U.S. forces in Afghanistan beginning in October 2001 got logistical support via Qarshi Airbase in southern Uzbekistan, which is about 100 air miles from the border of Afghanistan. The Uzbeks kicked out the Americans this past summer. We’d had our chance by then, and I guess the Uzbeks figured we’d done whatever it was we were going to do there.
For what it’s worth, I still believe we left the job half finished and let the biggest baddies get away.
OK. SO after what I consider to be a major fuck up in letting Bin Laden go, what next? Are things any different or any better? Were there any real concrete results? The Taliban still exists. Al Queda still exists. Bin Laden still lives. I kept the L.A. Daily News papers following 9/11 and they all have Bush on the front page swearing to get him. But, with all the failures to do so, and the flip flops on how important he is, I guess Bin Laden was really just some psycho bastard, and a means to an end, to serve a very different agenda.
We didn’t get him. We should have. We let him go and stopped trying. Al Queda is still operative. We didn’t wipe them out. Were we even supposed to? The more I think about it, and the more I scratch my head, the more I think there is no excuse. The more I think, the more I feel there was no intent to follow through. Instead, make claims that tie to some other country and hammer the shit out of them. But don’t catch the original Big Bad, because then your whole argument falls apart.
AQ no longer has open training facilities nor do they have the direct support of a nation state. Its debatable how badly they were hurt in Afghanistan but I don’t think anyone would argue they WERE hurt. IMO they were hurt pretty badly, that what ever command and control they might have had pre-9/11 is gone now and that the various cells remaining are underground and operating on their own. As we can see, the remaining big guys are scrambling around and in hiding…and occationally one gets picked off by folks…one got grabbed last month IIRC.
As for the Taliban, they no longer control the government and are simply another faction in Afghanistan…and not one of the bigger ones. Their power has been pretty much broken and I doubt they will ever dominate again. There have been relatively free elections in Afghanistan for a first, and the Afghani government continues to extend its control. Afghanistan is still a mess of course, but its not as MUCH of a mess as it was under the Taliban.
Bin Laden is still at large. He is still favorably looked upon by a large segment of folks in the ME. As a symbol he still has power, and as a symbol his capture is still important. But in reality whether he’s caught or eventually dies on his own (recall…he’s fairly old, and IIRC not in the best of health, and he is probably constantly on the move, hiding in caves or villager huts or gods know what. Look how such things aged Saddam) is moot in the respect that ObL isn’t really controlling AQ, or directing their future missions. He is pretty much on the run and its going to take everything he has to stay one step ahead. All it will take is one fuckup where the US (or other countries) get a confirmed bead on him and he’ll be saying hello to a sniper round or more likely a air to ground missile…or perhaps a SF team come to whisk him away to lovely Cuba.
As for Bush swearing to get him…well, Bush has said a lot of things. You believe any of them? He’s a politician…if his lips are moving then he’s lieing. If his lips aren’t moving then its probably Chaney talking…
-XT
I’m rooting for a nice fat bullet. It’s quicker, more efficient, and no need to guard or protect him after.
ROFL. You got that right. It’s the old saw - “You can tell he’s lying…his lips ae moving”
After seeing him in action, I automatically assume the worst and disbelieve anything he says. I used to believe him at the very beginning - after all even a politician might have some good ir some usefulness. But I got tired of all the contradictions between the words and the results/facts/evidence. People still say we should give him the benefit of the doubt, but with me he’s already spent all his “capital”.
Tell you what. It’s been fun arguing with you, but if somehow it all turns out good in the end, I won’t mind in the least.