Let me dissect this a bit...I agree and disagree. To wit:

"I was only trying to demonstrate why you shouldn't use historic events and statistics to compare with what is happening now."

Disagree. Those who do not learn from the past are condemned to repeat it. Afghanistan is impossible terrain. The British learned that, and so did the Russians. Now we are there. And let's not forget who trained the Mujahadeen when they were fighting the Russians. The CIA, under Carter and Reagan. We obviously taught them well. (there were other countries involved, of course...China, the Saudis, etc., but that's a different matter). Now we have to deal with what we have created.

"I have no political horse in this race as you well know. It is quite conceivable that at the time the decision to invade was taken, any political party in power here or in the US would have made the same decision anyway.
You cant alter that decision, nor make 9/11 go away. The troops are where they are today and thats that."

Agree. Valid statement.

"I only have a problem because I cant see a solution and I dont see how anyone else can either. The fat lady never gets to sing."

Disagree. Solution is to remove the ground troops and flatten the entire country. No nukes? Napalm. Poison gas. You cannot win an unconventional war with conventional tatics. The Fuzzy Wuzzys broke the British Square. The colonials resorted to guerilla warfare and we won the Revolution because the British insisted upon adhering to their "battle-proven" methods, which were useless when we decided to fight dirty.

"In these wars of the past, we knew who the enemy was and that enemy was controlled by a leader. Depose or kill that leader, or force them to surrender and that was pretty much the end of the bloodshed."

Disagree. One example is at the end of WW2; despite the death of Hitler and the subsequent "denazification" policies enacted, the Werewolves (trained by the Waffen-SS), wreaked havoc for several years after the fall of the Reich.

"The militant sects faced today are out of control. They have no leader. There is no-one that could order them to stop. We dont even know who they all are, where they are or where they are coming from. Thats why I cant see an end result."

True, but I still disagree. That's why it's time to kill them all and let God sort them out. George S. Patton, Jr.: "There is only one tactical principle which is not subject to change. It is to use the means at hand to inflict the maximum amount of wounds, death and destruction on the enemy in the minumum amount of time." Had we listened to Patton in 1945 when we had three standing armies in Germany rather than dismissing him as a megalomaniac, the Cold War would never have been a reality. The current must therefore ALL be treated as potential combatants and given no quarter. We have the "means at hand," as Patton put it. In this case, it is the Air Force. Again, the scorched earth policy should be utilized here. Those murdered on 9/11 were innocent civilians, and not soldiers. They must be avenged. There is your end result- totally eliminate the population.

"I dont like war as a solution for anything, end of story."

And I'd like to buy the world a Coke. John Lennon sang "give peace a chance." Look what happened to him. Like it or not, it's the way of the world.

"maybe the first gulf war should have been seen through to its conclusion?"

Perhaps. But would that have prevented the 9/11 attacks or simply deposed Saddam earlier?

By the way, my name is Mike and I collect chips.
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