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Pentagon Papers II

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by Boom_70, Jul 25, 2010.

  1. Stoney

    Stoney Well-Known Member

    The current president was handed a no solution clusterfuck. And he has the right to blame the former president for taking his eye off the ball and starting an illegal new war when this thing actually appeared winnable back in 03. But I'll stop the political debate there. Serves no purpose any more.
     
  2. Armchair_QB

    Armchair_QB Well-Known Member

    Nice revisionist history.

    We had bipartisan agreement at home and the support of the international community when we went in.
     
  3. printdust

    printdust New Member

    But it gives him his political cop-out, which to him is all that matters, eh?
     
  4. Michael_ Gee

    Michael_ Gee Well-Known Member

    Once upon a time, say 2002, we could have started to help create a real Afghan government. It probably wouldn't have worked, but it might've.
    Once upon a time, say in February, 2009, we could have told the Taliban. "We don't really care about this pisspot country (which we don't). Keep Al Qaeda out of here, don't help people attack Americans or American interests, and you can run your medieval theocracy as you damn please." They probably wouldn't have taken the offer, but they might've.
    Now, the only plausible strategy is leaving. But we won't, so many fine Americans and many more Afghanis will die for little or no reason. Meanwhile, the terrorists we supposedly are fighting are happily regrouping in other miserable countries full of desperate people such as Yemen and Somalia. And the hatred on both sides keeps growing.
     
  5. Azrael

    Azrael Well-Known Member

    Not revising anything. We had an infinite range of operational choices in the fall of 2001.

    We chose the worst of them.
     
  6. Stoney

    Stoney Well-Known Member

    It wasn't always no win. There was a period of time back in 03 to early 04 when we had em on the ropes and nearly finished it. The Taliban was nearly crushed, it's infrastructure, arsenal and supply lines were decimated, and we once supposedly had Bin Laden pinned down and trapped in a small area where we knew he was.

    Then dubya decided to start a second war, we began diverting resources and troops from one to the other, the Taliban started rebuilding and getting stronger every year, and Bin Laden slipped through our fingers into god knows where.

    It is NOW unwinnable, it wasn't always so.
     
  7. printdust

    printdust New Member

    [​IMG]

    Before...


    After...
    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Dec 15, 2014
  8. Azrael

    Azrael Well-Known Member

    STFU.
     
  9. Armchair_QB

    Armchair_QB Well-Known Member

    Ok Patton, what were those options?
     
  10. Azrael

    Azrael Well-Known Member

    Here's one: snatch bin-Laden in a small scale Special Forces operation.
     
  11. printdust

    printdust New Member

    We got them into a corner by bombing the fuck out of them. I think we still have a few of those in the cabinet.
     
  12. Azrael

    Azrael Well-Known Member

    The bombing got us no closer to bin-Laden.
     
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