On Oct 7, 3:30*pm, Bert wrote:


Airyx wrote:
There was a large group of people who were trying to organize
themselves so that they could come kill us. We have totally disrupted
their ability to do that.

That seems worthwhile to me.

Trillions of dollars spent, civil liberties trampled and thousands of
lives lost over more than a decade with no sure outcome yet?

Worthwhile?

No better way could be found?

What would you suggest? Diplomacy with...who?

The total cost of both Afghanistan and Iraq is just North of 2
trillion. That includes direct costs, the cost of replacing equipment,
and even the cost of financing the effort in general.

I don't know who's civil liberties you are talking about. My civil
liberties have been unaffected. I flew into D.C. with my kids last
Thanksgiving, when they had just rolled-out the body scanners and
increased pat-down policies. There was a reporter in the terminal
trying desperately to find somebody who had some terrible story or was
upset about the intrusion on their privacy. She was going from one
person to another asking very leading questions hoping somebody would
be upset...she couldn't find a single person who cared. She
interviewed me too. She asked me "as a father, does it bother you that
your kids have to go through that body scanner and be seen by the TSA
operator?"..."I saw that you received a random extra pat down, didn't
that make you feel singled-out?". She was trying hard, but all I said
was "As long as the TSA folks do their jobs in a professional manner,
as they did, then I have no issue."

Maybe you are talking about the civil liberties of the Iraqi people.
They can now do all sorts of things that they could not do before, for
fear of death.

I think of comparing all of that cost in lives, and money, to somebody
detonating a crude nuke in the middle of a major US city (which has
clearly been one of their objectives), and yes...totally worthwhile.
Many times over. Had they been left unimpeded, there is no doubt that
Al Queda, Iran, some other group, or some combination thereof would
find a way to get that done.

As for no outcome, I'd say both Afghanistan and Iraq are moving toward
a self-sustaining state. Iran is contained. Al Queda, its components,
and loosly related other groups are unable to organize or gather
resources to accomplish their goals.