Terrorists have beaten us at the waiting game
The attacks on the United States (and the world at large) on Sept. 11, 2001, sent this nation charging into a war it could not win. In time, false bravado, “Bring ‘em on,” and grossly exaggerated claims of victory like “Mission accomplished” sealed our fate.
The war on terrorism was officially declared by a president totally clueless regarding potential repercussions as we invaded Afghanistan in October of that year. Less than two years later, that same president, still clueless, continued like a petulant child seeking further reasons to exact revenge for 9/11. Thus, using the pretense of national security and non-existent weapons of mass destruction, we charged mindlessly into Iraq.
To help deflect any criticism, Afghanistan bore the official media-friendly name of Operation Enduring Freedom, while Iraq got tagged with an equally misleading title, Operation Iraqi Freedom. To date, the world has learned just how misleading and ironic those two operational names really are.
It was deluded minds that believed a quick defeat of al-Qaida and Taliban militants would ensure a world free of terrorists. Since those invasions, we and the rest of the global community have witnessed anything but that goal.
To date, hundreds of thousands of people — the innocent as well as the guilty — have shed their blood in both operations. Americans, Iraqis, Afghans and others have suffered terribly because of two idiotic suicide charges into uncharted waters. A “damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead” mentality worked fairly well in the 19th century but has proved disastrous in the 21st century.
After $6 trillion and unimaginable pain and suffering, al-Qaida, The Islamic State and the Levant, the Taliban, and others more closely aligned with fringe and splinter groups, are still present. Striking mercilessly, they use a perverted understanding of Islam to spread terror near and far, their successes helping to fuel that perversion.
For more than a decade, while we tried to fully engage the enemy on our terms, the militants have played the waiting game, knowing full well we couldn’t stay forever. Taking only necessary, yet very successful risks, militants have kept their heads down, stayed out of the line of fire, biding their time. The wait has paid off.
We’re going home, while countless militants in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria and Pakistan, are already home. Now, they are clearing taking advantage of our absence. Sadly, since October of 2001, that was a foregone conclusion.
When the war on terrorism started, our enemies made it clear they were totally in charge. In our leaving, the militants have issued follow-up statements as to who is in charge and who will be in charge in the future. Current and future results of the manifesto proclaimed over the years by these loosely bound yet deadly and highly effective groups can’t be stopped. No power on earth — not the United States, not the United Nations, not a collection of Middle Eastern nations — can stem the tide of radical Islam.
The militants have waited us out, calling our bluff. Tragically, the world has paid dearly during that wait. They’ve won and like a disease that can’t be eradicated, we had better get used to it and learn to live with it. That’s reality, not some president playing a childish game of “getting even” with absolutely no regard as to how much it will cost or who will get hurt. It’s time our presidents grew up.
The attacks on the United States (and the world at large) on Sept. 11, 2001, sent this nation charging into a war it could not win. In time, false bravado, “Bring ‘em on,” and grossly exaggerated claims of victory like “Mission accomplished” sealed our fate.
The war on terrorism was officially declared by a president totally clueless regarding potential repercussions as we invaded Afghanistan in October of that year. Less than two years later, that same president, still clueless, continued like a petulant child seeking further reasons to exact revenge for 9/11. Thus, using the pretense of national security and non-existent weapons of mass destruction, we charged mindlessly into Iraq.
To help deflect any criticism, Afghanistan bore the official media-friendly name of Operation Enduring Freedom, while Iraq got tagged with an equally misleading title, Operation Iraqi Freedom. To date, the world has learned just how misleading and ironic those two operational names really are.
It was deluded minds that believed a quick defeat of al-Qaida and Taliban militants would ensure a world free of terrorists. Since those invasions, we and the rest of the global community have witnessed anything but that goal.
To date, hundreds of thousands of people — the innocent as well as the guilty — have shed their blood in both operations. Americans, Iraqis, Afghans and others have suffered terribly because of two idiotic suicide charges into uncharted waters. A “damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead” mentality worked fairly well in the 19th century but has proved disastrous in the 21st century.
After $6 trillion and unimaginable pain and suffering, al-Qaida, The Islamic State and the Levant, the Taliban, and others more closely aligned with fringe and splinter groups, are still present. Striking mercilessly, they use a perverted understanding of Islam to spread terror near and far, their successes helping to fuel that perversion.
For more than a decade, while we tried to fully engage the enemy on our terms, the militants have played the waiting game, knowing full well we couldn’t stay forever. Taking only necessary, yet very successful risks, militants have kept their heads down, stayed out of the line of fire, biding their time. The wait has paid off.
We’re going home, while countless militants in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria and Pakistan, are already home. Now, they are clearing taking advantage of our absence. Sadly, since October of 2001, that was a foregone conclusion.
When the war on terrorism started, our enemies made it clear they were totally in charge. In our leaving, the militants have issued follow-up statements as to who is in charge and who will be in charge in the future. Current and future results of the manifesto proclaimed over the years by these loosely bound yet deadly and highly effective groups can’t be stopped. No power on earth — not the United States, not the United Nations, not a collection of Middle Eastern nations — can stem the tide of radical Islam.
The militants have waited us out, calling our bluff. Tragically, the world has paid dearly during that wait. They’ve won and like a disease that can’t be eradicated, we had better get used to it and learn to live with it. That’s reality, not some president playing a childish game of “getting even” with absolutely no regard as to how much it will cost or who will get hurt. It’s time our presidents grew up.
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