So who's the terrorist again?

[alanzs]

Valid enough points...but it's all reactive thinking. We should be asking ourselves why these issues have reared their ugly head to start with.

The general Saudi population is pissed off at the US because they have propped up their despotic monarchy, hence most of the 9/11 "terrorists" were Saudi citizens.

The US actually trained Osama bin Laden to start with. They created their own nightmare and inist on dragging the rest of the world into it.

The US funded/armed/trained the warlords in Aghanistan to fight the Russians. Once the US invaded to secure their oil pipeline they beat up the Taliban which was the only entity keeping the warlords in check. Now the warlords are running riot and what was a comparitively safe (harsh doctrine, admittedly) environment has become virtually lawless. As a result 1000's of lives are being lost/destroyed with no signs of it abating.

Etc

Etc

Thanks to US foreign policy we live in a far more dangerous world than any that would have arisen if they'd left things the hell alone.

But opium production in Afghanistan, which was almost eradicated, has soared to record levels. Not everything is bad news.

[slowpoke]

But opium production in Afghanistan, which was almost eradicated, has soared to record levels. Not everything is bad news.

Exactly, our stocks of wannabe strippers should be at an all time high, with a marked reduction in the costs associated with viewing said strippers dropping due to supply and demand!

[Winston001]

Valid enough points...but it's all reactive thinking. We should be asking ourselves why these issues have reared their ugly head to start with.

The general Saudi population is pissed off at the US because they have propped up their despotic monarchy, hence most of the 9/11 "terrorists" were Saudi citizens.

The US actually trained Osama bin Laden to start with. They created their own nightmare and inist on dragging the rest of the world into it.

The US funded/armed/trained the warlords in Aghanistan to fight the Russians. Once the US invaded to secure their oil pipeline they beat up the Taliban which was the only entity keeping the warlords in check. Now the warlords are running riot and what was a comparatively safe (harsh doctrine, admittedly) environment has become virtually lawless. As a result 1000's of lives are being lost/destroyed with no signs of it abating.

Etc

Etc

Thanks to US foreign policy we live in a far more dangerous world than any that would have arisen if they'd left things the hell alone.

Good post and I agree with most of it.

Afghanistan - historically this has never been a cohesive nation. It is a part of the world divided along tribal and family lines, temporary alliances between enemies, and where treachery abounds. The warlords are the defacto kings of their regions.

The Taliban are misunderstood in many ways. For a brief period they brought stability, the rule of law (sharia), unity and peace to a warring population. The downside was that they tried to take Afghanistan back to an 18th century way of life in a world of modern weapons, drugs, and technology. Can't be done.

I don't think US foreign policy on an objective basis can be blamed for moslem unrest. However America is large, powerful, and highly visible, compared with any other nation. There are hundreds of millions of poor, illiterate, and frustrated moslems who are easy converts for radical Islam, and their anger needs a focus - the USA.

Hitler understood this when the Nazis picked on the Jewish population to blame the woes of post Treaty of Versailles Germany. Its a well known strategy to build unity and bond your followers - find a common enemy and wind up the hate.

[SPman]

, its when they start the world domination game they get tetchy.

As George Carlin put it: - Bullshit! That's OUR fuckin' job!

People seem to forget exactly how bad things could have been if Iraq had slipped Al Queda something nasty in a suitcase.

Whilst forgetting that Al Qaida and Saddam were mortal enemies.......

When it comes to Afghanistan......the Pashtun tribesmen are slow to mobilise and don't fight a large war, but, they are very good at making their country totally untenable for any foreign invaders (which is what the current occupiers, ie, us,are). Forget about Taliban, Al Qaida, or any of that bullshit - when it comes to Afghanistan, it becomes the Pashtun against the rest, regardless of their individual loyalties, and countries over the centuries have not realised that, to their very large cost!