21st March 2004, 12:34 PM
You have one twisted idea of what I wish we'd do... doing all we can to get the UN's support is quite the opposite of "giving up"... it's doing one of the only things that will get us progress against terrorists!
First. We cannot "win" this war. Terrorism won't go away. What we can do is limit it. But you know what? I'd bet that the Iraq war has CREATED at least as many or more terrorists than it stopped... Afghanistan obviously was much more clear, but Bush abandoned it once he'd "won" because he had to attack Iraq. A sane and thoughtful president would have focused on Afghanistan, by far the most important front in the war on terror... but this idiot has far too few troops there to do much of any good and is letting that nation fail again. Because he doesn't actually care about stopping terrorists, it seems...
As for Iraq, I do think we can't leave. We destroyed their government so it'd be irresponsible to leave. And I think that after supporting us so far it isn't right for Spain to pull out... but when you consider all the facts, for the Spanish the course they're taking is by far the best one. Why in the world should they support us with troops when they get nothing in return? Same with France, Germany, etc. Bush is saying "come in with troops please but we will not actually give you any kind of control over the nation". That is insane and no self-respecting nation should do that!
So as I said, the only way to get more support is to give the UN real power. The only way to do that is to get rid of Bush. Oh, and with the UN there I'm sure that the political situation would improve... oh, there'd still be plenty of terrorists, but there'd be even less public support because they'd see the international community dealing with it and not just our unilateral action that could very well (and partly obviously is) done just for our own ends and not for theirs.
Bush has realized he needs more international support but refuses to do the measures needed to get it because he hates the UN and illogically thinks that it is a failure. It isn't. It's not the most efficient organization, for sure, but nothing of that nature ever could be!
Bosnia/Kosovo? The UN (many of them US troops) has troops there. They are still there, you are right. Why? Look at the news yesterday. There was a massacre... some Kosovars killed some Kosovo Serbs. That's why we're still there. If we left Kosovo and Bosnia would instantly collapse into war and genocide again. We cannot leave. Oh, it is true that we have no exit strategy and we could be there a very long time, but that's the right thing in this situation! It'd be insanely irresponsible to leave!
Iraq? They didn't get rid of Sadaam, but they isolated him, destroyed his Bio/Chem weapons program, limited his income, and forced him to limit his military...what more could you possibly ask for? It's absurd to say they failed in Iraq. Actually, I'd call Iraq 1991-2003 (until right before we attacked) a great success for the UN...
First. We cannot "win" this war. Terrorism won't go away. What we can do is limit it. But you know what? I'd bet that the Iraq war has CREATED at least as many or more terrorists than it stopped... Afghanistan obviously was much more clear, but Bush abandoned it once he'd "won" because he had to attack Iraq. A sane and thoughtful president would have focused on Afghanistan, by far the most important front in the war on terror... but this idiot has far too few troops there to do much of any good and is letting that nation fail again. Because he doesn't actually care about stopping terrorists, it seems...
As for Iraq, I do think we can't leave. We destroyed their government so it'd be irresponsible to leave. And I think that after supporting us so far it isn't right for Spain to pull out... but when you consider all the facts, for the Spanish the course they're taking is by far the best one. Why in the world should they support us with troops when they get nothing in return? Same with France, Germany, etc. Bush is saying "come in with troops please but we will not actually give you any kind of control over the nation". That is insane and no self-respecting nation should do that!
So as I said, the only way to get more support is to give the UN real power. The only way to do that is to get rid of Bush. Oh, and with the UN there I'm sure that the political situation would improve... oh, there'd still be plenty of terrorists, but there'd be even less public support because they'd see the international community dealing with it and not just our unilateral action that could very well (and partly obviously is) done just for our own ends and not for theirs.
Bush has realized he needs more international support but refuses to do the measures needed to get it because he hates the UN and illogically thinks that it is a failure. It isn't. It's not the most efficient organization, for sure, but nothing of that nature ever could be!
Bosnia/Kosovo? The UN (many of them US troops) has troops there. They are still there, you are right. Why? Look at the news yesterday. There was a massacre... some Kosovars killed some Kosovo Serbs. That's why we're still there. If we left Kosovo and Bosnia would instantly collapse into war and genocide again. We cannot leave. Oh, it is true that we have no exit strategy and we could be there a very long time, but that's the right thing in this situation! It'd be insanely irresponsible to leave!
Iraq? They didn't get rid of Sadaam, but they isolated him, destroyed his Bio/Chem weapons program, limited his income, and forced him to limit his military...what more could you possibly ask for? It's absurd to say they failed in Iraq. Actually, I'd call Iraq 1991-2003 (until right before we attacked) a great success for the UN...