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Originally Posted by jeckyl
Steve,
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As far as the story of Che, I really must say you are off the mark on that one, but that is okay, because that was not the intention of this comment.
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We can agree to disagree. At one time (long ago and far away) he was an annoyance to me, and I have no respect for him or his memory.
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Originally Posted by jeckyl
...... So long as we fight like Al Quaeda is another nation, we don't have a chance to win this thing. We (and I think I already posted this) need to transform our entire military, put 100,000 teams of six on the ground world wide with the best training and technology we have, and help them track down every member of Al Qaeda and simply kill them. No major battles, just simple hits.
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The War on Terror - which is not limited to just al-Qa'ida, but A-Q is a major target - is a multi-faceted, multi-approach effort involving a lot more than DoD and its entities. That being said, the tools and tactics are many, and not just what the Fourth Estate publicizes.
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Originally Posted by jeckyl
One thing we all need to consider as we discuss this, and try to influnce each other. We are talking about this here in the comforts of our homes, and emailing political representatives, and getting ready to vote on an election. Our friends (I can say that for real) are over there and risking their lives. Our #1 concern (regardless of your politics) should be not to waste lives, and to do what ever is the most effective
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On this we both wholeheartedly agree.
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Originally Posted by jeckyl
You kill all of them, the war is over, plain and simple. This is not a people's movement like the Iraqi resistance to US occupation has become, Al Quaeda is a fundamentalist organization with a heirarchy and clear leadership. We need to cut the head off that snake.
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Killing them all only makes them martyrs for the next generation, as whatever their actions they will be truncated to only display whatever “the cause” wants to exploit. The saying
“one person’s terrorist is another person’s freedom fighter” holds true, whether that person be Che Guevara, Patrick Henry, Menachem Begin, Emiliano Zapata, Simon Bolivar, or any al-Qa'ida member.
The systemic reasons for disenfranchisement, separation and exploitation must be eliminated within a society; otherwise all that happens is an interruption of the cycle of violence for a finite period of time. Until those systemic reasons are addressed – which normally cannot occur until eviction of the persecutors and stabilization of the environment and economy – lasting peace is a myth, and the cycle of violence spins around before you know it. In the long term, it is better to do this right than do it fast, or our great-grandchildren will be inheriting another problem of probably greater consequence because we were hasty.