S2,
Now is the time not to take clever side-steps as you have been doing in this thread, but tell us the truth.
Tell us what USA has accomplished in Iraq, other than starting a bloody civil war. Where are the WMDS?
(Please don't give use those barrels of mustard gas or executing Saddam crap)
Tell us what USA , NATO, and even NA accomplished? Tell us, rather convince us why fighting in Afghanistan is worth it.
People are sick and tired of the war...people want to go home...
Sure the Taliban is gone...but with all your so-called "technological advantages" where are the criminals or OBL?
Your Army, the most sophisticated in the world has failed in the Korean peninsula, in Vietnam, Cuba...now in Iraq, and Afghanistan?
LOL, ARE YOU JOKING!!! PLEASE EXPLAIN THE
BLACKWATER SCANDAL IN IRAQ!!! LOL
to the real world....
S-2 you are dangerous for your nation, because with your acrid attitude you are only going to make people dislike your nation even more. USA is already in tight situation in today's political affairs and with Russia declaring an arms race aganist NATO, and with also China ganging up on America on outerspace treaties; America will not be the only superpower in the upcoming decades.
May God help you and your country.
I think that quite a few posts in reference to what S -2 has written has not been totally objective and fair.
First of all. I don't think he has sidestepped the issue at all and instead has held to his point of view quite consistently. There are merits in what he has written as there are merits in the less sentimental and 'my country right or wrong' posts in reply.
What has the US achieved in Iraq?
They have made their presence in the Middle East and will be in the centre of all activities guiding the fate of the region and the world. Their military presence will be a serious deterrent for any of the Arab nation from taking action that is inimical to the interest of the US. The activities of Syria, which is a virulent anti US country is a case in point. The irrelevance of Hamas is another case in point where the Arab nations have practically abandoned them except for worthless moral support, that too, very muted.
Success is not in the capture of territory alone or having puppet govt. Success is also signatured by cowing down belligerent nations by mere presence and the power to strike at short notice! That is what the US has achieved and it can be compared to what it could do prior to the Iraq War.
Therefore, if evenly and fairly analysed, there is no doubt that in political terms and in geostrategic terms, the US has benefited immensely.
There are people who focus on single issues to compare success. In understanding geo strategy and geo politics, one has to see the issues on a broader perspective.
With the collapse of the USSR, the US policy apparently has been to maintain its sole global supremacy. The actions taken should be understood and not merely looking at single issues or single regions.
The aim was to ensure that the soviet influence in the region is not taken over by its successor regimes. To this effect, a very well planned US foreign policy was put into action, right from the Clinton era. Irrespective of the political party running the US Administration, they have had the single minded devotion to the furtherance of the US policy to ensure that other powers are defanged. Russia maybe defanged, but it still remains as the most serious threat to the US. Therefore, the Clinton Administration commenced the squeezing out of the Soviet influence from Europe by targeting the the most reliable ally of the Russians - Serbia. Regan presided over the collapse of the USSR and took the credit, but that is another of the media propaganda. The US has been slowly hammering at the Soviet Union right from the Eisenhower period and Regan won the accolades! The condition of Serbia where it has become moth eaten and the manner how the UDI by Kosovo has been engineered and given respectability inspite of there being no UN recognition is a salute to the ingenuity of the US.
People say that the WoT is a War against Islam. Is it? It is just an instrument to ensure US global presence in areas of concern to US interest. OBL has only assisted the US by providing the moral justification on a platter. In fact, if anyone is against the Islamic interests, it is OBL. He has unleashed the US on to fundamentalists and the fundamentalists are merely providing further justification!!
If the US was against Islam, would it promote the Mujahideens in Afghanistan against the USSR?
Would the US promote the rise of Islamic countries in the Christian areas like Europe? There are Islamic states mushrooming in Europe and to each is US patronage and sustenance!
So, it is a canard that the US is against Islam or the WoT is a War against Terror.
The bottomline is that US interests come first for the US Administrations and religion has no hindrance in furthering it with all zest and gusto.
Has Iraq been a failure or for that matter Afghanistan? Hardly. No insurgency can be snuffed out in a jiffy and Pakistan should be well aware of it. Has it been able to tame its areas where insurgency is strife? Even the fact that the adversaries are of the same religion ie the Pak Army and the insurgents has not encouraged the insurgents to halt their forays and mayhem against fellow Moslems. If that be so, then how can one expect the US to snuff out insurgency in a jiffy when the fundamentalists reject the existence of any religion but Islam and have Dar ul Islam the world over?
Hence, when Pakistan cannot curb their coreligionists inspite of Pakistan being an Islamic state with Moslems in their Army, it is not fair to expects miracles from the US.
However, that the US is prevailing in its mission is the conditions in Iraq, where they have brought the situation under some control from the days of chaos.
There is no reason to believe that the US will not be able to succeed similarly in Afghanistan.
The situation in Pakistan should indicate the power of the US and its far reaching influence. The all powerful Musharraf, who was the apple of the US eye has been slowly defanged and now made impotent - all through ostensibly fair means!! Could it be that Musharraf was flexing his muscles and not obeying the US in letter and spirit?
BB had been propped up and now her corrupt govt is playing the US Pied Piper. One would be in a Fools Paradise to feel that Nawaz Sharif will not toe the line. He had visited the US to salvage him in the Kargil War. If he were an adversary of the US, would he run hotfoot there?
Think it over.
One should pay attention to what Americans say and it is important one listens to the US through people like S - 2, the only American contributor to this forum.