Dear Yabby,

Now to you specifically.

You wrote; “I remind you once again. It was not America which launched an attack
on Afghanistan for no reason. America responded to an attack by
Afghan residents, who were busy plotting even more attacks. “

This was very disingenuous. We both know there was not a single Afghan on any of the planes involved in 9/11. The nationalities were 15 Saudi Arabians, 2 from United Arab Emirates, 1 Egyptian and 1 Lebanese.

“In May 2002, former FBI Agent Robert Wright, Jr. delivered a tearful press conference apologizing to the families who lost loved ones on 9/11. He described how his superiors intentionally obstructed his investigation into al-Qaeda financing. Agent Wright would later tell ABC's Brian Ross that "September 11th is a direct result of the incompetence of the FBI's International Terrorism Unit," specifically referring to the Bureau's hindering of his investigation into Yasin al-Qadi, who Ross described as a powerful Saudi Arabian businessman with extensive financial ties in Chicago. One month after the attacks, the US government officially identified al-Qadi as one of Osama bin Laden's primary financiers, through his Muwafaq Foundation, and they declared him to be a global terrorist."

Why are we helping bomb the crap out of a backward nation killing thousands upon thousands each year and not lifting a finger at the Saudis?

All the reasons we should be turning a blind eye to the excesses of the CIA in their attacks on the Pakistan Taliban apply equally to Saudi Arabia.

13th Sept 2010 “The US government is charging ahead with a plan to sell $60bn worth of advanced aircraft and other sophisticated weapon systems to Saudi Arabia, in what is thought to be the largest US arms deal ever.” Not to mention the 75,000 US jobs expected to be supported in the deal.

A defining characteristic of a bully is that they pick on those who are less likely to inflict any pain.

America at its finest is far better than this and can be again given enough encouragement. Perhaps one day it will be.

Dear Belly,

You keep on banging on about the left. While you might I do not consider myself to be from the left and I do think this is an issue that should transcend politics.

If anyone who dissents over the drone strike is from “the far left” then you need to include probably the most influential center-right think tank in America, the Council on Foreign Relations. It's Fellow for Conflict Prevention, Micha Zenko , is one of the loudest voices questioning the strikes in America today.

Powerful think tank the Brookings Institute points to its own conservative research showing that 10 civilians die for every militant killed. It strongly questions the strikes. “We must not pretend the killings are anything but a flawed short-term expedient that at best reduces the al Qaeda threat -- but by no means eliminates it. Even as U.S. strikes have increased, Pakistan has suffered staggering levels of terrorism as groups with few or limited links to al Qaeda have joined the fray.”

Is David Kilcullen, who has served as a senior adviser for counterinsurgency to then United States secretary of state Condoleezza Rice and Commander of the Central Command General David Petraeus, and continues to be called on for advice by the US military brass, a warrior for the far left since he strongly opposes the drone attacks in Pakistan?

Kilcullen says; "When we intervene in people's countries to chase small cells of bad guys, we end up alienating the whole country and turning them against us. And Al Qaeda's strategy is fundamentally based on trying to soak us up in a series of unsustainable interventions in various places around the world," and “"If we go in with an enemy-centric focus where we are just trying to find and defeat the Taliban, then we are on a path to losing. If we go in with a population-centric approach where we are trying to protect the population to make them feel safe, that is the pathway to getting people to move away from armed politics towards participation in a regularised political process.

Anyone else watch the program about Daniel Ellsberg on ABC tonight?

http://www.abc.net.au/tv/guide/abc1/201101/programs/ZX1125A001D2011-01-18T203318.htm?program=The%20Most%20Dangerous%20Man%20In%20America%3A%20Daniel%20Ellsberg%20And%20The%20Pentagon%20Papers

I wouldn't mind betting in 30 years time, or possibly less, similar revelations will be made about the war in Afghanistan akin to those revealed by Ellsberg's Pentagon Papers about the lies and deception fed to the American public about the Vietnam War.

csteele,
I ask is the Taliban terrorists acting in Parkistan to protect the citizens in a just and humanitarian way; or are tey merely imposing sharia laws in the presence of a lawless vacuum?
You said, "If we go in with a population-centric approach where we are trying to protect the population to make them feel safe, that is the pathway to getting people to move away from armed politics towards participation in a regularised political process".

The question is: Do we allow such a system to survive that also threatens our freedoms which they dispise.

Oops Csteele, you seem to be confusing citizens and residents.

Fact is that Afghanistan had become a centre for training terrororists,
a home for hundreds of arab fighters, including bin Laden, Zawahiri
etc.

They could operate out of Afghanistan, with basic impunity.

What do you think that the US was going to do?

After the bombing of US embassies in Africa, Clinton indeed sent
missilies to destroy the training camps.

Fact is they continued, it was residents of Afghanistan who
were behind the 911 bombings. The Taliban refused to hand them
over.

Wikileaks has been great,and yes others long ago, we learned just how bad some things America did can be.
Had we had Wikileaks in the preceding three century's we could have learned about every other colonialist country's actions.
Gee including Australia's.
Now if we had, any form, of leaks from within these terrorist groups, silly thing to say, never going to happen.
You can get killed for playing music, uncovering your face.
News up date yesterday in Iraq 50 died 150 injured.
Seems a patriotic lunatic killed himself and them,wanted to visit his God.
No no one squealing about that weapon, drones yes but human bombs?
I csteele am proud to be me to regard all things equal America far the better in this issue.