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Why are we not talking about this plan by "he who walks on water" to invade a friendly country, and how we have less of a reason to invade that country than we ever had, with Iraq, no matter how you have chosen to look at it?

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ORIGINAL: rlj

What I am curious to know is what Berlin has to do with Pakistan?

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I'm trying to figure out why people who were so supportive of everything that this administration has done as far as wars, invasions, etc. will refuse to consider chasing down the organisation that WAS responsible for 9/11.

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ORIGINAL: TaoPoohBear

Probably for the same reason they twist history to fit their political view; They're more interested in being good Conservative Republicans than responsible Americans. That's why they're running scared this election.

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I do not mean to be personal, but you may better understand Conservatives, Republicans and me if you and others, who are so quick to judge, label, and assume how those of us who try to look at things realisticlly, will stop talking long enough to really listen and read what we say and what we write.

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Every situation, every country, at every point in history, needs to be dealt with separately, as conditions warrant, and as needed.

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Al Quada, and Bin Laden still exists, but they both reached their greatest successes with Afghanistan and 9/11. Our invasion of Afghanistan succeeded in cribbling the network and isolating Bin Laden. Bin Laden may still be in charge of the network, and the network may be gaining strength in some parts of the world, but it largely lacks a country that it can control, and give it safe haven. With Iraq out of the picture, they lack a country who may have been in place to support and arm them with vast amounts of money and just about every imaginable weapon.

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You say you are neither for, nor agaist such action. I wonder.

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The head of US spying operations says the leaders of al-Qaeda have found a secure hideout in Pakistan from where they are rebuilding their strength.

National Intelligence Director John Negroponte said al-Qaeda was strengthening its ties across the Middle East, North Africa and Europe.

Afghanistan has welcomed the comments. President Hamid Karzai's chief-of-staff, Jawed Ludin, told the BBC that Afghanistan had long maintained that the Islamic militants operated from within Pakistan, and that Mr Negroponte's statement was refreshing in its honesty.

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WASHINGTON — Late last year, top Bush administration officials decided to take a step they had long resisted. They drafted a secret plan to make it easier for the Pentagon’s Special Operations forces to launch missions into the snow-capped mountains of Pakistan to capture or kill top leaders of Al Qaeda.

Intelligence reports for more than a year had been streaming in about Osama bin Laden’s terrorism network rebuilding in the Pakistani tribal areas, a problem that had been exacerbated by years of missteps in Washington and the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, sharp policy disagreements, and turf battles between American counterterrorism agencies.

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Mr Obama said yesterday that he wanted to secure the border, adding: “We need more troops, more helicopters, more satellites, more Predator drones.” He reiterated that the US forces should be ready to cross into Pakistan without permission “to take out high-level terrorist targets like bin Laden if we have them in our sights”.

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ORIGINAL: rlj

1) I believe you are correct. Should we ignore those groups that exist or should we deal with them as they make their faces shown?

2) This is also correct. However 3A would cause problems. What do you do if the next big terrorist thing comes out of Saudi Arabia? Or even Pakistan? What if AQ's current leadership manages to pull something off being bottled up in Pakistan now- not impossible with the internet and enough sympathetic people in the region. How do you fight such a war- invade Pakistan? Invade Saudi Arabia?

3 B We're already doing in many countries.

3 C how would we do that?

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ORIGINAL: Leon_Figg3

How would I deal with it?

1. Recognize that the elimination of AQ will not mean the end of Islamic extremism, or jhadist beliefs. From what this average person is able to understand and know, AQ is the name of the terrorist network put together by Bin Laden and other like minded people of intelligence, wealth and power. The elimination of Bin Laden and AQ, as you indicate, would only be a temporary set back. Sooner or latter it would be replaced and possibly be even made stronger and more determined.

2. Recognize that there are countries in the Middle East, and Near East whose governments are sincerely trying to deal with the threat of Islamic extremists in their country as they seek to modernize their countries. As a result, those governments may indeed be easily toppled by Islamic extremists in response to any unilateral military action taken by us.

3. Continue to deal with the threat of Islamic extremism and the like on a global basis by addressing those issues that seem to, and tend to feed Islamic extremism.

a. Address instances of terrorism by jhadist and Islamic extremists as acts of war, not solely as criminal acts.

b. Continue to work with other countries, on a number of levels of security in efforts to prevent acts of terrorism and mininmize the threat.

c. Help moderate Moslems gain a greater voice in the public forum as well as their communities and schools.

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According to U.S. special envoy to Afghanistan James Dobbins, Iran played a "decisive role" in persuading the Northern Alliance delegate to compromise. Dobbins also recalls how the Iranians insisted on including language in the Bonn agreement on the war on terrorism.

The bureaucracy recognized that there was an opportunity to work with Iran not only on stabilizing Afghanistan but on al-Qaeda as well. As reported by the Washington Post on Oct. 22, 2004, the State Department's policy planning staff had written a paper in late November 2001 suggesting that the United States should propose more formal arrangements for cooperation with Iran on fighting al-Qaeda.

That would have involved exchanging intelligence information with Tehran as well as coordinating border sweeps to capture al-Qaeda fighters and leaders who were already beginning to move across the border into Pakistan and Iran. The CIA agreed with the proposal, according to the Post's sources, as did the head of the White House Office for Combating Terrorism, retired Gen. Wayne A. Downing.

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Investigative journalist Bob Woodward's book Plan of Attack recounts that Deputy National Security Adviser Stephen J. Hadley, who chaired an interagency committee on Iran policy dealing with issues surrounding Afghanistan, learned that the White House intended to include Iran as a member of the "axis of evil" in Bush's State of the Union message in January.

By the end of December, Hadley had decided, against the recommendations of the State Department, CIA, and White House counter-terrorism office, that the United States would not share any information with Iran on al-Qaeda, even though it would press the Iranians for such intelligence.

Soon after that decision, hardliners presented Iranian policy to Bush and the public as hostile to U.S. aims in Afghanistan and refusing to cooperate with the war on terror – the opposite of what officials directly involved had witnessed.

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ORIGINAL: Leon_Figg3

Whatever happened to the arguement that America is not to be the policeman of the world?

Are we suppose to use our position and might in the worlld to dictate to everyone else how to deal with their internal affairs or not?

Maybe, before we take any unilateral military action anywhere, we need to address this question and settle it once and for all.

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The idea for the September 11 plot came from Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who first presented the idea to bin Laden in 1996. At that point, Bin Laden and al-Qaeda were in a period of transition, having just relocated back to Afghanistan from Sudan.
A series of meetings occurred in spring of 1999, involving Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Osama bin Laden, and his deputy Mohammed Atef. Bin Laden provided leadership for the plot, along with financial support. Bin Laden was also involved in selecting people to participate in the plot, including choosing Mohamed Atta as the lead hijacker. As many as 27 members of al-Qaeda attempted to enter the United State