Monday, June 2, 2008

Let's be Realistic Here

A couple of good items came out over the last few days regarding the War on Terror. First, word comes out that Al-Qaida has been severely diminished; which is great news for the United States and our international allies. Then word come out today that the Taliban has been hurt greatly and is on the way out.

All of this is good news. But, let's be real here. How can we possibly think that we can destroy and eliminate Al-Qaida when Osama bin Laden is still out there organizing and operating without discretion? He and his top aides are still out there making tapes and relaying their message to anyone that will listen. All the while, May was our second deadliest month in Afghanistan since we started.

The same goes for Mullah Omar in Afghanistan. He is still a free man along with his top aides. Do we really believe that the Taliban is finished as long as this guy is waltzing around?

How can we really believe that we are crippling these organizations when all of their leaders are still free to roam and create havoc? We are simply fooling ourselves if we believe that Al-Qaida can be elimnated by just knocking off their pawns and footsoldiers. These organizations need to be decapitated if we are seeking true, lasting success. Otherwise, these patient terrorists will simply wait us out and re-emerge once we've left.

The results will be worse for the Afghans and Iraqis that supported us. If we pull out of these countries prematurely, surely the Afghans that have been voting in the elections or the Iraqis that braved the threats from the terrorists will become sacrificial lambs.

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