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It certainly SEEMED that America had been attacked by foreign enemies (although we now know that is not quite right), but WHAT foreign enemies?  The American leadership never attempted to answer that question and the American public never cared.  It did not have to be Afghanistan--ANY country would have served--as Iraq served two years later.  

The important thing was to have a war, any war, and kill somebody.  Sun Tzu, it was not.  

The Fates are kind.

by Gaianne on Tue Feb 19th, 2008 at 02:52:58 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Well, I think Afghanistan was more or less justified. 9/11 wasn't a military attack so much as a criminal activity, but considering the nature of the Taliban regime, the threshold for casus belli isn't really that high in my book.

Now, whether it was effective is another matter entirely. Whether it could have been effective is a wholly third issue.

- Jake

If you only spend 20 minutes of the rest of your life on economics, go spend them here.

by JakeS (JangoSierra 'at' gmail 'dot' com) on Tue Feb 19th, 2008 at 03:44:32 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Whether Osama been Forgotten had anything to do with it has never been answered either.  

So you exemplify my point.  

Had to attack somebody.  Didn't matter who.  

The Fates are kind.

by Gaianne on Tue Feb 19th, 2008 at 03:59:01 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Well, yes and no. You'll have to admit that a lot of the Bush regime's activities in the days immediately after 9/11 look an awful lot like they thought it was Been Forgotten - and did their dead level best to hide it long enough to get his highly profitable family out of the country.

Further, what they really wanted all along was to attack Saddam Hussein (no, this isn't hindsight, we know that from leaked memos - sufficiently unflattering memos to be pretty sure that the leak wasn't orchestrated), so it seems rather unlikely to me that they'd invent Been Forgotten out of thin air if they were just looking for a scapegoat. Especially since it would risk upsetting their lucrative deals with Been Forgotten's Saudi friends and family.

Now, I'm not doubting the Bush regime's mendacity, but blaming Been Forgotten wasn't in their selfish interest in the first place.

- Jake

If you only spend 20 minutes of the rest of your life on economics, go spend them here.

by JakeS (JangoSierra 'at' gmail 'dot' com) on Tue Feb 19th, 2008 at 04:18:28 PM EST
[ Parent ]

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