghwebb

Their motivation is not relevant. They can state their reasons for being your enemy all they want.

If someone takes a swing at me because I insulted his family, does it really matter when I take him out?

If someone takes a swing at me because he doesn't like my clothing, does it really matter when I take him out?

If someone takes a swing at me and I don't have a clue why, does it really matter when I take him out?

All that does matter is that I protected myself and took the dumb azz out.

It matters if you want to not have to take everybody out. There are things that could be done to protect ourselves before someone takes a swing at us, sometimes. Sometimes not.

[Larry Gude (Premo)]

Originally Posted by Lenny

1.) how the entire Arab perspective grew from a year or two of teacher college in Greeley, COLORADO (promiscuous, liberal,
2.) how the Islamist can declare war on even their own by deciding the other is not Islamist-enough and therefore a heratic
3.) how the Islamists are not happy just getting rid of Americans, they want to go back to pre-electricity days (they're a lot like Amish with Attitude)
4.) how they used OBL for his money and not his smarts to declare jihad on America. OBL is NOT the real head that needs to be severed from the snake.That's a beginning.

...I am sure of. However, there was never a good reason to no whack him anyway. Getting him now would be an act of desperation.

And the internal struggles of Islam should be very much left to their own devices; the too fundamental/too modern battle. There's no way in hell we should be giving them the rope ($) to make their battle global. But we are.

[Larry Gude (Premo)]

Originally Posted by This_person

It matters if you want to not have to take everybody out. There are things that could be done to protect ourselves before someone takes a swing at us, sometimes. Sometimes not.

...and had the Justice Department handed over one little piece of affirmative paper telling FBI to continue their investigation of the 9/11 gomers, we likely would have stopped them.

Instead, it was oh so important that FBI/CIA not share one single table scrap and, viola, an incredibly low tech attack conducted by angry momma's boys was used as the impetus for is to go on our own global jihad.

[This_person]

Originally Posted by Larry Gude

...and had the Justice Department handed over one little piece of affirmative paper telling FBI to continue their investigation of the 9/11 gomers, we likely would have stopped them.

Instead, it was oh so important that FBI/CIA not share one single table scrap and, viola, an incredibly low tech attack conducted by angry momma's boys was used as the impetus for is to go on our own global jihad.

Different departments of the government not sharing information against enemies was really, really stupid. No doubt about that.

Our own global jihad? Is that what you think this is?

[cwo_ghwebb]

Originally Posted by Larry Gude

...just wrote yourself a license to behave in any fashion you see fit and hold yourself to no standard. Correct?

Not at all. I wrote that I don't give a crap about someone's motivation for attacking me and defending myself. Now did I make myself clearer?