End the war on terror and save billions

The Washington Post ^ | 6 December 2012 | Fareed Zakaria

[MinorityRepublican]

As we debate whether the two parties can ever come together and get things done, here’s something President Obama could probably do by himself that would be a signal accomplishment of his presidency: End the war on terror. Or, more realistically, start planning and preparing the country for phasing it out.

For 11 years, the United States has been operating under emergency wartime powers granted under the 2001 “Authorization for Use of Military Force.” That is a longer period than the country spent fighting the Civil War, World War I and World War II combined. It grants the president and the federal government extraordinary authorities at home and abroad, effectively suspends civil liberties for anyone the government deems an enemy and keeps us on a permanent war footing in all kinds of ways.

[Wiggins]

Make sure to tell the muzzies the war on terror is over. They will need to be reminded.

[Rembrandt]

When the terrorists in Palestine start a war, get their butts handed to them, then sue for peace, what happens?
THE TERRORISTS UPGRADE THEIR WEAPONS OF WAR AND STOCKPILE AMMO IN PREPARATION FOR THE NEXT TIME.

If the U.S. stops its “war on terror,” what will happen?
ANYONE? ANYONE? BUEHLER?

[SunkenCiv]

Fareed Zakaria of course, although it could have been any of the fake conservatives of the paleo variety. Thanks MinorityRepublican.

[Wings-n-Wind]

Zakaria is a muzzy insurgent infiltrator...
.. With no demonstrable allegiance to the USA

[granada]

Why not end the WaPo and save papers & trees?

[muawiyah]

Actually, the Reconquista in Spain took about 700 years ~ give or take a few decades.

There are Moslems around who imagine it is their turn to push back the Christians ~ of course they are nuts. They take their stuff too far and it'll be glass parking lots all over the Middle East before its over.

[The Right wing Infidel]

“
Yes, let’s rename it: “The War on Moslem Countries” and let the nuking commence in 15 minutes. “

That would be like Christmas coming early.

[muawiyah]

I can say, of course, my 17th, 18th, ............. 35th into the mists of time Great Grandfather’s started the Reconquista! They built Spain out of nothing.

[Usagi_yo]

I vote we loot everything we can in Afghanistan and then leave. Perhaps leave a nuclear bomb buried very deep in some key locations. Next time they act up .... BAM! Heck, even bring back some of their prettier women and leave the ones *you want” wearing burqas. LEave them the sheep and the ugly women.

In fact, this should be our new military Doctrine. Loot’n leave, or perhaps Smash’n grab.

[montanajoe]

We are under attack by an enemy who will not give up until the United States is defeated and destroyed or they are. I never cease to be amazed by the failure of so many of all political persuasions to grasp this simple fact....

[penelopesire]

Bingo!

[stubernx98]

Pull all our forces from around the world. Then the terrorists can get 6 or 8 Yachts or subs, and detonate nucs, 3 on the west coast (San Fran, LA, Seattle) 400 feet deep, with wind out of the west to make most of the West coast radioactive. Simultaneous to that get NY, Boston, DC, and the Carolinas when Sandy comes back.

So we can use our troops to keep the US citizens under control.

Yeah, that will do it/s

[rockrr]

Outlaw liberalism and save trillions!

[faithhopecharity]

Ohshit. Thanks. We’d all better get used to a post-Americsa world (islamic caliphate), given we just re-elected u know who.

[FlingWingFlyer]

End the war on terror. I’ll bet Fareed Zakaria would really like that.

[GeronL]

That pic use to be posted on FR all the time, the President listens to this guy

[faithhopecharity]

Koran, commie manifesto, saul alinsky, and farzeed. We are so screwed!

[onedoug]

Win the War On Terror and save millions...of lives.

[dervish]

wonder where he plagiarized this column from?

[nathanbedford]

I don't.

But I do know that it is taken as an article of faith here in Germany by my neighbors, in an unmistakable, "we told you so" tone, that we have gravely damaged ourselves by our experiences in Iraq and Afghanistan. I was originally a supporter those wars and have come to regret that position.

It is difficult for me to see how squandering $1 trillion has made us safer from the next 19 fanatics with box cutters. It is easy for me to see how our finances have been further damaged. It is easy for me to see how potentially dangerous it is to our liberties to submit to domestic surveillance. It is even easier to see how dangerous it is for this particular President of the United States to be vested with the potential power to incarcerate without trial and even to murder Americans with impunity.

It is also easy for me to see how boots on the ground for long periods of occupation is a strategy which could be pleasing only to the ghost of Osama bin Laden. I cannot imagine a more happy sequel to 9/11 for Obama than to see America squander its blood, treasure, and goodwill into the Sands of Iraq and Afghanistan to no lasting positive effect in the war on terror.

That is not to say that there is no occasion in which we might wage war. Our real enemy since before 9/11 was and remains Iran. Today, as these two wars wind down with very little to show on the positive side of the column and a huge debt that will go on for generations to be seen on the negative side of the column, Iran is stronger than ever, a caliphate is being born before our eyes extending from the Chinese border to the Atlantic shores of Africa, Iran is about to acquire the bomb essentially unimpeded, and the specter of weapons of mass destruction is not limited to Iran but they are now the very real reality in Syria. We have tried to win the war on terror, which is an asymmetrical war, by waging conventional war. That is a self-defeating strategy. That must stop.

We have also fought the war against terror as an intelligence war and in that we have largely succeeded, that must continue.

We have justified the war against Iraq as a war to prevent the bad guys from getting weapons of mass destruction. The principal was sound but the application was misplaced. The problem is, our emphasis on Iraq was wrong from the beginning and has now made it possible for a demagogue like Obama to acquiesce in Iran getting the bomb. It now appears that sarin gas will be potentially loosed on the world from whoever succeeds to power there. Both of these events would be calamities to the security of the United States. These are fronts on the war on terror which we must fight and win.

The war on terror is certainly not over, we are losing not winning. Part of the war on terror requires us to conserve our resources, including our blood as well as our treasure, to win the crucial battles. We have violated the first principle of warfare in Iraq and by our attempt to nation build in Afghanistan. Do we have enough treasure left to deal with Iran and Syria?

Do we have the political will, or have we poured that in the sands of Iraq and Afghanistan too ?