Hello:
There would have been NO Gitmo, NO war in Afghanistan, NO war in Iraq, NO ISIS, 4,000 American soldiers would be alive, and ALL the criminals would be dead or in prison.
After all, the Taliban DID offer to turn Bin Laden over to us, and Bush REJECTED the offer.
How's that?
excon
Well, I doubt if Disneyland would have ensued. I wonder if we could ever hold Bush accountable for the criminal HE is.
According to the Washington Post, the Carlyle Group met at the Ritz Carlton Hotel in NYC one day before 9/11. In attendance at this meeting were former president George H. W. Bush and Shafiq bin Laden, the brother of Osama:
The Carlyle Group is a large private-equity investment firm, closely associated with officials of the Bush and Reagan administrations, and has considerable ties to Saudi oil money, including ties to the bin Laden family.
This morning [September 10, 2001] it is holding its annual investor conference at the Ritz Carlton hotel in Washington, DC. Among the guests of honor is investor Shafig bin Laden, brother of Osama bin Laden. [Observer, 6/16/2002; London Times, 5/8/2003] Former President George H. W. Bush, who makes speeches on behalf of the Carlyle Group and is also senior adviser to its Asian Partners fund [Wall Street Journal, 9/27/2001] , attended the conference the previous day, but is not there today (see (8:00 a.m.) September 11, 2001). [Washington Post, 3/16/2003]
They (those who do not like us in the Middle East) were gunning for us no matter what. But Bush hid everything under the carpet and deliberately looked for terrorists in all the wrong places. The Bush's were in bed with the Bin Laddens.
So, IF Obama would have exposed that instead of playing along? We might be in better or worse shape as well. I am not behind the scenes. No one is.
So you think if the terrorist were treated as common criminals there would have been no more terrorist attacks?
Bill Clinton treated the fist Trade Center bombing as a criminal act. We were attacked eight times during the Clinton administration. That set the stage for the second attack.
Only once (9-11) were we attacked under GB. Now with Obama we have been attacked twice more on our own soil.
I think your assertion is very flawed.
Hello again, deaves:
In my list of things that WOULDN'T have happened, terrorist attacks aren't mentioned. I didn't mention Clinton either..
But, let's talk about this.. You don't think MY solution would have worked.. Well, it's clear that invading their lands and droning the shit out them hasn't worked either. What WOULD you have done?
excon
I would have done what had been done except I would not have pulled the troops out of Iraq till Iraq got it's act together.
I would have left Libya to the Libyans.
The Taliban offer was to turn bin laden over to a country friendly to bin laden and not the US. That was a pointless gesture.
Hello again, d:
These days, practically NOBODY thinks invading Iraq was a good idea, even most conservatives. But, you're sticking with Bush, huh? When you say Iraqi's "got its act together", you mean when the Shia and the Sunni Muslims learn to live in peace - which, of course, was NEVER, EVER gonna happen. That would mean we stay in Iraq FOREVER, and THAT wasn't gonna happen either.
By the way, how DO you explain that NO WMD's were found?
excon
As to WMD it is a big desert. They found 12 F14's buried in the desert when an old guy asked them if they found them. He showed them where to look and found the planes and the support vehicles.
Where the known WMD's were sent has not been determined. But they went somewhere.
@d708 -- So, you're going to believe some third-hand report about some old geezer finding F-14s in the desert...
NOTE: The Iraqi Air Force NEVER FLEW F-14s. They used Soviet-built Mig fighters.
...over the Bush Adminstration's own admission they were WRONG about WMD's.
http://www.democracynow.org/2006/8/22/president_bush_admits_iraq_had_no
I guess it's more important to you than never admit you're wrong than actually be right.
The F14's were from the Iran/Iraq war and captured by Iraq. No they could not get the parts or training to fly them. The point is anything can be hidden in the desert.
As to WMD's Saddam used them against his own people so yes they did exist. The question is where did they go.
Pretty spot on actually.
And there would also have been no attacks in London , Madrid or Paris.
The utter folly of our response will reverberate for another generation at least.
Monday morning quarterbacking, are we? Pretty easy to do when it's not you that actually has to call the shots and ultimately take the responsibility for what happens.
As to your guesses as to what may have been . . . there's no way to make that kind of a prediction. You'd have a better shot at picking the next Powerball winning number.
But suppose for one minute that it was handled as a criminal matter instead of as an attack by foreign interests on US soil . . . just how would you propose handling such a matter?
Hello again, Red:
First off, the Taliban offered to turn Bin Laden over to us, and Bush refused. Nonetheless, since it was a federal crime, I would have sent the FBI with the DEA as backup. What??? You don't think the FBI could have gotten him? You know the FBI CAN drive tanks and humvees, and the DEA is well equipped for war.
They'd have taken Al Quaida out.
excon
PS> You're not gonna tell me that sending American law enforcement to a foreign land is somehow against the law, are you???
CON:
Bill Clinton had the option of taking out bin Laden during his term and he just sat on his rear end and did nothing. Probably between Monica and sitting he had no blood supply left for his brain? IF Billy Bob had done that none of that crap would have happened either by your reckoning so why aren't you holding him responsible? .
By the way, if the matter was prosecuted as a police action instead of a military operation (US law be damned as you seem to think should happen) you can't cut out the NYPD, 9/11 happened in their jurisdiction. And let's not forget the New York State Police. If we make it a "police" matter they're gonna want in on the action. And let's not forget the dozens of Federal police forces like the US Marshall Service. And what about INTERPOL support too? But hell, why didn't the UN just implement a "police" action on the behalf of the US? They prosecuted a "police action" against North Korea back in the 1950's, (mostly with US "troops", hmmm). Makes you wonder, doesn't it? And then there's all the diplomatic back-and-forth necessary to get approval for US "police" agencies to operate on foreign soil.
Not too sure about the FBI and the DEA agents being well versed on driving tanks, even if they had any. (My DEA agent neighbor would certainly take exception to your claim, says that they're stretched too thin as it is.)
Ah, what the hell, let's just use the military as a counter-strike to an enemy attack on US soil and call it a day. (Or at least a 1/2-day, given that the current C&C didn't have the diplomatic where-with-all to re-negotiate the terms to stay on in Iraq . . . )
I'll give you one thing though, you do have a vivid imagination . . . if only you weren't bat-guano crazy . . .
There would have been no attacks in London , Madrid or Paris??? How do you know that? Are you in charge of the terrorists? Do they make you privy to their plans?
