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KBCraig wrote:All experts on the region point to blowback from our foreign policy being the primary reason for the WTC attacks (1993 and 2001), the USS Cole attack, the embassy bombings, etc. The idea that "they attacked us because we're free" is simply a political soundbite with no basis in fact.

Then I believe "experts on the region" are the ones who do not understand history.

In 1786 Jefferson and John Adams went to negotiate with Tripoli's envoy to London, Ambassador Sidi Haji Abdrahaman or (Sidi Haji Abdul Rahman Adja). They asked him by what right he extorted money and took slaves. Jefferson reported to Secretary of State John Jay, and to the Congress:

The ambassador answered us that [the right] was founded on the Laws of the Prophet (Mohammed), that it was written in their Koran, that all nations who should not have answered their authority were sinners, that it was their right and duty to make war upon them wherever they could be found, and to make slaves of all they could take as prisoners, and that every Mussulman (or Muslim) who should be slain in battle was sure to go to heaven

Will938 wrote: Read what I said again. Less than had we not gone at all. Meaning that if we didn't go to Somalia and try to get tough he wouldn't of had those thoughts.

Me too. But who is they? You guys seem to think that the opposition is a large portion of the population. They hate us for what we are, but people join their ranks and attack us because of what we've done. We might be fighting 100,000 people, and we might of killed 40k of them, but they are adapting, gaining strength, and have become more active on an international level. And how do you propose that we eliminate the threat by force? They aren't a nation, they're spread all over. We could shun to world and go where we please, that might help kill even more, but it will never eliminate them.

Lashing out at the world doesn't tell everyone that we're scared? Explain to me exactly what this offensive has done for us.

We didn't go to Somalia to get tough. We went there to feed people. OBL and his crew confronted the US troops as part of their ongoing effort to gain popular support by constantly kicking dirt at the big dog.

I don't agree that people join them because of what we do, they join because of the hate that is stoked by their religious leaders. Anything and everything we do would feed their hate. It's no different from the "reasons" they hate the Jews: they stole Palestine, they stole the wealth of Egypt when Moses led them away, they make matzo balls from the blood of innocents, etc... You simply cannot reason with people who think that way.

What has this offensive done for us? It has kept us on the offensive. Action always beats reaction.

I don't know the answers, but I do know one of them cannot be to cut and run. That just runs counter to everything I have ever learned about human nature.

Will938 wrote:

frank wrote: How many will be inspired to join their ranks if we pull out of Iraq in abject retreat?

Less than were inspired if we had done nothing at all.

So I guess you believe our withdrawl from Somalia did not inspire the terrorist? That's not what OBL and his buddies have been saying for years. According to many, it was a highpoint that proved we could be directly confronted and ultimately led to 9/11.

I prefer that we listen to what they have to say and then act accordingly. They hate us for what we are, not anything we have done. Their "reasons" are merely anecdotes they use to justify their hatred. You cannot reason with someone who hates you because you exist.

Pulling out of the fight and barricading ourselves behind fences would be like announcing to the world that we are wounded and scared.