[Lanny_MacDonald]

Originally Posted by Looger

http://www.calgarypuck.com/forum/sho...875#post327875

http://www.globalsecurity.org/org/ne...430-psab01.htm

in an earlier post in an earlier thread, al-quaeda has always stated its goal as forcing the US out of saudi arabia, and guess what happened.

as for america's reasons to be in iraq,

http://www.joebageant.com/joe/2006/0...e_of_the_.html
keeping white trash down where they belong

http://www.newamericancentury.org/Re...asDefenses.pdf
keeping AIPAC happy

keeping the price of oil nice and high
keeping strategic foothold
keep terrorists in business
drain the people of tax money, stright into the right pockets
maybe even spark a next wave of terror attacks on the US, that'd be groovy!

as for the oil bourse thing (iraq selling oil in euros, not dollars) - put that one down as a maybe, i'm not sure the 5% top of american aristocracy would be so bad off if the economy collapsed, the brunt of the old money would be fine.

there's millions of reasons to invade iraq, and not one of them makes america, or anyone, safer.

and really, if you're put there by lobbyists, and kept there by fear, why NOT invade iraq?

Some great links and some great comments there Looger. Nice to see someone pull out a PNAC link to show people exactly what a bunch of delusion idiots are running the United States. When I think a word to describe this country right now, its hubris. They really need a change of attitude and slap into reality.

I think that people are under-rating the motivations of Al Qaeda. People fail to acknowledge what bin Laden and company have been trying to do. I think the organization is really trying to unify Islam and recreate the caliphate that made thr Islamic nation the most powerful and successful on earth. To do so they must get Muslims across two continents to rise up and fight a common foe. That common foe has been identified and the United States was earmaked as the the country most likely to be drawn into a conflict that could achieve that goal. Interestingly, Al Qaeda had been hitting the United States for almost a decade prior to 9/11, but the US would not be dragged into a conflict.

A lot of people complained that Clinton was not forceful enough in answering the actions by Al Qaeda, yet it appears he knew what he was doing. bin Laden had been counting on America reacting strongly and doing something that would inflame the Islamic world. Clinton would never give in and play the game. The reaction was always a calculated response and aimed at the responsible parties. This was the same reaction that Reagan and Bush 41 had used prior, and Clinton continued to follow the advice of the military and intelligence community and not get dragged into a conflict that could spin out of control.

Al Qaeda was patient and continued to escalate their attacks. They knew it was only a matter of time before they got someone in the White House that would fall into their trap and react in a way that would inflame the Islamic world. Of course it took an unimaginable act to generate the reaction, but they also had the right group of politicians, with a warped sense of reality, in power that would react exactly as they saw fit.

Al Qaeda got the United States to react exactly as they would have hoped, in the invasion and occupation of Afghanistan. They got a huge bonus when Iraq was also invaded and occupied. Two for the price of one, and a huge bump in paranoia around the Islamic world. Bush and company have done more to further the cause of Al Qaeda than bin Laden could ever dream. Bush has insured that recruiting centers for Al Qaeda will be jam packed, as Islam is under attack. The Iranians are rattling their sabers and WILL begin work on atomic weapons ASAP. The United States has pushed them into a corner and they have no other choice. The United States now has Iran surrounded (Iraq on the west and Afghanistan on the east), so what do they have to lose? Nothing. The region is quickly becoming a tinderbox, and only because Bush, and his administration of idiots, walked right into the trap that bin Laden has been working on since the late 80’s.

All of the reasons you bring up for America’s invasion of Iraq are pretty much on the money. There is no real world reason for being there. Bush and his band of boneheads have been jonesing to get into Iraq since the end of the first Iraq war, so it was pretty much a sure thing they were going in (god bless the PNAC and their stupidity of publishing their plans in the late 90’s). Sadly, the American people are too naïve to put two-and-two together and come up with the answers the rest of the world have come up with.