We need to sell this as Bush tried for years to get Ossama and failed either we invade pakistan to get Ossama or we come home wasting our time in Iraq and Afghanistan won’t get Ossama and as long as he is alive we have to worry about terror.
Or do we lets tell the Saudi’s who are privately giving Ossama money one more attack and ever car sold in America will be a hybrid or electric.
We do have ways of hurting Ossama by choking off his cash, better ways than guns. Unless the American public would really rather invade Pakistan.
We need polls on these questions the WH and the Mainstream Media are not asking!

Osama currently derives the vast majority of al Qaeda’s income from heroin, most of it grown in Afghanistan. Exactly what ways do “we” have of hurting him by “choking off his cash”?

In general, Afghanistan is not Vietnam, and it is not Iraq. We didn’t invade it, we shifted the balance of power and the Northern Alliance routed the Taliban, who were given shelter in Pakistan, along with al Qaeda, in the FATA, NWFP, and Balochistan. So it is not Iraq. If you want to withdraw, obviously one of the possible solutions, then you must talk to all 30+ countries that are part of the security forces there, and the 60+ countries who are funding the operation. To characterize it as a U.S. occupation is extremely simplistic and inaccurate.

And it is not Vietnam. Within a couple of years of the U.S. withdrawing from Vietnam, there was one group in power and the country was at peace. Vietnam was not a failed state, it had two warring factions, one was defeated, the other won. Afghanistan has seen withdrawals before, and those haven’t ended the 30 years of war. There are too many institutions and infrastructure pieces destroyed for that. So what is it you want to do? Do they deserve perpetual war, millions killed, millions displaced, forever? If so, just remember that if it ever happens to your country. If not, how do you want to do it? The current status is the result of many mistakes, ulterior motives, and double dealings by multiple countries, the two worst offenders being the U.S. and Pakistan. But there have been others, the Germans who didn’t train police, the Italians who failed to build the roads, the British who let the drug trade flourish, and on, and on.

interesting article about dostrum’s role in the heroin trade.

From the original WaPo piece:

An Iraqi officer who ordered the detention of U.S. soldiers last week after they killed three Iraqis while pursuing insurgents acted in error and was “out of line,” Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said Saturday.

The officer “did not understand the agreement” governing U.S. military activities since American combat troops withdrew from Iraqi cities last month, Maliki said in an interview, adding that it “clearly states that American forces have the right to defend themselves, and that’s what they did.” Four Iraqis, including two children, also were wounded when U.S. forces returned fire and raided nearby houses after insurgents attacked their convoy.

Maliki, at the end of a week-long U.S. visit, said he had telephoned Baghdad and “made clear that they understand that this demand of handing over the people who killed the Iraqis was wrong.”

Maliki was here in the US when he made these comments. To say that the local commander “doesn’t understand” and “was wrong” doesn’t do much for morale in the military. Nor was it very diplomatic domestically. He’s here defending the US in the killing of Iraki civilians. I reiterate my comment at 15.

Or look at South Korea. Taiwan. West Germany, before the fall of European Communism. All examples of U.S.-supported regimes that have successfully resisted tyranny.

Just because we often bet on the wrong pony in these situations doesn’t mean we’re always wrong.