Norwich:
Strangely enough at one time he did. Everyone knows that Osama bin-Laden was in Afganistan but people seem to forget why.
When he first went there it was to fight with the Americans allies against the Russians. Remember them, the allies that is? they were called the TALIBAN. And the Americans through such wonderful organisations as the CIA supplied them with lots and lots of guns and bombs and things so they could blow up lots and lots of Russians.
What is so stupid about this is that all you have to do is change the names to Iraq and Iran and Saddam Hussein and you have exactly the same story. Or how about, North Vietnam, South Vietnam and Ho Chi Min.
There used to be an old military expression:
ONCE is happenstance;
TWICE is coincidence;
THREE TIMES is enemy action.
It definately begs the question does anybody ever actually learn anything?
Norwich,
Now I know you are old enough to remember that there was this thing called
The Cold War. Part of the means for fighting that was to support groups that were fighting the advance of worldwide communism. This often entailed supporting less than savory characters under the policy generally known as “I don’t care if he’s a bastard as long as he’s OUR bastard”. Perhaps you may not have been paying attention, but GWB recently announced that such a policy would no longer be followed (In his inaugural speech, the same one ridiculed by the chattering classes for promising a fight for freedom around the world). The IDCIHABALAHOB policy was followed by every country in NATO (including the UK) as well as the Warsaw pact.
Now as for your specific allegations:
1)Afghanistan: The Taliban as such did not exist when the US was aiding the rebels against the Soviet occupation. While it is true that many of these folks would later go to form that group, that was not known at the time. Furhermore, no country is responsible for those actions that take place in another country long after military aid has ceased. If it did, you should be directing your prodigious number of gripes about America’s conduct to France because they were responsible to aiding and arming the Americans during the American Revolution. That the U.S. armed OBL in the 1980’s is ultimately irrelevant because it has nothing to do with what is going on NOW. It’s a case of yes, so what’s your point? As George Washington put it, we have no permanent allies, only permanent interests.
2)Iran/Iraq: Need I remind you that the U.S. considered Iran a graver threat than Iraq during the mid-80’s? U.S. arms comprised a tiny fraction of Saddam’s arsenal. The bulk of his armaments came from the Soviet Union and France. What sort of planes did Saddam’s Air Force fly? MiG 29’s and F-1 Mirages. Heck, even Brazil supplied more arms to Iraq than the U.S. You should direct your complaints to Russians and the French. Of course you’re far more likely to find a Russian on the CA forums than a Frenchman! But for an airstrike by Israel, Saddam would have had a working nuclear reactor providing him source material for nuclear weapons IN THE 1980’s. That’s the great “allies” we have in the French. The Russians are now reprising that role with the Iranians. See this article:
msnbc.msn.com/id/6992154/
3)Vietnam: Well what of it? Ho Chi Minh was a nationalist AND a communist. Once again, almost all of North Vietnam’s help came from China and the Soviet Union. But for them, North Vietnam would have folded like a deck of cards in a few months. Even with their help, the NVA basically DID fold like a deck of cards in the Tet offensive of 1967. Militarily, they suffered a crushing defeat. Politically, thanks to the media, it turned into a defeat for the U.S. The U.S. has given shelter to hundreds of thousands of refugees from the brutal regime that Ho’s successors put in place. Have you heard nothing of the 1,000,000 Vietnamese boat people?
Norwich,
If you haven’t noticed a common thread, it’s that the U.S. stops supporting these guys once their true colors become apparent. Compare that to France who supports these regimes even AFTER their true colors become apparent. I don’t claim that everybody the U.S. gives aid to is an angel, even now (see Egypt, Indonesia). But these prior actions don’t have a whole lot of relevance, frankly. They’re just an excuse for America-bashers to try to score cheap rhetorical points.
