gbaji wrote:
I'd also point out that "helping in any way they can" apparently did not include resolving the situation in Iraq which ultimately was the root cause of the 9/11 attack in the first place.
That sentence is all it takes to show you don't have the slightest understanding of the threat we're facing. Seriously, after all the time, all the ink, all the blood, and all the money spent, you still refuse to understand this problem...
Islamic terrorism does not exist purely because of the fact that US troops are in Saudi Arabia. It's much bigger than that. That particular gripe is just one amongst many. And yet, it's the one you choose to focus on, because it somehow kinda justifies a link between the GW and 9/11.
It's total bullcrap.
Those crazy Islamists have a list of grievances that make the Mein Kampf look like a collection of hippy poems.
Wahabbism wants to impose a Caliphate on the whole world. That's the ideology behind it. That's their
raison d'etre. So take all the US boots of Saudi, it won't change
anything.
So, it's impossible to appease, or reason with these guys.
Impossible.
But the good thing is that until recently, they were a tiny minority in the Muslim world. The main reason they grew so much is because of the Russian invasion of Afghanistan, when the mujahadeens were trained and armed by the CIA and the FSI (Pakistani secret services). All the while, their brand of hardcore, fanatical, litteralist, Islam was being funded by Saudi Arabia, awashed with our cash because of our reliance on foreign oil. You do know that Saudi Arabia is the main source of funding of madrassas in pakistan, when 4 year old kids are taught to learn the Koran by heart, and... nothing else? If there is one "ennemy state" in all this, it is Saudi Arabia. They are the ones who fund this poisonous ideology all over the world.
With our cash.
In 2000, Al-Qaeda was a bunch of tiny terrorist cells. It was "training" in Afghanistan under the Talibans, but enjoyed support from no one. Remember that the only country to recognise the Talibans in 2000 was Pakistan, because they had created them. No other country in the world recognised them, or wanted to be associated with them. Iraq hated them. Iran hated them. Jordan, Syria, Libya, Egypt, the Maghreb, Malasya, the Phillipines, not a single one of those Muslim countries recognised them. All it took was 20 guys, to execute 9/11.
So what does all this mean?
That the only way these lunatics can "matter" on the world stage, is if they manage to recruit more moderate Muslims to their dying and pointless cause. So yes, they use the US troops in Saudi Arabia, they use Palestine, Chechnya, Kashmir, the dictatorial governments of Egypt or Algeria... But these are lgihtweights compared to the arguments they have now: Guantanamo, the pictures of Abu-G, the never-ending Iraq war...
If in 2001, someone had told a Muslim that there was a war between the West and Islam, most would not have believed it.
In 2007, the situation is very different. It is completely possible to view world events through the West Vs Islam prism. Especially if you are a Muslim.
Invading Afghanistan was a completely necessary and beneficial move. AQ was training there, and the bordering region between Afghanistan and Pakistan is the hot-bed of modern fundamentalists. If there is one area of the world where US troops were needed, it's there.
Iraq had nothing to with all this. As Paulsol mentionned, the biggest threat to Saddam's regime (apart from the US), were the Islamic fanatics.
We totally played into their hands.
We need to realise that the battle that matters is not being fought here, in the UK or in the US. It's being played in Muslim countries, between moderates and fanatics. If the latter win, we are f
Ucked. If Musharaf gets assassinated and some crazy Islamist takes over, we'll have a fanatical Islamist state armed with nukes.
If the moderates wins, if the fundemantlists are exposed for what they are, we'll be fine, and we can go back to worrying about China and Russia, like in the good old days.
It's a propaganda war that's being played on this other side of the world. That's where the battle is, and that's why Iraq was such a gigantic ****-up. the sooner you realise this, the better.
Edited, Jul 18th 2007 10:38am by RedPhoenixxx