Our terrorists

[KevinTheOmnivore]

WWMBD?

So Max, we've heard a lot about what we're doing wrong here, but I believe Preechr asked what your own alternatives might be. I think this is a relevant question, because you as a Bush critic are a small reflection of the national tone on the matter. So tell us, what would Max Burbank do?

I feel like this question has come up before, and I suppose you need to initiate the discussion making a choice about how you feel about Islamic extremism and the funding of said groups who want to harm the West and Liberalism. But Max, assuming you actually believe in the War on Terror (maybe you don't, and maybe you could make a fair argument for that), what is it you would do to confront a radical Islamic regime that funds terrorism and pursues nuclear weaponry?

If we don't try to disable the reigning regime internally by supporting rebel groups, what should we do? Bomb them? Ignore them? Do we open up appeasement talks with a regime that threatens the very right to existence of one of our democratic, liberal allies?

What do we do?

[mburbank]

Thank Gawd I have Alphabatard to tell me when my personal life is spiralling. Otherwise I might miss it. I can only assume your knowledge of my life comes as part of your general omnipotence. Now go read everything I told you to read otherwise I'm right and you're wrong.

Kevin; what I would do. I'll preface by saying I think all we're left with it this point are seriously bad options. Least bad is the best one can do.

I'm for withdrawl, as rapidly as possible. Not because I don't think it will reult in a bloodbath, but because I think our staying increases antagonsim on all sides, and if we don't intend to remain as a semi occupying power pretty much from now on, we only increase how big a bloodbath will be when we leave. I think they are in the midst of a predictable, highly complicated civil war and nothing we do can help. It's too late for anything we to be free from taint, we will never be trusted at this point, and there isn't going to be any gratitude. While we stay trapped in Bahgdad we can't even really try to do anything in Afghanistan and we are not credably prepare for anything else.

I'm also for impeachment. Not because I hate W and I think there are strong legal grounds for it, though you already know I do. But becaue I see no chance at all that W will alter his course in any way and is going to leave a far worse mess than we have even now to the next President, who will change course significantly, even if not to my liking. I see no reason at all to wait until W shuffles out the door at the end of his term when I think there are strong legal grounds to begin trying to get him out now. But that's pie in the sky, unless one of the current investigations reveals something really eggregious with smoking gun type proof. I don't think that's out of the question, since W et al have been very arrogant about their messing around.

The goal once withdrawn is to contain the chaos as much as possible. A Dayton accord style regional conference needs to be alled including neighboring countries W refuse to speak to, and there can't be any linkage to other US policy goals. Nor should we accept linkage from them. It's in their best interests to control and contain, they don't need any carrots from us and I think faced with the choas engulfing the entire region, there will be strong motivation to come up with agreements.

Do I think any of this will work? sadly, probably not. However, I'm certain staying the course plus surge won't work and I think a continued military preence their is counterproductive. I think we screwed this pooch beyond repair and we need to step back and let other people try to fix it.

I also believe we should throughly research the entire history of this war and as a nation own up to our mistakes. Not because I hate America, but because I think ingrained American arrogance made this mess. It will be a long, long time before we regain credability, and we've seen we can't succesfully go it alone.

Pulling out should be combined with closing Guantanamo, closing all secret prisons, restoring habeus corpus and passing anti torture laws with real, verifiabal teeth.

All of these points can be disagreed with and argued. But I've made them before, they are out in the public domain argued by better minds than mine, and there is still a popular myth that complainers like me only have complaints and no suggestions. What people usually mean when they say that is, no suggestions they already agree with.

Oh, and none of this is worth concidering 'cause I didn't start by saying that Jundullah has a speciffic ethnic identity and are an offshoot of Al-Quaeda. I think, failing to have made that point, there's no need to concider anything else I said.

[Preechr]

I say we look, as suggested, back to the Nixon Administration, but at the politicians on BOTH sides of the aisle. The legislative and journalistic methods used to defund America's involvement in Vietnam formed the playbook for the political circus act we are witnessing in DC today regarding the war in Iraq and the larger WOT. It really is instructive to recall Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge horror, but in an effort to put a face on what nearly everyone with an opinion on the subject says would result were we to pull our troops out of Iraq. Disaster. That means a lot of people die and the whole region collapses into turmoil.

Militarily, we lost Vietnam because we couldn't stabilize a real government in the South. That's proving to not be the case in Iraq, but that doesn't mean we can't lose this through other methods. Even if we had managed to establish the S Vietnam government, I doubt anything would have turned out different.

Personally, I believe Bush & Co knew this would eventually be the path chosen by the Democrats, which is WHY they have been stubborn, recalcitrant and secretive from the get go. Yes, this is probably a replay of our experience in Vietnam from many perspectives, but maybe the hawks learned something new from the mistakes of the past, where it's obvious the Dems are simply performing a re-enactment of their glorious collective hippie youth.

[mburbank]

Pol Pot didn't happen because we pulled out of Vietnam. Pol Pot happened becuase we demanded the Prince of Cambodia keep the viet kong out of Cambodia, something we knew full well he was had nowhere near the resources to do. We publicly accused him of collaboration, bombed his country even though congress forbid it, damaging his already weak economy, alientaing his fragile base of support and frightening potential allies away. We then legitamized the Khmer Rouge, and brought no pressure to bear to stop them until it was years too late. We never even indictaed we'd be unhappy if they overthrew the existing government, because we were in favor of regime change without ever spending any time thinking about what it might change in to.

I think we 'lost' vietnam because you can't win someone elses civil war for them. You can only occupy and own their country, something we didn't have the stomach for then and don't now.

I don't think Iraq and Vietnam are comprable beyond the mind set of the people from the Nixon Administration who are unblievably still with us. I think Iraqs tumble into chaos will have way more repercussions. The so called 'Domino effect' didn't happen and as I said, I think what happened in Cambodia was because of what we did to it before we left vietnam, not the fact that we went. Today Vietnam is a trading partner. Would our relationship with them be much better had we 'won', had we spent a few thousand more American lives and god knows how many Vietnamese? I think we'd still be there, still fighting a war of attrition.

I think it isn't a tragedy to 'loose' a war we had no business getting in to. I don't think you can 'win' a war you had no business getting in to.

But I'm glad you acknowledge there are things about the Nixon years worth concidering in looking at todays mess. Hence, I respect your contribution to the conversation and feel no need to re 'explain' it to you. That's how magnanimous I am.