This was proven by documents that showed Iraq was planning on rebuilding his WMD program. The mushroom clouds was used to illistrate what would happen if we did not take the threats seriously from Saddam, he said he would sell or give WMD to any one that would use them on Israel or America. This crap of yours was refuted my many over the months I have been on JU.



This is true but it takes time to establish a working democracy. You foolishly think that four years is enough but if you bother to study our own history America was in serious trouble the first fifty years with attacks from all sides until we were able to stand on our own. We did not gain the respect of the international community until 1900, which was 130 years after we became a nation, yet you ignorantly expect Iraq to become a functioning democratic nation in less than 4 years. Please show me a country that was able to do that without our help.
Gene you claim to have gone to an Army war college but I still have doubts that you graduated one that was run by the U. S. Army. How many AQ terrorist attacks on U.S. soil have happened since we attacked Afghanistan and Iraq? If you are honest you will say none which means Mr. Bush was right. If you calim the one where a guy shot up the LA airport that the FBI calles a terrorist attack I will give you half credit. Gee, I feel safer alreaady.



You are correct, the reason why is because the region does not have any democracies and the leaders of those nations don’t want to see one any time soon so they are going to muddy up the waters as best they can but even in Iran you can see it is having an effect. What this means is the plan is working but will take time unless you are an idiot and can't stay focused on any one topic for more than a minute.



Where are these millions? AQ started with about 100K terrorist that was trained under Mr. Clintons watch. They don’t even claim to have that many now and they were the biggest and most organized. Hammas is the next biggest with a few tens of thousands but they have not grown much either. The revolutionary guard of Iran has some high numbers but they have been around since the 70’s where did you get these numbers? More to your point the supposed millions that want to attack America are all pooling in Iraq and still can’t defeat our meager numbers.



Maybe you did not get the memo, AQ used Afghanistan as a training ground for terror officers kind of like a terror OCS. They were never a standing army in Afghanistan only the AQ types there were training officers and sending them back to where they came from to train others to build up an army. All this while Mr. Clinton pounded sand with million dollar missiles to make a statement that he did not like what they were doing. Now that we are hunting them down and reducing their numbers you want to notice that AQ is scattered around the world. News flash Gene! They have been all over the world for years. Remember Blackhawk down? The strategy for that came from AQ and it worked at making America look weak enough to attack directly. Mr. Bush should be impeached for letting this happen! Oh, wait that was on Mr. Clinton’s watch sorry, my mistake.



Correct! Which is why we are fighting them in every country they are found, you only see the battles in Iraq because that is all you can focus on in 4 years. Remember your article on how the US was fighting in Somalia and making a mess there? The same Somalia where Mr. Clinton screwed up by letting AQ gain a foot hold and let them plan and then execute the Blackhawk down strategy. We have them on the run all over the world yet all you see is one country and one battle and call that a war.




Good of you to notice finally. Yeah, the reason we are there is to fight AQ wherever they are. You on the other hand want to run away before the fight is over and your party making public statements to the same only helps the enemy. Your party is good at that. Let’s see, your party backed the Soviet Union except when Mr. Kennedy was in office. Backed the communist against our own president in South America. Supported China against the US. Supported North Korea, and did put into power the Iranian terrorist that are in power today fighting us. Nice track record for your party. You know why some democratic women like to sleep with republican men? So they will know what it is like to sleep with a winner for a change.



Results:

No AQ attacks on US soil since we began fighting back.

Terror orgainzations around the world being splintered and destroyed.

Fewer terrorist in the world because they all head to Iraq because it is as close as they can get to America. Good results so far.

Not at all Sean, We did not start fighting back until after the letters were mailed. We were still confirming who attacked us on 9/11 if you recall.



Sean if you remember we did not go into full attack mode until 2003 when we had our game plan in place. Yes, we lost Spain in the coalition but Great Briton was also attacked and fought through it in doing so it diminished their numbers. Keep in mind that most AQ attacks are planned years in advance. There were more attacks planned in the US but they were stopped according to our government. Once we made it through the period of planned attacks from before 2001 the attacks have dropped off. It took 5 years to plan and execute the attacks on 9/11, it took two years to plan the bombings in our embassies in Africa. The AQ trade mark is planning of spectacular news grabbing attacks.

What I mean to say is your article link is accurate but out of date for my posting.

How many attacks against US interests were there between 1993 and 2001?

How many have there been since 2001?

I rest my case.

I have to disagree with you here. We have an ally in Pakistan that is helping as best he can even to the point of getting death threats from his own intelligence service which sent up the alliance with Afghanistan and AQ. The area where the remnants of AQ leadership is in a no mans land. Yes, they are in Pakistan but the area has no government control. Going in there would spark a serious civil war that the leader would lose so we do the best we can with what we have. AQ tried to move its headquarters from Afghanistan to Iraq which is one of the reasons given for the invasion. The press hyped the nuclear weapons angle but even the administration did not support that.
AQ not only killed our guy over there 2 days before the 9/11 attacks they also moved all of their secondary leadership out of the country before the attacks. Most of them have been located and killed around the world so it is not as if the ball was dropped it is the press has focused on Iraq. When things started to look bad in Afghanistan to the press, they focused on AQ coming back! But if you are a student of history you will know that fighting there is seasonal. You don’t fight in winter. You will take more casualties fighting the cold than fighting the enemy. You find a hole in the ground and stay warm till spring and restart the war. Mr. Bush started to send more troops there as soon as it started to get warm to get a head of the curve and the press screamed it must be because we are losing in Afghanistan!
AQ prior to 9/11 boasted of having over 100K scattered around the world. Now they have less than 80k, unless math has changed a lot since I was a kid that is not trending to the stronger side of the equation. Yes, you have a lot of public well wishers that are vocal. But if you understand that area of the world you have to support them verbally. Anything less is disloyal and in that part of the world being on the losing side means death. If they were seen as winning as you suggest then AQ would be a million strong and kicking in our doors whenever they wished. Small cells scattered across America can do great damage. I don’t see it. They shot their wad did the best they could and now are fighting for survival. I still expect two or even three big attacks in the US before they die out. But that is just me. If they are smart they will lay low until a democrat gets in office and then attack. Democrats tend to be liberal and want to reach out and negotiate. In that part of the world if you want to negotiate you have to be losing. After 9/11 Senator Daschle wanted the administration to reach out to AQ and find a peaceful way to end this quickly. It is the first choice among liberals. Not good or bad it is their mindset. The problem with reaching out to them is that it is a sure sign of weakness and whatever agreements made will only serve the enemy not us. in America it is a good thing to reach out but not internationally with these people.

Nice dodge, see you later.

No AQ attacks on US soil since we began fighting back. did you forget about the anthrax attacks? we don't know for sure if aq did them or not, but it definitively was a terrorist attack that we never solved or identified the terrorists even.

Didn't succed either, did it?

in fact they have done over 15 suicide-terrorist attacks since 2002, more than all the years before 9/11 combined. Al-Qaeda is not weaker now. Al-Qaeda is stronger

And how many have succeeded?

I did not blow him off or you for that matter. I just don’t see anything pertinent from what he wrote and the current topic. Prophetic, maybe, but not pertinent, your man’s report came out before the invasion. Things changed in that time, things that make is statements less than relevant today. I thought you could see that. I was wrong.

I understand that with your vast combat experience you know that once the U.S. military sets foot someplace all death and destruction should end that minute or we are losing. Too bad your vast combat experience has little to do with reality. You sir are a political hack nothing more.

You have no concept of what you are writting about.




I like your logic. According to you we should pull our troops out and leave them to kill each other because it will save American lives. There are only a few problems with your logic. First, we have tried this idea a few times and the result was 9/11, and a host of other attacks that went unanswered.
Second, the pull out will give the terrorist a great victory because the minute we pull one soldier out of that country they will have won and it will go all over the world that we backed down.
Third, you are too focused on the minor crap that happened today. If we pull out will the killing stop?
If we pull out today will they stop attacking America?
If we pull out before we are sure it is safe, meaning we have hunted down and killed or arrested all of the terrorist of this generation of terrorist we will be under threat. The best solution to this problem is to be where we are doing what we are doing until the job is finished.

History lesson for ignorant people: around the turn of the century Russia turned into the Soviet Union. All ethnic tensions came to a screeching halt and for 70 years the hard cruel Soviets were the focus of hate. As soon as the Soviet Union fell the killing started as if the past 70 years never happened. Kill this one because his great great grandfather killed my great great grandfather. The only hope for Iraq not to end up the same way is for us to stay there while they sort this out. Once that is done we can leave. The officers and troops know this but you with all your vast knowledge and military experience don’t. They were told that they would be extended and there was no shock or outrage. The reason for this is that they are professional soldiers not conscripts. I don’t mean to say that they are happy about it but they understand it.

Yes we are winning in Iraq:

Baghdad Bombings Kill 45 in Shiite Areas
April 15, 2007 12:43 PM EDT
BAGHDAD - Six bombs exploded in predominantly Shiite sections of the capital Sunday, killing at least 45 people in a renewal of sectarian carnage that set back the U.S. push to pacify Baghdad.

North of Baghdad, two British helicopters crashed after an apparent mid-air collision, killing two service members, U.K. officials said.

The U.S. military announced three U.S. troop deaths - two soldiers and a Marine killed in separate incidents.

And in the holy Shiite city of Karbala, health officials raised the toll from a bombing Saturday close to one of the sect's most sacred shrines, saying 47 people were killed and 224 wounded.

Twin car bombs exploded minutes apart in the busy market of Baghdad's Shurta Rabia neighborhood, a mostly Shiite area in the city's west. The first blast went off at midmorning in front of a kebab restaurant. Five minutes later, another car exploded nearby as rescuers were evacuating victims. Many women and children were among the casualties, police said.

Shortly after noon, a suicide bomber blew himself up on a minibus near a courthouse in the mainly Shiite northwest Baghdad neighborhood of al-Utafiyah, killing at least eight people and wounding 11, officials said.

Many of the victims were severely burned, an official at the Khazimiyah Hospital said.

About three hours later, a minibus rigged with explosives detonated on a busy street of electronics shops in the predominantly Shiite central Karradah district, killing 11 people and wounding 15, authorities said.

The owner of a glass shop said he saw a suspect park the bus at the roadside and leave.

"It was an ordinary thing because usually bus drivers stop there waiting for passengers, so we didn't suspect anything," said the witness, who gave only his nickname, Abu Jassim.

"Five minutes later, the bus blew up - damaging the surrounded area and burning more than eight civilian cars that were passing by," he said.

In the same district after nightfall, two roadside bombs exploded within five minutes of each other, killing at least eight civilians and wounding 23, police said.

Six shops and several cars parked nearby were damaged by the blasts, which occurred about 20 yards apart, police said.

The two British helicopters crashed after an apparent collision 12 miles north of Baghdad, killing two British personnel. Four other personnel were injured in the crash, one very seriously.

U.K. Defense Secretary Des Browne said that initial reports suggested the crash was an accident.

"Sadly, two personnel have died and one is very seriously injured. All of these were UK personnel. My thoughts and sympathy are with them and their families," Browne said, adding that the next of kin had been informed.

British forces, headquarters in the southern city of Basra, rarely fly missions north of Baghdad, where the helicopters crashed.

"I can't talk about the particular mission they were involved in, but we do have units operating as part of the coalition across Iraq," a British defense ministry official said on condition of anonymity, in line with government policy.

One U.S. soldier was killed by small arms fire Sunday while trying to reach an Iraqi police unit under attack near a mosque in southern Baghdad, the military said in a statement. One civilian was wounded in the incident.

Another soldier died Saturday when a roadside bomb exploded during a foot patrol south of Baghdad, the military said. A Marine died the same day in combat in Anbar province.

Meanwhile, dozens of Iraqi policemen demonstrated in front of their Baghdad station Sunday, accusing U.S. forces of treating them like "animals" and "slaves."

The protest took place at Rashad station in Baghdad's eastern neighborhood of Mashtal.

Officers chanted "No, no to America! Get out occupiers!" while U.S. troops in two humvees and a Bradley fighting vehicle watched from a distance.

----

Associated Press Jennifer Quinn contributed to this report from London.

Other than the fact that AQ was setting up another base of operations in Iraq.



Oh right, don't forget Iran has been funding one side making it an external matter. We all know how peace loving Irna is.



Only if you have your way.



So the multiple attempts to attack us that have failed in the last 6 years don't count? The information gained from people caputred in Afghanistan and Iraq have saved American lives but you don't seem to care about that at all. How nice of you to want us to lose an get attacked here on our own soil. Thanks!

You failed to notice that at the end of the war things calmed down a lot. Then Iran got busy which is why we are fighing now. Leaving now would only prove they are winning and that we can't stand up and fight. This will invite more terror attacks.



I disagree for the reason above. Before Iran got busy there were no religious attacks. Only after Iran got involved did that start. It may not end right away but it will end with us winning if we stay.



Correct and the President said that many times to the press and anyone that would listen. He also said that because he openly threatened the US that we could not afford to wait until Saddam would be a direct threat by having a nuclear bomb go of in the United States and the best thing for us to do would be to attack now before he had reconstituted his WMD programs. America agreed with this strategy and so did most of the UN.