I’m very aware of the ridiculas amount of money the U.S. spends on its military. If you re-read what i wrote you’ll notice i said that we could use “some” of that money towards domestic security. It would definately be both nearly impossible & asinine to use all of that money towards security.

I’m sure both the U.S. and Canada could better use that money on crazy things like “healthcare” and “the envirnoment”.

Iraq has already gone to shit. It’s a failed state under US domination, with Iran having more control over the Shiite militias in the south and Sunni and Kurd forces controlling the central and northern regions. All out civil war will probably be the result when it becomes too financially and politically expensive to keep the US occupation going. And that won’t be long, the US economy is bleeding red under the current administration.

I think a much better idea to dealing with foreign based terrorism is to change some of our foreign policies that have pissed so many people off for decades and more (the US more than Canada). Instead of backing thugs who keep the oil (or precious metals, agricultural products etc) flowing, we need to actually back up all the rhetoric about freedom and democracy that’s been spouted for so long.[/quote]

Yes of course there is a chance for it to succeed. I’m for the withdrawal, I’m just saying we must prepare for the worst-case scenario. Iraq is a mess now, but if the U.S. pulls out sometime in the next couple of years a rational person should realize that it could easily get much worse (at least in the short-term). All-out civil war, another repressive regime gaining control of the gov’t, a large influx of terrorists taking refuge in the country, or (while somewhat far-fetched) Iran invading the country or somehow taking control of the gov’t.

As for your last paragraph, i completely agree.

Nor, dare I say, without a serious investigation into the events of 9/11. In fact, NO investigation whatsoever by the Canadian government, despite the fact that 24 Canadian citizens were killed on 9/11. Isn’t high time we had one ?? Surely their deaths, the subsequent deaths of 86 soldiers and countless innocent Afghanis warrant that?

I don’t think you realize how much money is spent on foreign occupations. I don’t know the figure for Canada, but the US spends about $700 billion dollars a year on “defense,” compared to $40 billion per year on law enforcement. They fund about 1000 permanent bases overseas, with hundreds of thousands of servicemen, bureaucrats, and mercenaries, countless high-tech war toys, and inflated reconstruction contracts. It would not be possible to spend that much money on genuine security.

There’s also a chance they would succeed, which would call into question the Bush policies of the last seven years.

Iraq has already gone to shit. It’s a failed state under US domination, with Iran having more control over the Shiite militias in the south and Sunni and Kurd forces controlling the central and northern regions. All out civil war will probably be the result when it becomes too financially and politically expensive to keep the US occupation going. And that won’t be long, the US economy is bleeding red under the current administration.

I think a much better idea to dealing with foreign based terrorism is to change some of our foreign policies that have pissed so many people off for decades and more (the US more than Canada). Instead of backing thugs who keep the oil (or precious metals, agricultural products etc) flowing, we need to actually back up all the rhetoric about freedom and democracy that’s been spouted for so long.

Yeah, decency and equality can go a long way. But who wants power so they can be equal?

That’s my take on it, criticize me all you like.

Well right before i went to repsond you had written more to what i just quoted from you, but i guess you decided to delete it. I will plow through the archives, thank you.

As for what you had written, i agree with you in regards to Afghanistan. I don’t understand why NATO, and the U.S. especially, is against negotiating with the Taliban. I also agree in a full withdrawal from Iraq for a myriad of reasons.

However, there is always the chance that negotiations with the Taliban would fail, as well as Iraq going to shit once the U.S.-led forces leave & Al-Qaeda & other anti-West extremists gaining some sanctuary there. That’s why i firmly believe that a much better option to spending all this money on these foreign occupations would be to spend some of that money to better secure our own countries from attack. More money for law enforcement, intelligence, border/coast guard security etc.

And of course getting our militaries out of these Muslim countries will certainly give Muslim extremists (both foreign & homegrown) less of a reason to want to kill us, as you have written about before.

So Matt, I challange you to write an blog entry (or hell, just point me to somebody else’s argument if you want) explaining what is the best solution/strategy the West should follow regarding Al-Qaeda & the Taliban etc. Is it simply to pull all of our military forces out of these countries? Its cleary a much more complicated matter than that.

To be blunt, its easy to criticize the actions & decisions of others. Its much harder to create a well-reasoned, workable solution of what the alternative should be. I’m eager to hear it.[/quote]

I have, use the search.

NATOs Afghanistan mission is a counter-insurgency overlaid on a civil war. Trying to solve the problems there is with ouside military force is a little like trying to cure skin cancer with acne cream.

So Matt, I challange you to write an blog entry (or hell, just point me to somebody else’s argument if you want) explaining what is the best solution/strategy the West should follow regarding Al-Qaeda & the Taliban etc. Is it simply to pull all of our military forces out of these countries? Its cleary a much more complicated matter than that.

To be blunt, its easy to criticize the actions & decisions of others. Its much harder to create a well-reasoned, workable solution of what the alternative should be. I’m eager to hear it.

Fab post, as usual.