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Originally Posted by KMA-628
So they are more inflamed now, I don't care. They were a viable threat to us even before 9/11. This was going to escalate whether we invaded Iraq or not. All invading Iraq did was given us a second, real front to fight on...
I guess I see it this way. They choose us as an enemy. They chose to attack us numerous times over the last 2 1/2 decades. Now, we are taking the battle to them, wherever we can. It is not as clear cut as battles past, but we are doing our best. I would be much happier if Al Qaeda was a 'real' country, with 'real' troops and a 'real' border, but they aren't. We are just gonna have to go after them wherever we can, and we are.
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Look, I agree about the importance of going after the bad guys. My argument is with how we're doing it.
They would say that
we chose them as an enemy. I'm not saying that they're right, you understand -- but I think it's important to understand the enemy's motivations.
Michael Scheuer, the CIA analyst who just resigned,
makes the same arguments:
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Right or wrong, he says Muslims are beginning to view the United States as a colonial power with Israel as its surrogate, and with a military presence in three of the holiest places in Islam: the Arabian peninsula, Iraq, and Jerusalem. And he says it is time to review and debate American policy in the region, even our relationship with Israel.
"No one wants to abandon the Israelis. But I think the perception is, and I think it's probably an accurate perception, that the tail is leading the dog - that we are giving the Israelis carte blanche ability to exercise whatever they want to do in their area," says Scheuer. "And if that's what the American people want, then that's what the policy should be, of course. But the idea that anything in the United States is too sensitive to discuss or too dangerous to discuss is really, I think, absurd."
Is he talking about appeasement?
"I'm not talking about appeasement. There's no way out of this war at the moment," says Scheuer. "It's not a choice between war and peace. It's a choice between war and endless war. It's not appeasement. I think it's better even to call it American self-interest."
Scheuer believes that al Qaeda is no longer just a terrorist organization that can be defeated by killing or capturing its leaders. Now, he says it's a global insurgency that's spreading revolutionary fervor throughout the Muslim world.
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To sum up, I'd argue that brute force alone will not win this struggle for us. We need to reach out and convince the Muslim world that we are not warring against them, but against the minority within their ranks who wish to do us harm.