Comments on: Who’s Winning the War on Terror?

By: alex

alex — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 03:19:55 +0000

i think its time america backoff from this wars,
you see this is what osama bin laden wanted to drag america into wars that it cannot afford and beat them into it’s grave.

By: some dude

some dude — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 18:35:06 +0000

oh wow christina you think this war is a joke its not osama used people who looked like him to try and fool us about 4000 good people have died trying to find him.i hope it ends soon though

By: christina l.

christina l. — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 22:59:44 +0000

The “war on terrorism” is a joke. Are we as a nation really that dumb? I seem to recall Osama Bin Laden being declared dead more times in the past 7 years than Kenny on south park. I simply just don’t buy the Al Qaeda story anymore. I think people of this nation need to wake up and stop being afraid of media depictions of some guy in a cave thousand’s of miles away!

By: jf

jf — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 01:16:51 +0000

Here in western NC, USA, it took our FBI 5 years to locate a bommer. This area is sparsely populated compared to Atlanta, a short distance south…but not like the mountains where our enemies “hide.”

They aren’t hiding, they are living free. We couldn’t catch Eric Rudoph, (who set a bomb in Centennial Olympic Park on July 27,1996), IN OUR BACK YARD! The Smokey Mountains are big, but not That Big.

BTW, he was arrested by a town policeman as he raided a dumpster gleaning scraps.

I wish to thank our fine men and women of our armed services, and for your safe return!

By: Peter Nelson

Peter Nelson — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 21:30:54 +0000

What are you 12 years old?

I thought Groucho’s comments were great, very funny. I dunno – after a certain age we all start to enter our second childhood and I’m well on my way, I guess.

By: jeff

jeff — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 20:49:20 +0000

Groucho
Irony, oh irony and sarcasm on a day of remembrance no less.

What are you 12 years old?

By: Groucho

Groucho — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 20:44:32 +0000

On a day when Sarah Palin and her family are still suffering from Obama’s sexist attack, how dare the media focus on the events of 9/11 or the continuing threat of terrorism?

If you required any more proof than this that the media are out to destroy Palin, then you must be on board with them.

While women in the United States of America and Alaska grieve with Palin over Obama’s offensive remark, our prayers and thoughts should be with them, not on some seven year old news story.

By: John Petesch

John Petesch — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 17:25:40 +0000

Tom, Al Qaeda didn’t exist in Iraq before we invaded and by all accounts it has again nearly disappeared from Iraq due to Iraqis own disdain for the organization. Iraq again plays no role in the “war on terror,” just as it did not before the U.S. invasion (except in that it is draining resources from the legitimate fight against terrorism.) Even pentagon officials admitted again this week that there is no military solution to terrorism… it should be a “police” effort that centers on intelligence gathering and fostering international alliances.

By: Peter Nelson

Peter Nelson — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 17:21:48 +0000

Al Qaeda may have had a plan for destroying the United States – but we ourselves have exceeded their expectations in doing so.

Indeed – that’s one of the great ironies that apologists for the Bush administration fail to account for . . .

If you add up the total cost in human life and dollars of 9/11 and compare it to the total cost in human life and dollars of our subsequent wars, not to mention the loss of our national prestige, loss of our civil liberties, etc, it’s not even close. The “war on terror” has done vastly more damage to the US than Al Qaeda could in their wildest dreams.

It just amazes me that half the US population seems to want another four years of these policies.

By: tom lobenstein

tom lobenstein — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 16:48:35 +0000

Questions: Since no foreign nation has ever successfully defeated Afghani peoples in a invasive war, is not Iraq a “friendlier” battlefield on which to confront Al Qasda? Are we not facing two enemies in Afghanistan, which are mutually supportive but yet independent of each other? Laslty, we cannot realistically attack Al Aqaeda and the Taliban in Pakistan because to do so would validate all the hatred of the Great Satan that exists in the Muslim societies and nations around the world. I posit the above even though I regard the invasion of Iraq as unjustifiable and stupid.

By: Barbara

Barbara — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 16:25:00 +0000

To Nate, Joe, Peter – and the others giving important commentary. Americans need to take an serious look at history. The fall of the Roman Empire is the easiest example – “spread thin” by imperialism, not paying attention to problems at home, distracting the people with “bread and circuses” (well, maybe we are losing out on the bread…) Al Qaeda may have had a plan for destroying the United States – but we ourselves have exceeded their expectations in doing so.

By: Frederic C.

Frederic C. — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 15:53:09 +0000

I didn’t hear all of the conversation; I will listen to the podcast.

I agree with the comment about our narrowing educational system.

I look forward to hearing(hopefully) about reform in Islam. ( And in Americandom)

Is partisanship, division and politicking for the vote of factions that may not have a global or historical perspective what we want?

Does the American variety of western civilization have a lifespan?

If America is to persist, what changes need to occur?

By the way, did anyone read the article a couple a weeks ago about the the disposable semi-submerged smuggling vessels? They travel just below the water with only a small “freeboard” for gas exchange.T hink of the possibilities. Think of the engineers.

By: Peter Nelson

Peter Nelson — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 15:41:45 +0000

It’s time to end our dependence on foreign heroin. Heroin funds the poppy trade, which supports the Taliban, which supports Bin Laden and fights us in Afghanistan.

This is an excellent point and should be expanded-on.

In the “war on terrorism” the US has been trying to shut down funding for terrorists, closing bank accounts, tracking money transfers, etc.

But by that metric the US is one of the biggest sources of funding for terrorists in the world! This is because US “NGO’s” (drug traffickers) export 10’s of billions of dollars annually to criminal and terrorists worldwide. This money comes from the sale of illegal drugs in the US. The lowest value I could find anywhere on the web for the amount of US money ending up with drug gangs in Mexico alone was $4 billion, and I saw other estimates over $100 billion.

In 2007 in Mexico over 1000 people were killed by narco-gangs and the police are so underarmed and riddled with corruption that the regular army has now replaced them in some places. It’s a literal war, not a figurative one.

Thousands more have been killed and insurgents have been well-equipped and funded in Colombia, Peru, and other Latin American countries with money from the US. And, as you noted at the top, we are also funding the Taliban in this manner.

Overall the number of innocent people killed by US-narco-funded insurgencies, drug-gangs, and terrosists worlwide since 9/11 surely exceeds the US victims of that attack. The sheer hypocrisy of the US continuing to export this kind of violence and misery to the rest of the world, while lecturing places like Pakistan and Saudi Arabia on their need to control support for terrorists from inside their borders is mind-boggling.

By: Alex

Alex — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 15:36:47 +0000

I am from the former USSR. One of the theories of the USSR’s collapse is that Reagan and other presidents bankrupted it by relentless military spending, with which the soviets just were not able to keep up.

Now I am looking at the US that’s spending $10 bill a month against… How much are THEY spending? $100 a day? All they need pretty much is an assault rifle, a beard, some explosives and a videotape from time to time. I think American people have been and are being duped big time.

By: Joe

Joe — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 15:09:16 +0000

Question:

Would we be safer if (1) we withdrew support from Israel (2) withdrew military from Saudi Arabia / Mid-east and (3) adopted a “Chinese” Foreign relation posture of non-interference with “internal issues”?

Rash perhaps…But safer for the US?

By: Kevin H

Kevin H — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 14:56:48 +0000

Listen.
It seems that after 7 years the American people can do nothing but argue that we, as a nation, have not gone in the right direction. False. Foreclosures have been at an all time high. Our foreign relations are as shaky as New York bridges, and political candidates are nothing more than the people’s puppets. We make them say “pull out our troops”, but look at the bright side…well never mind that.
The point is I think our morals have strengthened as a nation, in the sense that we can all agree: “Bush for 4 more years.” Right? I mean the nation is going in the right direction. Isn’t it?

By: Joe

Joe — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 14:48:12 +0000

It seems Al Qaeda’s strategy is focused on (1) spreading us thin and (2) bleeding us (militarily, economically, etc.)

Question: Are there strategies that we are employing to combat this?

By: John Petesch

John Petesch — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 14:44:41 +0000

Indeed, Nate! Economic imperialism is exactly what we should have been addressing for the last seven years, instead we’ve embraced both it and military imperialism.

By: Nate

Nate — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 14:37:01 +0000

Terrorism is simply a symptom. The virus at the cause of this disease is economic imperialism. A discussion of terrorism that does not include this is like political coverage of lipstick and not issues. Is that too much to ask?

By: Neil Vigliotta

Neil Vigliotta — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 14:31:25 +0000

Its amazing how the actions we’ve taken for the past 7 years have been just a joke. Security at the airport is an inconvenience, but not real. Security of our borders is a joke. We spend billions on a needless war in Iraq. We are having problems in Afghanistan. We can’t get at them in Pakistan. Our economy shudders under this burden and our dependence on foreign oil (who knows how much of this money goes back to AQ). And people are lining up behind McCain/Palin who promise us more of the same… Come on people. Wake up! Time for a REAL change!!!