Tom Paine 1949
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- Mar 15, 2020
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- #41
It’s not just “leftists” who recognize our 20 year military adventurism in Afghanistan was profoundly misguided. Here is a (rather tardy) opinion presented by a senior fellow at the conservative Cato Institute:
“What if the US didn’t go to war in Afghanistan after 9/11?
For President Bush, the only option was revenge, but an alternative path was available
“Rather than launching a war that proved to be disastrous, an alternative reaction to 9/11 might have been to expand police and intelligence operations and to work with sympathetic allies to pressure the Taliban, which had little or nothing to do with 9/11, to dismember al-Qaida and to turn over its top members.
“Several conditions were favorable to such an approach…. But none of that was good enough for President George W. Bush, who eschewed any “negotiations” whatever ….
“The Bush administration’s reaction to the 9/11 attacks … was a mixture of panic, confusion, fear, and guilt. Moreover, “Bush personally wanted vengeance.”… Bush “wanted to kill …”
“The American public was similarly moved, so there was perhaps some political risk in adopting a less militarized approach….
“America’s longest war might have been avoided … if Bush had shown some flexibility on the “negotiation.”... Instead, the Taliban had to win the country back after years of warfare in which trillions of dollars were expended and well over a hundred thousand people killed.”
What if the US didn’t go to war in Afghanistan after 9/11? – Responsible Statecraft
“What if the US didn’t go to war in Afghanistan after 9/11?
For President Bush, the only option was revenge, but an alternative path was available
“Rather than launching a war that proved to be disastrous, an alternative reaction to 9/11 might have been to expand police and intelligence operations and to work with sympathetic allies to pressure the Taliban, which had little or nothing to do with 9/11, to dismember al-Qaida and to turn over its top members.
“Several conditions were favorable to such an approach…. But none of that was good enough for President George W. Bush, who eschewed any “negotiations” whatever ….
“The Bush administration’s reaction to the 9/11 attacks … was a mixture of panic, confusion, fear, and guilt. Moreover, “Bush personally wanted vengeance.”… Bush “wanted to kill …”
“The American public was similarly moved, so there was perhaps some political risk in adopting a less militarized approach….
“America’s longest war might have been avoided … if Bush had shown some flexibility on the “negotiation.”... Instead, the Taliban had to win the country back after years of warfare in which trillions of dollars were expended and well over a hundred thousand people killed.”
What if the US didn’t go to war in Afghanistan after 9/11? – Responsible Statecraft