In January 1991 President George H.W. Bush and a coalition of 35 nations waged war on Iraq and its leader Saddam Hussein because Iraq invaded Kuwait. American military personnel went to Saudi Arabia to protect their oil fields and train their soldiers.
On September 11th 2001 America was attacked by al-Qaeda an international terrorist organization started by Osama bin Laden. The plan was brilliant! He ordered a group of Muslim extremists to board civilian aircraft and crash them into the World Trade Center, The Pentagon, and the White House.
November 2002 Osama bin Laden wrote a “Letter to America” stating his reasons for the attack. Some of these reasons were “Western support for attacking Muslims in Somalia, supporting Russian atrocities against Muslims in Chechnya, supporting Indian oppression against Muslims in Kashmir, and U.S. support for Israel,” 1.
Osama was able to take a ragtag group of guys (the Taliban) without an Army or weapons and bring the most powerful country in the world to its knees. America was already in a recession because of the dot com bubble burst and these terrorist attacks sent the stock markets reeling. The Fed chairman Allen Greenspan rapidly lowered interest rates to stop the bleeding. The attack was so devastating that George W. Bush along with our allies waged war with Afghanistan in 2001.
We have been fighting this war with al-Qaeda and the Taliban for 20 years and our country has grown weary of the fight. I can appreciate this. But this freedom we have is not really free. It has always come at a high price. Our war of independence was fought in 1776 and again in 1812. We fought the Nazi’s in the 2nd world war. That was a tough fight and we still have troops there. The Japanese were the worst. We sent them an atomic bomb and they still didn’t want to surrender. Finally! After a second bomb they capitulated. That was 76 years ago and we still have troops there.
Let’s go back to this “Letter to America!” Have any of these grievances that al-Qaeda or the Taliban had with our country changed? As far as I can see they have not. To the Taliban we are the terrorist nation! Under these circumstances, the Taliban as victors will not keep promises they make to the vanquished. (That’s us.)
At our departure we leave behind a government run by what former Vice President Dick Cheney called “enemy combatants.” We also leave behind our weapons to an army of terrorists in the hope they will not use them against us. This is the same group of people who liked cutting off the heads of our journalists with a pocket knife.
In a perfect world Joe Biden would reverse this decision because this conflict was only resolved by our presence. Putting our heads in the sand and leaving only puts America back to square one. In which case the only way to see if this was the correct strategy is if we no longer have any terrorist attacks.
If there is another terrorist attack this should cost the Democrats two election cycles like the Republicans lost two election cycles when George W. invaded Iraq.
I guess if we start seeing airplanes fall from the sky and bombs placed at Hoover Dam, then we’re back to 911. At that point, another decision would be made to re-enter this old fight.
If we do return to Afghanistan, the cost would be so high that we need to send their government a bill for our expenses. We would use the resources of that country to pay ourselves back.
- Wikipedia
