Was the US war against the Taliban of Afghanistan the right thing to do?

[bluestateguy]

Poll question: Was the US war against the Taliban of Afghanistan the right thing to do?

[Terwilliger]

1. depends on the evidence

[JailBush]

2. If it had provoked a nuclear war between Indian and Pakistan, I think

most people would answer NO. Given the threat of such a war, any intelligent person would still say NO.

Not to mention the fact that the war we prosecuted in Afghanistan was a bloody disgrace and a failure.

[Maple]

3. Absolutely not !

Send in a 'police squad'...Green Berets or whatever... after the supposed party in question...don't bomb thousands of innocent Afghanis over a questionable and unproven charge against one man.

If the highjackers had been English...would you have bombed all of England??

[PSR40004]

13. Maybe

You do know most were Saudi and we didn't attack them?

We went after the taliban because they hid Olsama. If the English hid the mastermind of the attack and refused to turn him over we might of gone after them but then again we don't attack countries with nukes do we? Face it the taliban were hiding the terrorist and much more a legit target then Iraq.

[liberalmuse]

4. No.

Especially not the way the Bush administration went about it. Months earlier, in February 2001, they gave the Taliban something like 37 million dollars (if I remember correctly) to stop drug production in the north, but in all likelihood, this money helped bin Laden carry out his attacks on the U.S.. Bombing a country into oblivion--one that has had already been devastated by deadly earthquakes, poverty, Taliban rule, and the Soviet invasion in the 1980's, where they dropped mustard gas on the Afghan people is a sickening thing for the world's most developed nation to do.

[ThePeat]

6. was gonna say dunno

till i read liberalmuse's post. well said

[newyawker99]

19. Hi ThePeat!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[NNN0LHI]

5. Where is the answer "FUCK NO!" at? n/t

[loudnclear]

7. The Taliban? The Taliban also did not attack us on 9/11

They tried to make a deal with us to hand over Osama but we made that impossible. We villinized the Taliban to the point that to maintain their own self respect they cut off trying to deal with us. We made them terrorists. They were not the same as al-qaeda but we made them have to fight us.

[leftynyc]

22. I have a lot of trouble working up sympathy for the Taliban

Many people were aware of what they were doing in Afghanistan long before 9/11. The women were terrorized, couldn't go to school or work and many died because they couldn't go to a male doctor and women doctors were forced to not work. They were sleaze bags and we certainly didn't make them into terrorists. They were terrorizing their own long before Bush became President.

[blm]

8. It should have been a law enforcement operation using

the military's special forces to back up the huge law enforcement detail tracking al Qaeda.

Like a coop effort with Interpol, FBI, CIA and miltary special forces.

The air bombing campaign was WRONG and immoral. I

[JI7]

11. agree

isn't that how bill clinton caught those responsible for the first wtc bombing ? and how they prevented the planned 2000 attack at the lax ?

[snoochie]

9. I voted no

Shocked to see so many others saying no... how do the candidates get away with saying they supported it?

Don't most of the 'leading' candidates say that?

[Minstrel Boy]

Weeks before 9/11, a Taliban envoy warned

the Bush administration that "bin Laden was planning a huge attack on American soil."
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/politics/story.jsp?story=331115

After 9/11, the Taliban agreed to extradite bin Laden to Pakistan, where he would be held under house arrest and face an international tribunal, which would decide whether to try him or hand him over to the US. According to the British papers the Mirror and the Telegraph, bin Laden had agreed to the conditions. Musharraf vetoed the plan, likely under pressure from Bush, saying he couldn't guarantee bin Laden's safety.

"The US Ambassador to Pakistan was notified in advance of the proposal and the mission to put it to the Taliban. Later, a US official said that 'casting our objectives too narrowly' risked 'a premature collapse of the international effort if by some lucky chance Mr bin Laden was captured'." (John Pilger, in The Mirror, Nov 17, 2001 http://www.globalresearch.ca/articles/PIL111C.html)

One of Bush's wars? Then it was founded on a lie.

[Sensitivity]

10. Bush used 9/11 and a convenient EXCUSE, Just like IRAQ

I was all a setup. The Taliban regime was no Santa Claus, but their main thing was following Islam not supporting Bin Laden.

I think the CIA and the War Lords wanted to get rid of them so they could restart their multi-billion dollar opium/poppy trade. The Taliban had crushed the trade with religious fervor.

Now its "let a million poppies bloom." NO WONDER RUSH LIMBAUGH WAS EXCITED.

[pansypoo53219]

12. maybe

but not the way the chimp is doing it. one clusterfuck to another one.

[welshTerrier2]

14. Of Course Not

can you say oil pipeline ??

the Taliban had met with oil industry execs in Texas while bush was governor ... afghanistan, like everything else bush has done, has to do with oil, oil companies, oil money ...

oh, and of course, it was just too darned tricky to seal off al qaeda's escape route to Pakistan ... we can listen in on "Iraqi Generals" having a conversation about hiding WMD's but we can't keep hundreds of guys riding around on horses from disappearing into Pakistan ...

the war was a total sham ... and we're done nothing to help the people of Afghanistan ... all bush wanted was his oil pipeline ...

[killbotfactory]

15. I think so. It was a terrorist cesspool and the Taliban were an atrocity

And it all stemmed from our support of the muhajadeen in the 80's and the collapse of the nation after Russia pulled out. Plus they were harboring Al-Qaeda and we had the whole world on our side. We had a chance to rebuild the nation, but Bush fucked it up like the jackass he is.

[bluestateguy]

16. kick

:kick:

[tom_paine]

17. Yes, absolutely...provided Bin Laden actually did it

I would just like to point out that the Busheviks did not release even one sanitzied drop of actual evidence for public inspection.

But if Bin Laden's Boys did it, then absolutely. Of course, done differently than the Busheviks actually did, going in with the mission of uprooting the Taliban followed by actually doing more than putting an oil puppet in power.

[maggrwaggr]

18. when the Taliban blew up the buddhist statues

I knew they were pretty horrible. That was the huge visual symbol of where their heads were at.

And talk about yer bad karma!

I feel no pity for the Taliban whatsoever. I say kill all the Taliban you can find.

[reachout]

23. You might find this interesting concerning the Buddhas

From a first hand account.



http://www.counterpunch.org/pablo12052003.html



...UNICEF, after declaring the famous Buddhas to be a world heritage site, turned out the several hundred Afghans who have traditionally lived in the rock caves around the statues and despatched them to live on the freezing, open plateaus in utterly inadequate plastic tents, alleging that their presence would otherwise hinder the restoration work. Unless these people are sheltered before winter arrived, a number of them could die from exposure--but then these Afghan lives are not rated very highly in Downing Street, Brussels or Washington, unless, that is, they make good copy.

[Malva Zebrina]

32. and convert them to Christianity! EOM

[morgan2]

20. not in the way we did

The Taliban offered to hand him over if we showed them evidence. We should have taken them up on that offer, and if we had no evidence then obviously we shouldn't have.

[Iverson]

21. clearly no

The question was not whether the Taliban were completely awful, or even criminal. The question is about war, and that is a different matter with different tests.

The Bush administration did not wait for evidence, nor make a serious effort at getting any. The announcement, carefully couched in the passive voice, was that "no distinction will be drawn" between people who actually committed a monstrous crime and their obnoxious hosts and cheerleaders.

This is dishonest to the core. However, it is easier than pursuing the culprits (which we still haven't done seriously), and it sold to a nation without critical thinking skills and blinded by grief and rage.

It's a shame to see that it still sells so effortlessly.

[leesa]

24. Of course not. They had not one thing to do with 9-11.

And they offered to hand over OBL if Bush produced proof of his involvement. Bush refused multiple times. We have never seen proof of who did 9-11, just phony, suspicious circumstantial information. 9-11 was a criminal act by INDIVIDUALS. We invaded a country that had nothing to do with it and carpet-bombed them for ten months because Bush had intended to do this very thing to secure the area for a pipeline to get the oil out of the Caspian Sea area. The fact that we haven't captured anyone related t0 9-11 should give you a clue that it wasn't a very good idea. Bush and Cheney's good buddie Kenny Boy was in deep doodoo in India from his failed power plant and he desperately needed the gas and oil. They wan't to capture the Asian market.


It was the same scam they pulled off in Iraq. The exact same plan and most of America fell for it!

It is completely innapropriate to carpet bomb sovereign nations to apprehend a handful of criminals...always has been, always will be.

[mmonk]

25. Yes

The murder of so many on our soil requires a response.

[PSU84]

26. Are you kidding???

The Taliban were the people who gave Bin Laden refuge and a place to train Al Queda terrorists. Yes, the war in Afghanistan was justified.

The question is why we left that job unfinished and went on some crazy, unjustified crusade to secure Iraqi oil for Bush and Cheney's corporate friends.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

28. And we know that Osama Bin Laden and Al Qaeda were involved...

...in the 911 attacks because....


....the NeoCons told us they were?


Okay. Whatever.

[mmonk]

30. People training to kill Americans

had their greatest base, support, facilities there with money flowing in to train more. Whether you believe Al Queda was involved or not (I do) or Osama, murder should have no refuge. I'm quite happy you aren't in charge with protecting the lives of my family.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

34. Kiss my...

...grits, Sparky.

I was in the military long before you even knew how to spell the word, but that hasn't killed my ability to think critically in terms of the causes of 911.

Got some questions for you, sport...

What did Mueller say about the identities of the hijackers?

Did any of the hijackers attend U.S. military schools?

How was the FBI able to release the names, ages, and occupations of the alleged hijackers so quickly after 911?

What can you tell me about the two flight schools in Florida and the backgrounds of their owners?

That's just a start, pal. I'll be back later to check your answers.

[mmonk]

38. I'm sorry

I didn't know the training facility there was just a boy scout camp.

[mmonk]

39. And don't call me Sparky

Bud.

[PSU84]

36. I can't respond to that

until the neocons tell me what to say (through the secret receiver they put in the fillings in my teeth.)

<sheesh> The wacko contingent at DU is alarmingly large....

[bobthedrummer]

27. What role did Pakistan intelligence play {ISI}?

http://www.globalresearch.ca/articles/CHO111A.html

[T_i_B]

29. Passionate opinions on both sides

Myself, I was very much a supporter of that war. I do think that Bin Laden was behind 9/11, and that the Taliban were sheltering him. Therefore we had little option but to do what we did.

There are still things about Afghanistan at present that worry me though. I just wish that the madmen in authority had not decided to go drooling over Iraq instead of finishing the job in Afghanistan.

[Yupster]

41. Afghanistan will not be finished

As long as Baluchistan remains away from Pakistani government controll, and as long as Afghanistan is a patchwork of tribes and warlords, the country will be a problem. It is a two generation problem (if things go well) in my opinion.

Afghanistan is not going to be finished. The best we can hope for is a government that extends some sort of order and adds little bits of geography to its controll. If we can keep the badguys mostly bottled up in the mountains, and get Pakistan to gradually try to extend its controll over almost half its country it has no controll over, and we keep some international support to the parts of the country under government controll, then maybe things will look better in ten years.

If anyone had that typical American viewpoint of "let's just go in there and fix this place up," they're not being realistic to Afghanistan. It's going to take a whole different outlook among the people and that's why I think it's a two generation problem at best.

I don't think we had any choice but to do it. We can't have terrorist training camps openly graduating new classes of terrorists every season and sending them around the world so that we can try to arrest them after they commit their crimes. That's just impossible to tolerate, though we tolerated it way too long.

[Beaker]

31. 9/11 was a CRIME, not an act of war.

nt

[AntiCoup2K4]

33. The Fraudministration has blurred the distinction between Al Qaeda and ...

...the Taliban to the point where millions believe they are one in the same. How many people think John Walker Lindh was Al Qaeda, for example??

Fact is that the Taliban had signed a deal in Texas back in 1997 with UNOCAL (Hamid Karzai's employer) and some other companies. Eventually ENRON and the Saudi based Delta oil company became involved. Yet by the spring of 2001, they were no closer to getting the pipeline built. The Fraudministration gave them $43 million and when it still produced no results, the Taliban mullahs were told they would be buried under a "carpet of bombs". The plans to bomb Afghanistan were on George Bush Jr's desk before 9-11-01.

I don't recall any compelling evidence that Osama Bin Laden was actually in Afghanistan in the fall of 2001. It's certainly possible, and he did have historical ties to the country, with the war against the USSR in the 80's. But if the stories of him getting a kidney transplant in a Dubai hospital that summer were true, it's highly unlikely that even a crazy SOB like Osama would be hiking around the mountains while recovering from surgery.

He may have been there, or not. There's really no conclusive evidence one way or the other. But it certainly gave the Bush Criminal Empire a convenient excuse to take revenge on the Taliban for not building that pipeline. With the full blessing of the American people and the majority of the world, given the events of 9-11-01.

[mmonk]

43. It makes no difference

The Taliban called them guests (al Queda) and wouldn't do anything about them. Whether Bin Laden was there or not doesn't matter. Whether Al Queda was involved in 9/11 or not, they don't need to exist there whether its to bomb the Cole, support suicide bombings around the world, or whatever. Point is, their existence is to kill people. Keeping such a group there why they kill people around the world can't be tolerated period.

[Vernunft]

35. There was no evidence whatsoever.

The masses demanded a blood sacrifice and they got it.

[Tyler Durden]

37. Hey, I'm with NNN0LHI! Where's the "FUCK NO!?"

Why are we the world's "bad cop?"

The "hood" is going to gang up on us, and pound the living SHIT out of us.

[Abaques]

40. The right action executed horribly....

The Taliban and al-Queda were a major threat that needed to be dealt with. The problem was in how we dealt with them. The bombing campaign was largely pointless and ended up killing alot of civillians. We put too much faith in warlords and not enough faith in putting large numbers of US troops on the ground. This allowed Osama and the gang to escape.

I would say that the worst aspect of the whole Afghanistan operation has been how no one talks about it anymore. We dropped the ball on funding the reconstruction of Afghanistan and now the Taliban is coming back. We need more troops there but they are all tied up in Iraq now. Its just sad.

[Yupster]

42. You think the Afghan citizens

would like to see lots more Americans in their country?

Traditionally, the tribes are not agreed on much except their opinions of armed non-Muslim foreignors in their country are pretty uniform.

The only reason they're tolerating us as much as they are is because we are largely away from the population, fighting our battles in the remote mountainous border region with Pakistan.

This doesn't even go into how we would get large amounts of soldiers to Afghanistan and how we would keep them there. If we make Pakistan a huge US base, we're afraid we'll start a revolution there. And that's the closest thing to a friendly government we have in the area.

It sure would be nice if Afghanistan wasn't landlocked so we could use our naval supply power, but alas.