Tornado Alley (PROG)

[wbmw]

Re: Agree - AQ should be the target, NOT Afghan.

But AQ is not the target. The Taliban is.

We have to face it that AQ are guerrilla cave dwellers, who will defeat a frontal attack in the same way that the colonies defeated the British: by making the best use of the terrain, while trumping the old style of warfare with a form of attack that the other side isn't willing to duplicate (i.e. suicide bombers, et al).

The only way to defeat AQ is with Special Ops missions, satellite surveillance, special intelligence, and like maneuvers. We can't win with regular troops.

So why are we even there? It's because the troops are establishing borders, pushing the Taliban deeper into the desert, defending the urban populations, and holding a presence until some semblance of order can be attained.

That's not to say that I think this is a good strategy - quite the opposite. I think it will take too long and cost too much money to get the results we want, and it will come with too high of a loss of life. We may still be fighting this a decade from now, and with a much higher federal deficit. I think it needs to end, and it needs to be made a small, well funded, Special Ops unit designed to do nothing else but fight terrorism abroad.

I think that's the right tool to use, and unfortunately for the Iraqi and Afghan people, they'll have to cope on their own. Though to be frank, I think they'd prefer it that way, anyway....