McCain has edge over Democrats

[Empress of Groovy 373]

Al qaeda was in the U.S. and nobody knew it! Your tellin me that "everybody knew al qaeda was not in Iraq" ? Dude your eatin propagana like it was dinner! Cmon.

Marc, if your suggestion is that the U.S. needs to invade and set up shop in all countries perceived to have some sort of Al-Qaeda connection (by whatever questionable criteria are going at the moment), we're going to have to reinstate the draft, to include my grandma and anyone else who can hold a rifle.

Please let me try again. Al Qeda was in America without anyone knowing. Now there are some here professing Al qeda were not in Iraq prior to the invasion. My answer is how the hec can anyone, I mean anyone, from this board or anywhere else can say that? in absolute terms. Nobody can say where al qeda was or is going to be.

I don't think anyone is disagreeing with that assertion. But it is commonly held (as it was in late 2002) that the links between 9/11 and Iraq were tenuous. To say, "geez, how were we to know?" isn't much of an argument. It's basically the "shoot first, ask questions later" approach to the Middle East that many people take issue with!

And you really can't ignore where Saudi Arabia stands in all this.

[Pinocchio Liberal 268]

Al qaeda was in the U.S. and nobody knew it! Your tellin me that "everybody knew al qaeda was not in Iraq" ? Dude your eatin propagana like it was dinner! Cmon.

Marc, if your suggestion is that the U.S. needs to invade and set up shop in all countries perceived to have some sort of Al-Qaeda connection (by whatever questionable criteria are going at the moment), we're going to have to reinstate the draft, to include my grandma and anyone else who can hold a rifle.

Please let me try again. Al Qeda was in America without anyone knowing. Now there are some here professing Al qeda were not in Iraq prior to the invasion. My answer is how the hec can anyone, I mean anyone, from this board or anywhere else can say that? in absolute terms. Nobody can say where al qeda was or is going to be.

I don't think anyone is disagreeing with that assertion. But it is commonly held (as it was in late 2002) that the links between 9/11 and Iraq were tenuous. To say, "geez, how were we to know?" isn't much of an argument. It's basically the "shoot first, ask questions later" approach to the Middle East that many people take issue with!

And you really can't ignore where Saudi Arabia stands in all this.

Thanks! I was specifically talking of who knew where Al qeda was or was not. I personally believe there is a dam good chance there were al qeda in Iraq. If they were in America, odds are they were in Iraq too.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

al-Qaeda wasn't in Iraq before we invaded. (It's a good question whether what we fought as 'al Qaeda' in Afghanistan is even in Iraq now, since 'al-Qaeda affiliated group' pretty much means 'anyone fighting the U.S., including multiple groups of loosely affiliated insurgents') They didn't have a toehold there because, well, Saddam was in power.

Which is exactly what people said would happen all along.

"Oh noes - we can't give up now, just because we've created a bigger mess than the one we tried to tidy up in the first place".

On the radio this morning - they were saying that there are nearly 1 1/2 million displaced people in that country that noone is helping.

There isnt anyone on ths forum that can say in absolute terms where al qaeda was or wasnt! It just makes for a nice opening so you can justify your opinion.

One thing we do know - is that Saddam, for all his brutality did have a handle on the sectarian elements within the Iraqi population. His removal from power, and the pi$$ poor planning of the Iraq War (specifically the disbanding of the Iraqi army, the understrength coalition forces - and the fact that we were unable to secure Iraq's borders - led to a power vacuum that has resulted in the situation we have today.

This is why the first Bush Govt thought twice about removing Saddam in the early 90's - because it was a much larger proposition than they imagined.

I don't think that's an unrealistic assessment of what happened.

Edited February 27, 2008 by Number 6

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Thanks! I was specifically talking of who knew where Al qeda was or was not. I personally believe there is a dam good chance there were al qeda in Iraq. If they were in America, odds are they were in Iraq too.

You're taking these comments a bit too literally IMO. I'm sure Al Qaeda and/or other equivalent radical groups were active in Iraq, in some form. What you're missing is that the removal of Saddam Hussein and his police state removed the biggest constraining factor on those groups' ability to recruit, organize and take action.

[AnewKINDofFEELIN 0]

Al qaeda was in the U.S. and nobody knew it! Your tellin me that "everybody knew al qaeda was not in Iraq" ? Dude your eatin propagana like it was dinner! Cmon.

Marc, if your suggestion is that the U.S. needs to invade and set up shop in all countries perceived to have some sort of Al-Qaeda connection (by whatever questionable criteria are going at the moment), we're going to have to reinstate the draft, to include my grandma and anyone else who can hold a rifle.

Please let me try again. Al Qeda was in America without anyone knowing. Now there are some here professing Al qeda were not in Iraq prior to the invasion. My answer is how the hec can anyone, I mean anyone, from this board or anywhere else can say that? in absolute terms. Nobody can say where al qeda was or is going to be.

Al Qaeda's strongest roots are in Saudi Arabia. I guess the fact that the King Abdullah buddies up to us is reason enough to ignore that.

Not talkin about roots,the king,saudi arabia. Fkin incredible.

I would thing the largest breeding ground of terrorists would be pretty important to us.

[HAL 9000 96]

Hey... if you want to stop terror, all you have to do is stop participating in it...

Can't remember who said that but I'm sure someone will Google some armchair liberal radical somewhere with the same quote.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

Hey... if you want to stop terror, all you have to do is stop participating in it...

Can't remember who said that but I'm sure someone will Google some armchair liberal radical somewhere with the same quote.

Actually, Pat Buchanan says essentially the same thing. He phrases it differently; "Terrorism is the price of empire. If you do not wish to pay the price, you must give up the empire." Ron Paul, I believe, follows a similar thought process. Now, neither Buchanan nor Paul are armchair liberal radicals.

[HAL 9000 96]

Go figure... I got a quote here from Noam Chomsky

But given the current state of activities promoted by the figures on the opposite side of the political spectrum from the Chomskyites, I think the Republilocos would be very uncomfortable with actually giving up that Empire.