the allies in WWII were willing to use any and everything--right up to scorched earth tactics. It was do or die. If we would have had to destroy every city in Japan in order to win, we would have. Ditto for Germany. We can't do that here.
We could.. But it would be far bloodier than it might need to be. It would mean invading Saudi Arabia, dismantling the Wahhabist power structure and killing or imprisoning its advocates..
But can you imagine how Roosevelt would have responded had some group of Wahhabists destroyed the Empire State Building?
The US would have kicked Saudi Arabia's @ss, invaded and reinstalled the Hashemites, or partitioned the country again along its previous tribal lines.
And I almost wager that, were it not for global reliance upon SA's oil production, Bush might have been tempted to do the same thing after 9/11.
But the course we're taking is more complex, and more subtle, IMO. We may not be required to invade Saudi Arabia (which would be bloody on all sides). But we have to be in a position to intimidate the royal family into understanding that we're not willing to permit their tolerance of Wahhabist militants in their country, or funding such operations around the world through their "charities".
And by taking Saddam out, the US has unwittingly aided our enemies in the war on terror.
How so? Do you not believe that most of these extremists were only a heartbeat away from sighing up for Jihad anyway? With 30% unemployment, no economic opportunity in sight, and continuing corruption in their governments, it's only a matter of time before they became combatants.
And if they weren't attacking US troops, they would have been seeking to undermine regimes throughout the region.
I can't believe that DOD strategists didn't believe that Islamic militants wouldn't eventually migrate to Iraq. I have to believe that they incorporated this expectation in their thinking from day one.
But it's politically incorrect to publicly announce that the plan was to draw militants into Iraq for a fight.. It would send the message to Iraqis that the US wished to use their country as the primary battlefield for conducting the war on terror.
They can't say it, but folks like myself can speculate on it.
But we need to get the Iraqi security services vetted, trained, and in action. They have just as much to lose as the US.
Hawk |
