Quote Originally Posted by Bob's World View Post
...the idea that AQ is about ideology is even more flawed than the idea that going into Iraq was about WMD.
While I'm fully aware that's what the then and now governments of the US said, I'm quite sure that neither of those 'motives' is or was of any real concern to any real decision makers now or then. I think to base much theorizing on the belief that those things were or are deemed important and truly cause for war would be to begin planning from false premises...
...We need to learn to be better at separating Causation from Motivation; and Material Facts from Relevant Facts.
Umm, yes, I think so. We also probably need to not say 'A' while being actually motivated by 'R' through 'BL.' Seems to confuse people.
Similarly the seeds for GWOT have been planted and nurtured over hundreds of years of Western Colonial and Post-Colonial manipulation of the politics and populaces of the Middle East. With the end of the Cold War rationale for such manipulations and the advent of the tools of globalization AQ and Bin Laden were inevitable.
Probably true but there's also been a whole lot more fertilizer spread by many aside from the US. You can prescribe for the US but I doubt you'll get it past the US public or Congress -- and I really doubt you can affect the mores and attitudes of many other nations, nominal friends but a good many of whom have in the past worked and will in future work diligently behind the scenes to insure we stay the big bad, disliked Gorilla...
The question is not what happens if we kill Bin Laden. Answer that and get a C+.
I wouldn't even give it a 'C.' It won't make much difference either way.
What happens if the West continues to enable some of the most despotic regimes on the planet to both remain in power and treat their own populaces with impunity?
Define 'enable.' Please provide examples, I'm old and slow...

Also, what is your suggestion to remediate that shortfall you perceive?


* or if not, might as well be, he's broadly irrelevant. That I can agree with...