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9/11 and the 'Good War' (It was the furies of the Arab world, not Afghanistan, that struck)
Wall Street Journal ^ | SEPTEMBER 11, 2009 | FOUAD AJAMI

Posted on 09/11/2009 1:40:52 AM PDT by nickcarraway

It was the furies of the Arab world, not Afghanistan, that struck America eight years ago today. Article

The road that led to 9/11 was never a defining concern of President Barack Obama. But he returned to 9/11 as he sought to explain and defend the war in Afghanistan in a speech to the Veterans of Foreign Wars in Phoenix, Ariz., on Aug. 17. "The insurgency in Afghanistan didn't just happen overnight and we won't defeat it overnight, but we must never forget: This is not a war of choice; it is a war of necessity. Those who attacked America on 9/11 are plotting to do so again. If left unchecked, the Taliban insurgency will mean an even larger safe haven from which al Qaeda could plot to kill more Americans."

This distinction between a war of choice (Iraq) and a war of necessity (Afghanistan) has become canonical to American liberalism. But we should dispense with that distinction, for it is both morally false and intellectually muddled. No philosophy of just and unjust wars will support it. It was amid the ferocious attack on the American project in Iraq that there was born the idea of Afghanistan as the "good war." This was the club with which the Iraq war was battered. This was where that binary division was set up: The good war of necessity in the mountains of Afghanistan, the multilateral war born of a collective NATO decision—versus George W. Bush's war of choice in Iraq, fought in defiance of the opinions of allies who had been with us in the aftermath of 9/11, and whose goodwill we squandered in the cruel streets of Fallujah and the deserts of Anbar.

(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...


TOPICS: Extended News; Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: 8thannivesary; afghanistan; ajami; arab; arabworld; eighthanniversay; gwot; obama; radicalislam

1 posted on 09/11/2009 1:40:53 AM PDT by nickcarraway
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To: nickcarraway

awesome article


2 posted on 09/11/2009 1:55:00 AM PDT by rman04554
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To: nickcarraway

This guy is a first rate mind.

Very thoughtful.


3 posted on 09/11/2009 2:09:33 AM PDT by Finalapproach29er (A woman will be the next President; I hope it's Palin instead of HRC.)
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To: Finalapproach29er

Especially compared to the chuckleheads in the State Dept.


4 posted on 09/11/2009 2:17:43 AM PDT by nickcarraway
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To: nickcarraway

Afghanistan is there war. It is the war whose time and place was chosen by the enemy. Liberals who point to Afghanistan as the authentic battle are doing the best work for America’s enemies. Fools.


5 posted on 09/11/2009 2:35:07 AM PDT by kinghorse
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To: nickcarraway

Get that thug David Schuster to match wits with Ajami and shut him up.


6 posted on 09/11/2009 2:43:17 AM PDT by gusopol3
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To: nickcarraway
I was in the military 21 years, and I retired years after 911.

The problem we have now is that Iraq and Afghanistan have evolved into a "Win Hearts and Minds" campaign that has failed.

We are trying to "win over" Muslims who cannot change their situation until they change their own hearts because they are so black with the lie that is Islam.

In response, we ban our troops from possessing bibles that are written in Dari or Arabic, lest someone over there dare read them.

We are spending billions per day to "win hearts and minds" and it isn't working.

The role of the military is kill enough of the enemy so they stop fighting. Leave the PC crappola to other do-gooders. We have rebuilt, trained, fed, housed, cared for, stroked, and provided medical care to these people for years.

It is time to cut the umbilical chord.

For those of you who don't agree, how many of you have been over there?

7 posted on 09/11/2009 2:56:19 AM PDT by SkyPilot
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To: nickcarraway

Good article, but I think he misunderstands Bambi’s objective in Afghanistan. It was an easy target for the Obama/Dem rhetoric at first, because Afghanistan is not in itself Arab and was not much of a threat, and they could contrast it with Bush’s “bad war” in Iraq, as the author points out. We originally went to Afghanistan only to chase the Arab bin Laden and the Arab-led and inspired radical Muslims, something that probably would have succeeded if we had kept up our pressure on the Arabs and Islamicism in other parts of the world. But I think the Dems’ turn against Iraq and against fighting radical Islam fundamentally impaired the Afghan war, as well.

What Obama really wants to do is publicly lose this war. He hates the United States and he wants to see us humiliated; he also identifies as a Muslim, whether he practices or not, and he wants to see it publicly triumph, regardless of how many people it kills or represses in its path to dominance. He sees it as a kick in the teeth to us, and that’s all that matters to him.

Obama’s problem is that he does not dare come out and say that he hates the US and wants a victory for Al Qaeda, the Taliban, or whatever Arab-backed radical Muslim group we are fighting at that moment. He knows that this would be too much even for most Dems (although there are some who would no doubt support him even then). So what he will do is make occasional public noises of support, but lose by passivity and inaction, by not supporting our forces, by limiting their range of action, by tying up their commanders with nit-picking rules of action.

In all of this, unfortunately, he can count on the complicity of the press, which has ceased reporting American losses there so that the whole thing will fade from people’s minds and there will be no outrage nor any support. However, when he announces that it is time to withdraw and humbly acknowledge that America, the Great Satan, has been wrong once again and has been defeated once again by the noble armies of Islam, he will no doubt have the press trot out all these deaths to use as justification for withdrawal and people will just shrug and accept it. Well, except for the people in the Arab street, who will be out tossing candies again.


8 posted on 09/11/2009 3:02:56 AM PDT by livius
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To: nickcarraway

The only good war is one that is over and you have won an unconditional total surrender.


9 posted on 09/11/2009 3:11:51 AM PDT by screaminsunshine (!!)
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To: nickcarraway

Gee , Here we are attacking Afghanistan and I thought the pilots were Saudi’s wrong again I guess.


10 posted on 09/11/2009 4:16:22 AM PDT by Venturer
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To: SkyPilot
Sky-Pilot is absolutely correct. Having spent 6 months in Kabul, the joke around Camp Phoenix was “2 in the heart, 1 in the mind”. We'll never win over there by trying to change them. It's just not possible. They do not want to change; rather, they are content to live in squalor, beat their women, and be led like sheep from extreme Islam.
11 posted on 09/11/2009 4:32:25 AM PDT by An American in Turkiye
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To: SkyPilot

I TOTALLY agree!


12 posted on 09/11/2009 4:43:15 AM PDT by awin
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To: All

.

.
Let us NEVER forget those nearly 3,000 innocent Americans who were murdered by the Islamists.
Don’t let Obama desecrate the memory of those Americans who were murdered by his fellow Muslims. Send this video to everyone you know.
Every American should view this video made by a New Yorker who lived through the attack:

http://attacked911.tripod.com/

This video has been viewed by untold millions and is now in the Smithsonian.
(Sadly, the New Yorker who made this video has since succumbed to lung damage sustained during the attack)

The video includes the planes crashing into the buildings and victims jumping. There are pictures of many of those who lost their lives, and president Bush’s aftermath speech set to the haunting background music, ‘Only Time’ by Enya. It is truly awesome.
.

.


13 posted on 09/11/2009 5:16:58 AM PDT by patriot08 (TEXAS GAL- born and bred and proud of it!)
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To: All
Image and video hosting by TinyPic Image and video hosting by TinyPic Image and video hosting by TinyPic "On this occasion, we celebrate the holy month of Ramadan and we also celebrate how much Muslims have enriched America and its culture in ways both large and small." Barack Hussein Obama.
14 posted on 09/11/2009 5:17:28 AM PDT by patriot08 (TEXAS GAL- born and bred and proud of it!)
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To: All

.

Barack Hussein Obama has banned the National Day of Prayer from the White House, now get a load of THIS!!
ISLAM ON CAPITOL HILL 2009 - islamoncapitolhill.com
http://islamoncapitolhill.com/Home_Page.html

Alarming! Infuriating!!
Does THIS leave any doubt as to what we have sitting in the White House?
Be sure to read every page!
Every page ends with ‘OUR TIME HAS COME’!!

.


15 posted on 09/11/2009 5:18:03 AM PDT by patriot08 (TEXAS GAL- born and bred and proud of it!)
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To: SkyPilot

I agree 100%.


16 posted on 09/11/2009 11:37:07 AM PDT by dervish (I never saw a wild thing sorry for itself)
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To: nickcarraway

Ajami is correct - Pres Bush kept us safe.

I fear that Obama’s weakness, appeasement and apologizing will make us an easy target.


17 posted on 09/11/2009 11:39:56 AM PDT by dervish (I never saw a wild thing sorry for itself)
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