America's Hundred Years War
Days after islamic savages destroyed the World Trade Center, and damaged the Pentagon, President GW Bush announced his "War on Terror." The proclamation immediately set off warning bells in my mind. Who can point at someone or something and say "that's terror."? I said little.
Someone conducted the attack, and since the perpetrators were dead, who ordered it, planned it, supported it financially? It certainly wasn't "Terror." The answer to these question seems to have been a very radical islamic fundamentalist organization called al queda, under the leadership of Osama bin Laden, a spoiled brat son of a very wealthy arab.
As an aside, there are a number of theories that place the blame for the incident squarely 'pon the shoulders of the Bush administration in various ways and for various reasons. I don't ascribe to any of them, not because I don't think the administration is morally incapable of such, but because I haven't the time, and don't plan to make the time to study them. Life's too short, and if the Executive Branch has sunk to these depths, we're already in a dictatorship. That would change the scenario severely.
Back to the spoiled arab brat. After three months of screwing around getting a force together to attack al queda, during which time bin Laden and his gang of thugs perfected hiding places, greased palms of some willing Afghan warlords and rearmed, the Commander-in-Chief was finally able to send the Marines over to Afghanistan. After these months of assembling a force and getting it into the area, and during which time the President actually did speak some sense (though he still hadn't come up with a better name for the enemy than "terrorists," a more nebulous term for an enemy has yet to be invented), and I expected an early roundup of the remaining islamic savages and an investigation that would reveal their financial backers, and suitable punishments to be handed out to all. Silly me!
Suddenly, for no apparent reason, our military muffed the capture of bin Laden and let him escape into Pakistan. Some evidence suggests that the loss of bin Laden was caused by orders from Washington that failed to supply reinforcements when needed.
Suddenly, for no apparent reason, bin Laden slipped off the edge of the radar and Saddam Hussein became the enemy. Keep in mind that, up to this moment, the administration has never actually named the enemy. No declaration of war has been made by Congress.
So Osama bin Laden has escaped into the mountains of Pakistan (or, perhaps newly shaved, is cavorting 'pon the beaches of Cannes and Monte Carlo) and our troops are relegated to chasing Afghan mullahs around the local badlands and the major strength of our troops are busy directing traffic in a lawless Iraq.
All this reminds me of GW Bush's early statement that we'll be involved in the "war on terror" for the long haul and John McCain's more recent statement that the war could last a hundred years.
I have to wonder if that wasn't the plan from the start.
As an ex-Navy sailor who has a nephew involved in this action, I have to protest the misuse of our fine military, and the apparent willful disregard for our Constitution and our laws. I'm calling 'pon Congress to put an end to this waste and destruction and return to government according to the letter and spirit of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.
Meanwhile, the administration seems to be using every excuse to narrow down and eliminate every one of the rights affirmed by America's Founders and enumerated in the Bill of Rights, in the name of fighting this "war on terror" and the even more wrongly-inspired "war on drugs."
Ladies and gentlemen, the "terrorists" have won.
Warm regards,
Col. Hogan
Stalag California
6 comments:
It won't last a 100 years, heck i'll be surprised if it lasts a Democratic term. The average westerner doesn't have the patience for real war. War has been raging against the west for decades, he just stops fighting every now and then. It is the cross that free men have to bear. Your freedom threatens others somehow, including your own politicians and some of your countrymen.
Hmm....seems to me that San Fran Nan, Hairy Reed, among others of the Dhimmi persuasion, promised to bring the troops home if'n they was elected in ought6. There was something in there about stopping the runaway gas prices of the Bush admin. It doesn't mean that they are lying sacks of shiites does it? Hee Hee!
MK,
GWB said that we're in it for the long haul and mentioned generations. McCain said the war might last 100 years--though, as a matter of campaigning, he seems to be backing off that stance.
I have no idea why GWB turned the war toward Iraq--unless it was at the suggestion of his father. Had our forces concentrated 'pon al queda and stayed on mission, I think the whole thing would be over by now.
Steve,
You'll not that in the right column near the top, there's a calendar countup--the number of days since the dhimmicrats came into the majority in Congress, yet to fulfill any of their promises.
I wonder if anyone ever expected them to do any of that......
Hi - like what I've read here, even if I don't agree with 100% of what you say. A couple of issues I have with some of what you've written in this posting.
Regarding Bin Laden slipping away at Tora Bora, I don't in anyway believe that he was purposely let go. Take a look at the lay of the land and tell me how long it would have taken a conventional force in there to seal off the entire mountain range. Don't forget to factor in how far away the nearest brigade sized element was at the time.
I think it was an extraordinary effort, but without staging a division in from Pakistan, there was no way it could have been done at that time.
On the other hand, pissing all over the efforts of the American Special Forces troopers that were on the ground at the times sure seems to make people feel better. As a former paratrooper, I want you to be happy, especially since you were a veteran who served at a time when your service was not all that well appreciated. Piss away, brother.
Secondly, McCain never said that he expected the war to last 100 years; his comment was prefaced with a reference to American troops in Germany, South Korea and Japan. He said he didn't have any problem with having American troops in Iraq for a hundred years. You can believe that he meant in combat, or you can believe that he was drawing a parallel to those other places.
I ran patrols along the DMZ about 25 years ago, when I was a much younger man; I can tell you from first-hand experience that the Koreas are only still at war in the legal sense.
French,
Thanks for the thoughtful post. The reason I brought up Tora Bora was that, at the time, the Administration was saying that they had al queda bottled up in some caves there, then suddenly, poof! they was gone! That, and I'd heard of a request for more troops to help search the caves.
Also, I distinctly remember our planes dropping food and meds to the Afghan enemy.
Otherwise, you may very well be right.
My reference to 100 years was sparked by the admittedly out-of-context quote by McCain, but originates from GW Bush's claim, early on, that the war will take a very, very long time to win.
After inadvisedly switching the great part of our effort to Iraq, he let that idiot ali Sadr escape at least once and didn't press our advantage at Fallujah.
This all reeks of the attitude of keeping the war going by simply not pressing for a win.
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