9/11 and Iraq
M. Orhan Tarhan
October 16, 2007
A few days ago we remembered Al Qaeda’s attacks on the World Trade Towers in New York and on the Pentagon six years ago. Out of the 19 attackers, 16 were Saudi Arabs, however, in the designation of culprits, Osama bin Laden was singled out and requested from the Taliban government in Afghanistan, where he was living. When the Taliban refused to deliver bin Laden, a small contingent of 300 special troops were sent to assist the Northern Association forces. The Taliban was defeated and the whole Afghanistan was occupied. But bin Laden was not found. Later, in his pursuit in the Tora-Bora Mountains, the lack of enough American forces caused bin Laden to escape. He is still at large and now searching him is not among our troops’ aims any more.
The right thing to do would have been to sent enough troops to Afghanistan at that time, to establish the sovereignty of the new Afghan government all over Afghanistan, and to totally eradicate the Taliban. That was not done.
Saudi Arabia was also not seen as responsible for having madrassas, that propagate hatred against America, all over the Islamist states, and for financing the Taliban. Saudi Arabia has been very cosy with some high officials in the U.S. government because of oil business and was sheltered. Thus, in the War on avenging the 9/11 attack, the U.S. was barking up the wrong tree.
The fight to defeat the Taliban was named “War on Terror”. Beginning with the Summer of 2004 the Bush Administration hijacked the War on Terror and diverted it toward Iraq. The U.S. attacked Iraq on March 2003. A variety of reasons for this war were offered over time to the American public, but the only rational reason is petroleum. After four years, 3,773 dead, 27,848 wounded, and $600 billion expenditure, the American people want the war ended while the President is insisting in staying in Iraq. President Bush’s administration badly bungled the Iraq war. They had no preparation on what to do after invading Iraq. When the guerilla war started, they did not know how to fight it. They did not know that guerilla war cannot be fought with conventional forces. In the last four years, the Pentagon did not have enough intelligence to develop a method to successfully fight Guerilla forces. Several months ago, the blame on all of these things was put on Secretary Rumsfeld for wanting to fight the war on the cheap with a minimum of soldiers. Rumsfeld finally resigned. The President designated General Petraeus who increased the number of troops in Iraq. That was called “The Surge”. The Surge did not substantially reduce the monthly dead and did not make suddenly our troops victorious. Now General Petraeus is apparently in Washington. He is selling the idea that U.S. stoops should be reduced just by the surge and the rest should stay indefinitely in Iraq. That is exactly what the President wants. During his various conversations, Petraeus was asked by Senator John W. Warner whether the Iraq War made us any safer. Petreus wanted to skirt the question, but he was asked again the same question, then his reply was “I don’t know”. He said also that our staying in Iraq is “very important”. I would like to know why it is so important. We are not winning that fighting. We keep on loosing our soldiers. There is no light at the end of any tunnel. Most Iraqis want us out, except of course Mr.Maliki who would be afraid to lose his head after our troops have left. Then why in the world is it important that we stay in Iraq? The only reason that is left is of course Petroleum. If that is the case, the U.S. should send a bill to our big oil companies asking them to pay to the U.S. Treasury the total of $600 billion spent for Iraq. If that is not true, I want to know what benefit did we gain from this war that warrants spending $600 billion and the lives of so many American boys and girls.
Two days ago President Bush made a big speech and could not convince me why it is important to stay in Iraq. But, he told us that his troops will remain in full force there indefinitely. The Democrats strongly disagreed with what he said, but do not have the votes in Congress to force him to pull our forces.
We have another 1 – 1/3 years of this administration to suffer. By January 2009, about 1100 more American soldiers will have been killed, 8,300 more will have been wounded, and an other 15 % of the troops will have developed brain troubles that will have to be treated for years. If past performance is a guide, who knows what new military and political troubles we will have on hand. What an outlook!
The right thing to do would have been to sent enough troops to Afghanistan at that time, to establish the sovereignty of the new Afghan government all over Afghanistan, and to totally eradicate the Taliban. That was not done.
Saudi Arabia was also not seen as responsible for having madrassas, that propagate hatred against America, all over the Islamist states, and for financing the Taliban. Saudi Arabia has been very cosy with some high officials in the U.S. government because of oil business and was sheltered. Thus, in the War on avenging the 9/11 attack, the U.S. was barking up the wrong tree.
The fight to defeat the Taliban was named “War on Terror”. Beginning with the Summer of 2004 the Bush Administration hijacked the War on Terror and diverted it toward Iraq. The U.S. attacked Iraq on March 2003. A variety of reasons for this war were offered over time to the American public, but the only rational reason is petroleum. After four years, 3,773 dead, 27,848 wounded, and $600 billion expenditure, the American people want the war ended while the President is insisting in staying in Iraq. President Bush’s administration badly bungled the Iraq war. They had no preparation on what to do after invading Iraq. When the guerilla war started, they did not know how to fight it. They did not know that guerilla war cannot be fought with conventional forces. In the last four years, the Pentagon did not have enough intelligence to develop a method to successfully fight Guerilla forces. Several months ago, the blame on all of these things was put on Secretary Rumsfeld for wanting to fight the war on the cheap with a minimum of soldiers. Rumsfeld finally resigned. The President designated General Petraeus who increased the number of troops in Iraq. That was called “The Surge”. The Surge did not substantially reduce the monthly dead and did not make suddenly our troops victorious. Now General Petraeus is apparently in Washington. He is selling the idea that U.S. stoops should be reduced just by the surge and the rest should stay indefinitely in Iraq. That is exactly what the President wants. During his various conversations, Petraeus was asked by Senator John W. Warner whether the Iraq War made us any safer. Petreus wanted to skirt the question, but he was asked again the same question, then his reply was “I don’t know”. He said also that our staying in Iraq is “very important”. I would like to know why it is so important. We are not winning that fighting. We keep on loosing our soldiers. There is no light at the end of any tunnel. Most Iraqis want us out, except of course Mr.Maliki who would be afraid to lose his head after our troops have left. Then why in the world is it important that we stay in Iraq? The only reason that is left is of course Petroleum. If that is the case, the U.S. should send a bill to our big oil companies asking them to pay to the U.S. Treasury the total of $600 billion spent for Iraq. If that is not true, I want to know what benefit did we gain from this war that warrants spending $600 billion and the lives of so many American boys and girls.
Two days ago President Bush made a big speech and could not convince me why it is important to stay in Iraq. But, he told us that his troops will remain in full force there indefinitely. The Democrats strongly disagreed with what he said, but do not have the votes in Congress to force him to pull our forces.
We have another 1 – 1/3 years of this administration to suffer. By January 2009, about 1100 more American soldiers will have been killed, 8,300 more will have been wounded, and an other 15 % of the troops will have developed brain troubles that will have to be treated for years. If past performance is a guide, who knows what new military and political troubles we will have on hand. What an outlook!
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