General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Apparently this is the breaking point, [View all]lapfog_1
(29,191 posts)We should have had an official declaration of War, and we should have never invaded Iraq. We should have sent 200,000 troops to Afghanistan in the spring of 2002 and arrested, tried and convicted every member of the terrorist group and the "government" that supported them. And then we should have left except for providing Afghans money for modern schools and hospitals and roads and aid to support their farming (I actually would let them legally grow poppies... and then buy all they they can grow).
We killed (targeted) Yamamoto in WWII...
"U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt ordered Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox to "Get Yamamoto." Knox instructed Admiral Chester W. Nimitz of Roosevelt's wishes. Admiral Nimitz consulted Admiral William F. Halsey, Jr., Commander, South Pacific, then authorized a mission on 17 April to intercept Yamamoto's flight en route and shoot it down." (from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isoroku_Yamamoto )
using drones against leaders of Al Qiada in a war zone ( Pakistan, Afghanistan, parts of north africa) doesn't bother me one bit.
About the "American collaborators"...again, I have no problem targeting them...
I'm very sorry about the collateral damage, but they started the war and their government shielded the people that started it. Don't want war on your doorstep?... don't support a government that supports terrorist organizations that attack the US.
Blood thirsty... maybe... but 3000+ dead Americans say otherwise.
But we should have declared war... and figured out how to declare war against an non-nation state, and we should have declared war zones... and any American in the war zone not in one of our military or intelligence or diplomatic corp... have no reason to be in the war zone and no expectation of safety from our military.
Other than the lack of a declaration of war and war zones, I don't see the difference between now and WWII.
I had no problem with FDR's conduct of WWII. I had huge problems with Bush's conduct of the "WOT", mostly because we tortured people after we captured them, we invaded countries that had nothing to do with the attack on the United States, and it was a Neocon wet dream. I have no problems with President Obama's conduct of the WOT after he took office... except for getting a formal declaration and the fact that we are now 10 years too late.