"DSK" wrote in message
...
We'd know in a heartbeat if a Russian nuke was detonated on US soil.
How?
NOYB wrote:
From the isotopic signature.
Tell you what... I don't think so, and I bet the Russians don't either.
He has no interest in helping us. In fact, he's working feverishly to
subvert our efforts in Iraq.
Baloney. I suppose this comes out of the same spew that provides all the
ranting about Iran's insurgency is all foreigners.
The true native Iraqi "insurgents" are no longer very effective at
killing American and Iraq military and police forces.
Really? They've done a heck of a lot of it, but I suppose if you compare
them to the NVA then yeah, they're not as effective.
Are we going to stay in Iraq until the casualty count hit 50K +? I
sincerely hope NOT!
At the current rate, that would take about 62 years.
I simply don't see the analogy to Vietnam.
... Though they may outnumber the foreign fighters, their actions
account for very few of the more recent (within 6 months) American and
Iraqi casualties.
Says who?
Suicide bombers and insurgents aren't the same thing.
"American commanders say that foreigners make up more than 90 percent of
the suicide bombers. Many of those suicide attacks are directed at
civilians."
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/21/in...21baghdad.html
blah blah blah
You're talking about apples and trying to convince everyone it means
oranges.
You'd have better luck quoting this source: "The insurgency in Iraq is on
it's last legs" - Vice President Dick Cheney
It is. Don't confuse domestic insurgents with foreign-born terrorists.
But even if you do, then consider the fact that the foreign-born terrorists
that we're facing now are much younger (boys even!), and not as
well-trained.
Question: How is the state of the insurgency different today than
when you arrived to start your mission?
COL. BROWN: There's a significant difference from when we got here last
October. Last October, we faced a foreign fighter that was very
well-trained.
And as we got to February and March, we saw a completely different foreign
fighter. We've captured Libyans. We've captured Saudi, Yemenis, Algerians
And very interesting that younger foreign fighter that we're seeing now --
very poorly trained. We would call them more like RPGs for hire. And we
believe it's the -- we know that the leadership is severely disrupted.
Again, from -- about 25 percent of the attacks were very complex prior to
elections, as I described. Now we're down to five percent are complex. And
we're at the lowest number of attacks by far over the last three months.
And that is -- clearly the foreign network is disrupted. The leadership is
severely disrupted. We captured Abu Talha, the number-two al Qaeda leader
in the north of Iraq. And right after that we got Abu Bara, Madhi Musa
(sp), Abu Zab (sp), the next six leaders that would step up and take over.
Nobody's taken over now. It's not a very popular position because if they
step up, they get captured or killed. And so they're really disrupted,
totally different.
The other thing -- the other huge change is the population. And in a
counterinsurgency, of course, the terrorists don't have to -- the people
don't have to love them; they just have to remain neutral and not turn them
in. And when we got here, the people were intimidated, and they were
neutral. Now they are turning them in. We'd like to call it, you know, the
terrorists swim in a sea of anonymity, and that sea has been taken away from
them.
http://www.defense.gov/transcripts/2...0914-3903.html
... Hezbollah is supported more by Iran than by Syria. And they have a
large political wing which gives them a stake in realistic solutions.
Iran uses Syria (and much of formerly Syrian-controlled Lebanon) as a
Hezbollah supply route. In this way, Syria is just as much to blame.
I'd agree. We should be concentrating on chopping them off at the knees,
not destabilizing the whole region.
If we get Syria to pull back (which would take some smarts & some time)
then that gives Hezbollah an even bigger reason to play nice.
Syria already pulled their troops out of Lebanon...but much of its
intelligence agency and Hezbollah-support network remains behind.
Umm, for the third time: Hezbollah is neither Syrian nor Iranian.
No kidding. That's why I said "Hezbollah-support network".
They are primarily Palestinian but with pan-Arab roots (or pretenses to
that, anyway). Their main enemy is Israel, and their main antagonist is the
whole Western concept of secularism.
If you want to pick a fight, identifying the enemy makes a good first
step, nyet?
The enemy is any country providing assistance to the terrorist groups (like
al Qaeda, Hezbollah, Hamas, and Islamic Jihad)
.... It was those elements that killed Hariri. Bush and our European
allies tried to do just as you proposed...but the assassination threw a
monkey wrench into the plan.
Not really. The assassination was a tragedy for Lebanon but also
strengthened the hand of the pro-Western moderates. That's true inside
Syria as well, and we would be smart to encourage that development.
That may have been the net outcome...especially now that it's been shown
that
Syria played a role in the assassination. But that certainly wasn't what
Assad
thought would happen.
But I suppose you must rant & rave about how they are evil violent
fundamentalists (while ignoring the fact that you're a fundamentalist
advocate of violence yourself) & we should kill them all, somehow.
But I belong to the militarily stronger fundamentalist group.
That's what General Westmoreland said in 1967.
He was right. But support wavered at home because of a strong anti-war
movement that eroded the morale and fighting capabilities of the military.
That's why it's so important to at least present to the enemy the image of a
united front here at home...even if we disagree behind closed doors.
President Bush already knows that torture is for bad guys.
Then why did he promise to veto a bill defining torture as against US
policy? Or are you saying that President Bush is one of the bad guys?
No. I'm saying that he knows to use torture only on the really bad guys.
So, using brutal & evil methods is really good IYHO?
Only on evil and brutal people who would do the same to you if the situation
was reversed.