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Originally Posted by The Indomitable DrugS
If you read the full version of bin Laden's '96 Fatwa - which I believe was titled something like 'Declaration of War against the Americans for occupying the land of the two holy places' - it becomes painfully obvious that the entire basis for declaring war by bin Laden's network was because of the United States foreign policy. His case was built around that and only that.
The Fatwa was very widely circulated - in fact, it was something I had read long before 9/11. I was in high school at the time, and my sociology teacher (who had recently retired from the US Military) had something of a bin Laden obsession. He was convinced that the guy was no joke - and was something of a calculating political genius who was probably capable of low tech, high concept attacks, designed to bait or trap.
I remember on the old AOL horse board before 9/11 - I'd like to mix in a few Osama bin Laden references, jokes, and just drop his name into my posts - mostly because almost everyone there had no idea who the hell I was talking about. There are a few who post here now who remember those old gems of mine from way back in the day.
I don't blame Ron Paul at all for saying what almost made you fall out of your chair. Why, exactly, did we need our military stationed in other lands? Just because the governments there are friendly and the people are fanatical?
Our foreign policy has long been a joke - we ought to focus on our own peace and prosperity instead of trying to get involved in everyone elses business. Giving huge handouts and aid away to those governments who want to be our pals (even if said gov is evil or corrupt) - and rattling cages of all governments who don't want to be our pals.
I think Paul's point was that if we focused on just our own peace and prosperity - and not tried to be the policeman of the entire world, getting involved in everyones business - there would have been no 9/11, no Iraq war, and the Al Qadia network would have either been a non-entity or an entity who ultimately would have declared war against an Arab government. We are fighting everyone elses battles.
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Al Qadea was originally formed back in the 1980s to get the Soviets out of Afghanistan. Once they reached their goal, they didn't disband and retire. These guys are terrorists. They are cold-blooded killers and that's what they will always be. Our behavior was not responsible for 9/11. They will kill anyone that they can't control. How do you explain them putting bombs in shopping malls in Iraq? Did the shoppers at the malls do something bad to Al Qadea? There is no justification for Al Qadea's behavior. To think that most of their terrorist behavior is rational and justified is crazy. Al Qadea wants to control people through intimidation. Let's just suppose that they got everything that they claim that they want. Let's say that we left the Middle East. Let's say that Al Qadea overthrew the government in both Saudi Arabia and Egypt. Do you think they would be satisfied at that point? Do you think that Bin Laden would retire and become a family man? Of course not. He would set his sights on something else. They would start killing all the Muslims who don't practice the same brand of Islam as Al Qadea. They are already doing this right now in Iraq. They would probably try to overthrow some of the European governments through acts of terror.
I think it is a huge mistake to think that Al Qadea is a totally rational group with limited goals. It is also a huge mistake to think that most of the victims that are murdered by Al Qadea, are partially responsible because of their behavior. The truth of the matter is that they will murder anyone that does not practice their brand of Islam. Just sitting back and minding your own business, will in no way mean that Al Qadea will leave you alone.
Being an isolationist country would by no means guarantee our safety. I think we learned that lesson in World War II. I'm not saying that we shouldn't reevaluate our foreing aid and foreign policy, but I think it would be naive and shortsighted to think that we would be safer and that the world would be a safer place if we simply became an isolationist country. Quite to the contary, I think there could be some devastating consequences.
If a country is an active player on the world stage, they are not going to make everybody happy. You will certanly make some enemies. You just have to live with that because the alternative of being an isolationist country is not a viable alternative.