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So I was watching this 'miniseries event' on the National Geographic Channel called Inside 9/11. Its a very well made, objective documentary about all the events that led to 9/11. Its starts off showing how muslim radicals garnered the support they needed, how they grew to be so powerful, how the ended up establishing al qaeda bases all over the world, and eventually how they planned and executed not only their 9/11 attack (although this is the focus), but most of their other attacks, too.
One of the soundbites that caught my ear was when they were talking about Muslim jihadism and how the Soviet-Afghani war was the main catalyst in uniting the jihadists. Osama bin Laden also apprently first became famous during this conflict. Experts went on to say that the Soviet occupation of their land and the fact that the islamists were able to kick a superpower (in this case the USSR) out of Afghanistan created, fueled, and united the radicals on a level never seen before.
Later on in the series, it is explained that when Saddam Hussein first invaded Kuwait, that Bin laden offered help to the Saudi government to defend the holy land against Iraq. They were refused and instead Saudi Arabia welcomed the help of the US. Seemingly this was what first ignited Bin laden's hatred of the US. He used the fact that "infidels were on the holy land" to renew ferver and support for his cause. Over the next few years the United States becomes the main object of hatred for these radicals (due to the fact that they are stationed in Saudia Arabia).
Fastforward to later on in the program. One of the main goals of OBL is apparently to incite the United States to attack in his holy land so he can have a 'replay' of the soviet-afghani war. Even though the rise of Islamic fundamentalism has grown exponentially since the Soviet-Afghani war, he feels that by fighting the US in his own land will garner even more massive support and unity against the 'infidels' and also an eventual victory.
So with all this said, lets look at post 9/11 and the Iraq war. OBL finally got what he wanted when we retaliated in Afghanistan. But instead of our troops being bogged down and eventually defeated, we were, through the help of a massive coalition, able to swiftly topple the Taliban (who were a source of lot of the violent Islamic extremism), destroy Al-Qaeda's bases in Afghanistan, and install democracy all with massive international support. The war in Afghanistan did not create a huge explosion of islamic extremists willing to flood afghanistan and give up their lives to see the 'infidels' leave the country. By all means the war in Afghanistan has gone well and I feel that it was integral that we responded in the manner we did during that time.
The Iraq war talk starts up outta nowhere. All of a sudden it is imperative that we take action at once against in Iraq. International support starts to dwindle. Bush goes ahead with the plan and the first couple weeks are nothing but a success. Saddam Hussein's government is toppled and we rolled into Baghdad in what can only be called a swift victory against Iraq. But with no international support, what looks like faulty intelligence for the invasion, and a mounting suspiscion (in the ME) of the US, Bin Laden and islamic radicals have everything they need to feul Islamists into a holy war like never before seen.
Does anyone else think that if anything the Iraq war has created more terrorism and hatred for the US? We went from the most sympathized nation in the world immediately after 9/11 to the most hated right now. If people all around Europe and the rest of the world believe we were wrong in invading Iraq, what do you guys think the Islamic world will believe? Do you think that it is destroying their confidence and will and that we will eventually be able to defeat them? Or do you believe they are just gathering more support, strength, and people - kinda like what happened during the Soviet-Afghani war? Personally I believe that it has created more terrorists and terrorism (i don't believe the UK bombings would have happened if it wasn't for Iraq) but I truly don't believe we can pull out at this point. I was against the invasion from the beginning but now that the troops are there we cannot withdraw. It is our duty to ensure that Iraq does not get into the hands of Islamic fundementalists (like it would if we left now) and that we provide all the support we can. If radicals kick us out in Iraq it will only make them stronger and more unified. We made the unfortunate move of going in when we didn't need to, without thinking about the potential consequences. Unfortunetly I really don't see the end at this point.
One of the soundbites that caught my ear was when they were talking about Muslim jihadism and how the Soviet-Afghani war was the main catalyst in uniting the jihadists. Osama bin Laden also apprently first became famous during this conflict. Experts went on to say that the Soviet occupation of their land and the fact that the islamists were able to kick a superpower (in this case the USSR) out of Afghanistan created, fueled, and united the radicals on a level never seen before.
Later on in the series, it is explained that when Saddam Hussein first invaded Kuwait, that Bin laden offered help to the Saudi government to defend the holy land against Iraq. They were refused and instead Saudi Arabia welcomed the help of the US. Seemingly this was what first ignited Bin laden's hatred of the US. He used the fact that "infidels were on the holy land" to renew ferver and support for his cause. Over the next few years the United States becomes the main object of hatred for these radicals (due to the fact that they are stationed in Saudia Arabia).
Fastforward to later on in the program. One of the main goals of OBL is apparently to incite the United States to attack in his holy land so he can have a 'replay' of the soviet-afghani war. Even though the rise of Islamic fundamentalism has grown exponentially since the Soviet-Afghani war, he feels that by fighting the US in his own land will garner even more massive support and unity against the 'infidels' and also an eventual victory.
So with all this said, lets look at post 9/11 and the Iraq war. OBL finally got what he wanted when we retaliated in Afghanistan. But instead of our troops being bogged down and eventually defeated, we were, through the help of a massive coalition, able to swiftly topple the Taliban (who were a source of lot of the violent Islamic extremism), destroy Al-Qaeda's bases in Afghanistan, and install democracy all with massive international support. The war in Afghanistan did not create a huge explosion of islamic extremists willing to flood afghanistan and give up their lives to see the 'infidels' leave the country. By all means the war in Afghanistan has gone well and I feel that it was integral that we responded in the manner we did during that time.
The Iraq war talk starts up outta nowhere. All of a sudden it is imperative that we take action at once against in Iraq. International support starts to dwindle. Bush goes ahead with the plan and the first couple weeks are nothing but a success. Saddam Hussein's government is toppled and we rolled into Baghdad in what can only be called a swift victory against Iraq. But with no international support, what looks like faulty intelligence for the invasion, and a mounting suspiscion (in the ME) of the US, Bin Laden and islamic radicals have everything they need to feul Islamists into a holy war like never before seen.
Does anyone else think that if anything the Iraq war has created more terrorism and hatred for the US? We went from the most sympathized nation in the world immediately after 9/11 to the most hated right now. If people all around Europe and the rest of the world believe we were wrong in invading Iraq, what do you guys think the Islamic world will believe? Do you think that it is destroying their confidence and will and that we will eventually be able to defeat them? Or do you believe they are just gathering more support, strength, and people - kinda like what happened during the Soviet-Afghani war? Personally I believe that it has created more terrorists and terrorism (i don't believe the UK bombings would have happened if it wasn't for Iraq) but I truly don't believe we can pull out at this point. I was against the invasion from the beginning but now that the troops are there we cannot withdraw. It is our duty to ensure that Iraq does not get into the hands of Islamic fundementalists (like it would if we left now) and that we provide all the support we can. If radicals kick us out in Iraq it will only make them stronger and more unified. We made the unfortunate move of going in when we didn't need to, without thinking about the potential consequences. Unfortunetly I really don't see the end at this point.
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