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Originally Posted by aceventura3
Some of us, including the Bush administration, still believe we can win, that we can accomplish our original goals.
Sadaam is dead. Sadaam's regime no longer exists.
The connection with 9/11 is Islamic extremist are at war with us. The war front is currently in Iraq. If we leave Iraq, the war won't end. If Islamic extremist obtain and hold Iraq they will expand their offensive. I don't know what would be next, but you can believe the war will continue.
I think you nailed it. Some think this is some kind of a "feel good war", "a war of choice", " a war of US emperialism", etc, etc. This is a war to defend our freedom and the freedom of billions of people in the world, it is not about "national psyche" but far too many people see it in those terms or in terms of "feelings".
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ace....$400 billion spent, 3000 plus US soldiers dead and 10,000 plus more permanently removed from the fighting force and as "fit and functioning" members of US society.
Hundreds of billions more spent on an intelligence apparatus and a department of fatherland security that has it's head up it's ass....
In Negroponte's first annual Threat Assessment testimony, he mentioned only the farce of a criminal investigation in Lodi, CA to describe the grave threat we face in America from "Islamic Fascist Butcher Killers", ace.....
http://www.senate.gov/~armed_service...2002-28-06.pdf
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http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontl...mywithin/view/
.....However, a deeper look at the evidence creates uncertainty about what kind of threat actually did exist in Lodi and provides a case study of America's response to the threat of domestic terrorism. In "The Enemy Within," FRONTLINE and New York Times reporter Lowell Bergman examines the Lodi case and interviews FBI and Homeland Security officials to assess U.S. anti-terror efforts
The Lodi investigation drew the attention of senior U.S. officials. <b>"A network of Islamic extremists in Lodi," Director of National Intelligence John Negroponte told Congress in February 2006, "maintained connections with Pakistani militant groups, recruited U.S. citizens, … [and] allegedly raised funds for international jihadist groups."...</b>
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http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontl...ws/wedick.html
James Wedick was a FBI street agent and supervisor for 35 years. Before retiring in April 2004, he was in charge of a number of high-profile criminal investigations into public corruption. Soon after Umer and Hamid Hayat were arrested in the Lodi, California terror case, Wedick was sought out by Umer Hayat's defense attorney to review the government's evidence. At the trial, Wedick wasn't allowed to testify about the FBI's videotaped interrogation of the Hayats and their confessions, nor about the quality of the overall investigation; the judge ruled the value of Wedick's testimony was "outweighed by its potential for confusing the jury." In this interview, Wedick discusses the weaknesses in the government's case, the problems in how it was handled and his concern about the FBI's new paradigm favoring disruption and prevention over prosecution. This is an edited transcript of an interview conducted June 30, 2006.:
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....from a sympathetic corner, ace:
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http://article.nationalreview.com/?q...ZmOWUzMGNmZGY=
.....David Schenker
This was a great week for Syria. First, Hezbollah moved one step closer to toppling the democratically elected Lebanese government. Then, Damascus’s leading nemesis, U.N. Ambassador John Bolton, submitted his resignation to President Bush. Still basking in the warm afterglow of Bolton’s departure, on Wednesday Syria seemingly hit the trifecta when the Iraq Study Group Report advocated U.S. diplomatic reengagement with Damascus.
The Assad regime, the ISG tells us, has “indicated that they want a dialogue” with the US. And so even though the report says the insurgency is indigenous in nature — <b>that the estimated 1,300 foreign fighters in Iraq play only a “supporting role” in the violence</b> — the ISG nevertheless recommends engaging Syria as a critical component of our diplomatic offensive on Iraq. ......
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...I'll continue to post here, tirelessly, until we reach a point where you are too embarassed, ace, to post such nonsense as a belief that the US expenditure has been "worth it". There was no foreign terrorist threat in Iraq before the US invaded, ace. Powell's presentation to the UN in Feb. ,2003, was bullshit. It was never verified that Zarqawi "sought medical treatment" with the approval of Saddam's government, or that a "poison camp" in Kermal or Kermil, or Khurmal, existed in any area of Iraq that was under the control of Saddam's regime, but there is much evidence that a camp of that name with "terrorists" loyal to Zarqawi, existed in the area under control by the Kurds, and accessible to the Americans.
We were told, after 9/11, that there were "thousands" of "terrorist sleeper cells" in the US, ace, can you point to one that was "busted up", by the US government?