jay_a2j wrote:The war on terror is make believe. The US needed a reason to go to war for a number of reasons. There is no terrorist threat.
There is a VERY STRONG case that Iraq is related to world terrorism. If we are just after the people that causes 9/11, well, we got em on 9/11 as to my knowledge all of the hijackers died in the crashes.
I think that the war on international terror extends beyond the people directly involved in 9/11, and if September 11, 2001 has taught us ANYTHING it is that if we let these radicals (islamic, facist, or otherwise) alone, they will NOT leave us alone in return. The following are all attacks on the USA, either here or our interests abroad, all by islamic facist groups, and if we'd just got the ones involved in each attack, it would NOT have prevented the next attack.
1979
Nov. 4, Tehran, Iran: Iranian radical students seized the U.S. embassy, taking 66 hostages. 14 were later released. The remaining 52 were freed after 444 days on the day of President Reagan's inauguration.
1982–1991
Lebanon: Thirty US and other Western hostages kidnapped in Lebanon by Hezbollah. Some were killed, some died in captivity, and some were eventually released. Terry Anderson was held for 2,454 days.
1983
April 18, Beirut, Lebanon: U.S. embassy destroyed in suicide car-bomb attack; 63 dead, including 17 Americans. The Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility.
Oct. 23, Beirut, Lebanon: Shiite suicide bombers exploded truck near U.S. military barracks at Beirut airport, killing 241 marines. Minutes later a second bomb killed 58 French paratroopers in their barracks in West Beirut.
Dec. 12, Kuwait City, Kuwait: Shiite truck bombers attacked the U.S. embassy and other targets, killing 5 and injuring 80.
1984
Sept. 20, east Beirut, Lebanon: truck bomb exploded outside the U.S. embassy annex, killing 24, including 2 U.S. military.
Dec. 3, Beirut, Lebanon: Kuwait Airways Flight 221, from Kuwait to Pakistan, hijacked and diverted to Tehran. 2 Americans killed.
1985
April 12, Madrid, Spain: Bombing at restaurant frequented by U.S. soldiers, killed 18 Spaniards and injured 82.
June 14, Beirut, Lebanon: TWA Flight 847 en route from Athens to Rome hijacked to Beirut by Hezbollah terrorists and held for 17 days. A U.S. Navy diver executed.
Oct. 7, Mediterranean Sea: gunmen attack Italian cruise ship, Achille Lauro. One U.S. tourist killed. Hijacking linked to Libya. (by the way, the tourist was a disabled veteran confined to a wheelchair, by any measure he deserved better).
Dec. 18, Rome, Italy, and Vienna, Austria: airports in Rome and Vienna were bombed, killing 20 people, 5 of whom were Americans. Bombing linked to Libya.
1986
April 2, Athens, Greece:A bomb exploded aboard TWA flight 840 en route from Rome to Athens, killing 4 Americans and injuring 9.
April 5, West Berlin, Germany: Libyans bombed a disco frequented by U.S. servicemen, killing 2 and injuring hundreds.
1988
Dec. 21, Lockerbie, Scotland: N.Y.-bound Pan-Am Boeing 747 exploded in flight from a terrorist bomb and crashed into Scottish village, killing all 259 aboard and 11 on the ground. Passengers included 35 Syracuse University students and many U.S. military personnel. Libya formally admitted responsibility 15 years later (Aug. 2003) and offered $2.7 billion compensation to victims' families.
1993
Feb. 26, New York City: bomb exploded in basement garage of World Trade Center, killing 6 and injuring at least 1,040 others. In 1995, militant Islamist Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman and 9 others were convicted of conspiracy charges, and in 1998, Ramzi Yousef, believed to have been the mastermind, was convicted of the bombing. Al-Qaeda involvement is suspected.
1995
Nov. 13, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia: car bomb exploded at U.S. military headquarters, killing 5 U.S. military servicemen.
1996
June 25, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia: truck bomb exploded outside Khobar Towers military complex, killing 19 American servicemen and injuring hundreds of others. 13 Saudis and a Lebanese, all alleged members of Islamic militant group Hezbollah, were indicted on charges relating to the attack in June 2001
1998
Aug. 7, Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania: truck bombs exploded almost simultaneously near 2 U.S. embassies, killing 224 (213 in Kenya and 11 in Tanzania) and injuring about 4,500. 4 men connected with al-Qaeda 2 of whom had received training at al-Qaeda camps inside Afghanistan, were convicted of the killings in May 2001 and later sentenced to life in prison. A federal grand jury had indicted 22 men in connection with the attacks, including Saudi dissident Osama bin Laden, who remained at large.
2000
Oct. 12, Aden, Yemen: U.S. Navy destroyer USS Cole heavily damaged when a small boat loaded with explosives blew up alongside it. 17 sailors killed. Linked to Osama bin Laden, or members of al-Qaeda terrorist network.
2001
Sept. 11, New York City, Arlington, Va., and Shanksville, Pa.: hijackers crashed 2 commercial jets into twin towers of World Trade Center; 2 more hijacked jets were crashed into the Pentagon and a field in rural Pa. Total dead and missing numbered 2,9921: 2,749 in New York City, 184 at the Pentagon, 40 in Pa., and 19 hijackers. Islamic al-Qaeda terrorist group blamed.
SO, with that in mind, if we are going to make any sort of difference against a decentralized enemy that shares ideology more than actual personel and resources, is it not prudent to burn out the infection (or terroristism if you will) wherever we find it, rather than just the one that hurt us most recently?
And while I think many people have commented about Bush stating that today Iraq is THE central front of the war on terror, it's interesting to note that on their websites and in propaganda broadcast via Al-Jazeera Al-Qaeda is also claiming that Iraq is the central front of the war against the US, and good old Ben Ladin just announced in his tape earlier this year that he was quite disappointed with the Democrats in Congress that they have not gotten the USA out of Iraq, embraced Islam, and abandoned democracy.
That's the people we are fighting against, regardless of whether they were involved in 9/11 or not.
Considering Bin Laden had an office in Baghdad, and was in negotiations to conduct Al-Qaeda training in Iraq, I don't think that 'hatred' is quite the word to describe his relationship with Hussein. Hussein may not have had any knowledge or participation in 9/11, but he DID have communication and cooperation with Al-Qaeda prior to 9/11. He was also paying 30,000 US dollars to the families of suicide bombers if their death caused either an American or Jew to die. Hussein was not a benevolent despot.
He was an active terrorist and I find it hard to believe that ANYONE with two brain cells to rub together can think that there were no terrorists in Iraq prior to 9/11 when we had terrorist in FLORIDA for goodness sakes. There were Al-Qaeda inspired or directly funded terrorists all over the world, in the US, Germany, France, England, the Palestinian territories, Iran, Syria, Saudi Arabia, but you think that alone of the nations of the world Iraq was somehow free of them?
That stretches the limits of credibility (or common sense for that matter).