Max, sure we can wait for 'proof'. I think we have it already. I think we have enough evidence of a campaign (is it to politically correct to say 'WAR') against the US over the last decade. It's just a matter of whether the evidence is enough to motivate US leadership and populace to fight this war back to its roots and thoroughly destroy it. If this attack hasn't motivated the us enough, well maybe our nation is on the downside of its existence.
It sounds like you would support a gulf war-like operation. Build a coalition. Preliminary air-force bombing to soften up the target. Send in the ground forces for a few months. Kill or capture the leaders. Then go home. Max, the gulf war strategy won't work here.
Topography. Iraq desert, nowhere to hide. Afghanistan, mountains. This means bombing will be less effective. Taliban troops can hide behind mountains with stinger missiles or the soviet or chinese equivalent and shoot down us planes and helicopters. In the gulf war, the us could see iraqi soldiers from miles away, and even from space. Not so in afghanistan. The Soviet Union and the British both lost big-time in this topography.
Killing Osama Bin-Laden, a few of his lieutenants, and even a few Taliban leaders will not stop the movement which gave them prominence and power. Bin-Laden has now set up a network of other combatants. Funding from Saudi relatives and petro-dollar laden sympathizers still rolls in. Life is just too comfortable for wealthy supporters of terrorists. All kinds of arab nations send some of their problem 16-24 year old males to terrorist training camps in Afghanistan and will continue to do so, because if they stop, these destabilizing persons will be wreaking havok in their own kingdoms. A whole banking and arms supply network has been set up in Pakistan. Many Pakistanis at all levels have an economic stake in supporting the Taliban. Lastly, the mullahs and mosques that bred the Taliban are in Pakistan, still teaching hate to a new generation. Max, the gulf war solution will increase a president's approval rating and generate good feelings, but it won't conclude this conflict.
Nukes do kill people indiscriminately within a certain radius. That's why they create terror. Terror in the hearts of the opposition will be needed before they stop this war against the US. Nukes and assassinations may not be used at first, but with this determined foe, they will be eventually. The problem is, the longer we wait, the higher the total price in lives for all countries. |
