It's no secret that the Taliban was a true friend to Osama. His money and financial support flowed from many places, including Saudi Arabia. I've seen no documents showing how much support came from Iraqis, or the Iraqi govt. - I don't know. But we do know about Afghanistan and the Taliban. Yet the bulk of our attention is on a country where Al-Qaeda had less of a friend (in Saddam), from what I've read. And Osama still runs free (or he's in a hamster cage in Cuba waiting for October).

My question is, how many people here would change their opinion of this military action (for or against), if the U.S.'s force was being focused on Afghanistan instead of Iraq?

I figure we have one that wants us to be at war 24/7/365. No one to fight? Let's attack Canada!!! And there's another that wants to blow us up (I'm keepin' an eye on you, sonny!) No worry; they'll cancel each other out. What about the rest of the folks here? Would that make a difference in how you feel? So, ONLY in Afghanistan... Iraq told to sit tight and keep quiet. Opinions...

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"Tweeter was a Boyscout before she went to Vietnam and found out the hard way... nobody gives a d@mn."

..so Iraq it was....

Stupid...

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The last time this country mixed politics with religion, people got burned at the stake.

That would be a or ?

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"Tweeter was a Boyscout before she went to Vietnam and found out the hard way... nobody gives a d@mn."

Afghanistan was a better target in so many ways...

1) The links between al-qaeda and the taliban were uncontested. There was clear evidence they were sponsoring terrorism, rather than the pure accusations people spew about iraq.

2) Taliban society was so bizarre and oppressive as to defy logic. Yes, saddam was oppressive, but it was still very possible to lead a normal life in saddam's iraq ( as long as you don't mess around with the government ). Iraq was a united country, but with a very divisive populace, it will be difficult to put it back together again. Afghanistan was so screwed up to begin with that it doesn't really matter what you do, the people will be happy enough.

3) Afghan society had become accustomed to bloody war and civilian deaths. Civilian deaths in afghanistan are not likely to cause outrage or unrest, since they have been living with war for so long.

4) Afghanistan doesn't have oil. Nobody can say we went there for oil.





The lack of any conclusive evidence that saddam was supporting al-qaeda other than "saddam was bad, and bad people support terrorists," the chaos and unrest an invasion would create in iraq, and, most important, the fueling of anti-american sentiments throughout the middle east, make Iraq a very poor choice for invasion.

It causes more problems than it solves.

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"The belief that nothing exists outside your own mind--surely there must be some way of demonstrating that it was false" - 1984

I'm sure JP5 is going to accuse me of adding fuel to the fire. I'll say the same to her.

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"The belief that nothing exists outside your own mind--surely there must be some way of demonstrating that it was false" - 1984

"When it is over, if it is over, this war will have horrible consequences," says Egyptian President Hosni Mubarek. "Instead of having one [Osama] bin Laden, we will have 100 bin Ladens."

I believe that quote was from last year. Wonder what the ratio is up to NOW?!

Not that I'm a military expert, (but then again, it's clear that neither is anyone in the Pentagon), but I agree with your approach. Instead of attacking the one who DIRECTLY supported the attackers of 9/11, we focused MUCH of our effort on a country that maybe, sorta, kinda wanted to see the U.S. fall as bad as Osama's boys. And where is Osama these days? Gettin' some sun. Deflowering virgins. Working on his putts and short golf game. I hear he has a new video camera too - maybe he's taking classes at NYU's Film School.

The braintrust that's running this nation into the ground can't realize that Al Qaeda is not like a formal army. It seems more like the Russian mob from what I've read. There are leaders, but there's no solid chain of command throughout. We have been successful in fighting the Italian/Sicilian mafiosi because they HAVE a chain of command - and less powerful families report to more powerful families. We are having almost no success with the Russian mob, because they do not check in with HQ before smuggling money, drugs, guns and prostitutes into North America. Money, drugs, guns and prostitutes?! Sounds like a night on the town with Brother Neil. But how do you defeat an enemy that doesn't always wear a uniform? Kill everybody? Call all of them terrorists? Bomb every square inch of the country? Some of the whack jobs on this board suggest those things... five posts after they say that we're there to "win hearts & minds". What do you do when you don't know who you're fighting? How long do you stay? What constitutes VICTORY??????????????????????????? A democracy? And who on here (that's not drunk or stupid) thinks that a "voice of the people" democracy in Iraq right now wouldn't be even worse than when Saddam was there?

We should be in Afghanistan, no doubt. If Iraq had offered them assistance, we should have NOT respected any borders chasing down Taliban and Al Qaeda fighters. But to move into a country with a "bad, mean, evil leader" and promise to bring freedom, ice cream and puppies to the populace... by bombing the good, the bad & the ugly... snatching them off the street at random and making them pose naked with some gutter trash... real f'ing bright - who ever did it.

As I said before, it wouldn't upset me at all if ALL of the neo-con(men & women) would swap uniforms and go play for Osama. With them publicly on his side, he would be outta business in 90 days or less. Come on guys & gals! It would work! You'd discredit him. Take one for the team. Do it for the nation. You DO love your nation, DON'T you???

We don't care what the world thinks! We'll kick everybody's @$$! We'll call anyone who opposes us a terrorist sympathizer or an apologist! We're the good guys and God loves us more... we hear voices that tell us so! I wish these people would buy a one-way ticket on Delta and go establish the democracy of their dreams... IN IRAQ!!!!! Foreign lands are on their minds a helluva lot more than the state of this nation, I'll tell ya that.

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"Tweeter was a Boyscout before she went to Vietnam and found out the hard way... nobody gives a d@mn."

"Foreign lands are on their minds a helluva lot more than the state of this nation, I'll tell ya that."

That's because they and their corporate bumbuddies already HAVE this country!
Until January - -DIJA SEE THE NEW POLL NUMBERS TODAY?

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHA