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3/14/2013 10:06:26 PM
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"U.S. will not put boots-on-the-ground in another theater for 20 years"
[quote] [b]John Allen, observing that the U.S. will not put boots-on-the-ground in another theater for 20 years:[/b] "Clearly a 50-nation coalition right now in Afghanistan has been important to us, but my guess is... that it will be 20 years before we undertake something like this again. It's going to be a long time before NATO is going to be interested probably in undertaking something that could look like this again."[/quote]
[quote][b]Hadley, on al Qaeda in Iraq and the justification for war:[/b] "You know, Stan McChrystal's book is very interesting because it makes crystal clear that what Iraq became was a struggle against al Qaeda in Iraq. And I remember in the summer -- and I'm not getting partisan here -- I remember in the summer of 2008 when President Obama, then candidate Obama, said al Qaeda was the ball, the Bush administration took their eye off the ball, and they went into Iraq, but al Qaeda isn't in Iraq, al Qaeda is in Afghanistan. And I asked Mike McConnell at the time -- the DC at the time -- ‘How many al Qaeda fighters are in Afghanistan today and how many are in Iraq?' And he said, ‘In Iraq, there's about 15,000, down from about 20 [thousand], and in Afghanistan there's 200.' So you can say we failed to foresee that Iraq would become the frontline of al Qaeda's struggle against the United States, and I think we did not have the right strategy or the right resourcing in the end of the day to deal with that problem.."[/quote]
Do you think this is good news because of increased stability in the Middle East, or is it due to a country sick of 25 years of on/off war?
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It's good to pull the reigns in but it's ridiculous to put a timetable on when you'll be "willing" to send troops somewhere.
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1 ReplyUltra necrobump!
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6 RepliesAnd what if North Korea declares war on us out of the blue? What then?
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*tommorow* White House: We're sending troops to North Korea to shut down their nuclear program. Me: Well, you made it closer to about 20 hours.
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So Afghanistan will be the last war for the next 25 years? That's good to know.
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The latter. Maybe we will actually find time fighting people that are actually a threat to us. Not an insurgency that is only attempting to force us out or a country that had WMD's (fact Iraq didn't have any functioning WMD's as they had been damaged or destroyed without use for 30 years). No more stupid wars thank god!
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Isn't he talking about putting boots-on-the-ground with NATO? That doesn't mean the US can't do it on their own as they have many times throughout history.
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Seems fair enough. Teh puma would enjoy seeing the military "take a break" of sorts.
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11 RepliesWell America has been involved in a lot of wars since 1945, and have intervened in alot of countries in general since 1945, so I guess it would easily be the latter of your two options [quote]Yugoslavia - 1946 - Navy deployed off the coast of Yugoslavia in response to the downing of an American plane. Uruguay - 1947 - Bombers deployed as a show of military force. Greece - 1947-49 - United States operations insured a victory for the far right in national "elections." Germany - 1948 - Military deployed in response to the Berlin blockade; the Berlin airlift lasts 444 days. Philippines - 1948-54 - The CIA directed a civil war against the Filipino Huk revolt. Puerto Rico - 1950 - Military helped crush an independence rebellion in Ponce. Korean War - 1951-53 - Military sent in during the war. Iran - 1953 - The CIA orchestrated the overthrow of democratically elected Mossadegh and restored the Shah to power. Vietnam - 1954 - The United States offered weapons to the French in the battle against Ho Chi Minh and the Viet Minh. Guatemala - 1954 - The CIA overthrew the democratically elected Arbenz and placed Colonel Armas in power. Egypt - 1956 - Marines deployed to evacuate foreigners after Nasser nationalized the Suez Canal. Lebanon - 1958 - Navy supported an Army occupation of Lebanon during its civil war. Panama - 1958 - Troops landed after Panamanians demonstrations threatened the Canal Zone. Vietnam - 1950s-75 - Vietnam War. Cuba - 1961 - The CIA-directed Bay of Pigs invasions failed to overthrow the Castro government. Cuba - 1962 - The Navy quarantines Cuba during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Laos - 1962 - Military occupied Laos during its civil war against the Pathet Lao guerrillas. Panama - 1964 - Troops sent in and Panamanians shot while protesting the United States presence in the Canal Zone. Indonesia - 1965 - The CIA orchestrated a military coup. Dominican Rep- 1965-66 - Troops deployed during a national election. Guatemala - 1966-67 - Green Berets sent in. Cambodia - 1969-75 - Military sent in after the Vietnam War expanded into Cambodia. Oman - 1970 - Marines landed to direct a possible invasion into Iran. Laos - 1971-75 - Americans carpet-bomb the countryside during Laos' civil war. Chile - 1973 - The CIA orchestrated a coup, killing President Allende who had been popularly elected. The CIA helped to establish a military regime under General Pinochet. Cambodia - 1975 - Twenty-eight Americans killed in an effort to retrieve the crew of the ayaquez, which had been seized. Angola - 1976-92 - The CIA backed South African rebels fighting against Marxist Angola. Iran - 1980 - Americans aborted a rescue attempt to liberate 52 hostages seized in the Teheran embassy. Libya - 1981 - American fighters shoot down two Libyan fighters. El Salvador - 1981-92 - The CIA, troops, and advisers aid in El Salvador's war against the FMLN. Nicaragua - 1981-90 - The CIA and NSC directed the Contra War against the Sandinistas. Lebanon - 1982-84 - Marines occupied Beirut during Lebanon's civil war; 241 were killed in the American barracks and Reagan "redeployed" the troops to the Mediterranean. Honduras - 1983-89 - Troops sent in to build bases near the Honduran border. Grenada - 1983-84 - American invasion overthrew the Maurice Bishop government. Iran - 1984 - American fighters shot down two Iranian planes over the Persian Gulf. Libya - 1986 - American fighters hit targets in and around the capital city of Tripoli. Bolivia - 1986 - The Army assisted government troops on raids of cocaine areas. Iran - 1987-88 - The United States intervened on the side of Iraq during the Iran-Iraq War. Libya - 1989 - Navy shot down two more Libyan jets. Virgin Islands - 1989 - Troops landed during unrest among Virgin Island peoples. Philippines - 1989 - Air Force provided air cover for government during coup. Panama - 1989-90 - 27,000 Americans landed in overthrow of President Noriega; over 2,000 Panama civilians were killed. Liberia - 1990 - Troops entered Liberia to evacuate foreigners during civil war. Saudi Arabia - 1990-91 - American troops sent to Saudi Arabia, which was a staging area in the war against Iraq. Kuwait - 1991 - Troops sent into Kuwait to turn back Saddam Hussein. Somalia - 1992-94 - Troops occupied Somalia during civil war. Bosnia - 1993-95 - Air Force jets bombed "no-fly zone" during civil war in Yugoslavia. Haiti - 1994-96 - American troops and Navy provided a blockade against Haiti's military government. The CIA restored Aristide to power. Zaire - 1996-97 - Marines sent into Rwanda Hutus' refugee camps in the area where the Congo revolution began. Albania - 1997 - Troops deployed during evacuation of foreigners. Sudan - 1998 - American missiles destroyed a pharmaceutical complex where alleged nerve gas components were manufactured. Afghanistan - 1998 - Missiles launched towards alleged Afghan terrorist training camps. Yugoslavia - 1999 - Bombings and missile attacks carried out by the United States in conjunction with NATO in the 11 week war against Milosevic. Iraq - 1998-2001 - Missiles launched into Baghdad and other large Iraq cities for four days. American jets enforced "no-fly zone" and continued to hit Iraqi targets since December 1998.[/quote]
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Allen's comments are clearly due to the latter -- that is, we're sick of this shit. lol @ Hadley's comments; keep defending that folly. We took the eye off the ball by going to Iraq, which caused it to turn into the focal point for AQ, which led to the conditions that Hadley is now trying to cite as showing that Obama was wrong or dishonest. Logic doesn't work that way.
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haha. that is hilarious.
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I think what they're saying is a full scale invasion wont happen for at least another 20 year, an invasion like we did in Afghanistan and Iraq. With AQ gaining ground in Syria and in Africa, it'll be hard for us not to at least utilize our special operations forces in conjunction with the CIA and drones to minimize their threat. With Islamic extremism growing in places like Nigeria, Tanzania, Mali, and the Sinai (with it already being rampant in Algeria, Somalia, Sudan, and Libya), we cannot afford to "forget" about this growing problem. Not only is Africa a growing concern due to Islamic extremists, but al-Qaeda in Iraq is making a comeback not only in their home country, but also in Syria (al-Nusra Front [i]is[/i] AQI). Then you also have al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, which is still our biggest terrorist threat. To put it short, the United States will always be interested and involved in the Middle East and North/Sub Saharan Africa. To reiterate, "boots on the ground" more than likely refers to invasions; not covert operations, like what will continue to happen.
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2 RepliesThe Middle East has hardly gained any stability, and I doubt if it ever will. The Islamic nuts over there are just too persistent on having a holy war with the great devil of the west that they'll do anything to destroy us. I see this war as ultimately futile, and although I understand the reasoning behind going into it in the first place, we will never win. The Russians tried it and look at how well that worked out for them. If there was a button that would kill all of the terrorists in the world, I would be the first to press it, but sadly it does not exist. I say we just stop giving money to countries that hate us anyway and just protect our country at home.
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I give them 9 months.
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2 Repliesboots-on-the-ground in another [b]theater [/b] why dont they say on the battle field ?
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Has there ever been a quiet gun period in American history?
