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Maybe not mercenaries, but using proxy fighters is a longstanding U.S. tradition
St. Louis Post-Dispatch ^ | 12-15-01 | Harry Levins

Posted on 12/15/2001 5:18:06 AM PST by FairWitness

Edited on 05/11/2004 10:57:11 AM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]

Shortly after the attacks of Sept. 11, a reader stepped front and center with a suggestion: Why not recruit an American Foreign Legion to carry the war to the Taliban?

The suggestion appalled Jerry Cooper, who teaches military history at the University of Missouri at St. Louis. He said mercenaries ran counter to American tradition. And he said that as an American citizen, "I don't want some back-alley thug fighting my battles."


(Excerpt) Read more at home.post-dispatch.com ...


TOPICS: Editorial; Foreign Affairs
KEYWORDS:
If you want something done "right", you have to do it yourself, else you may get unintended consequences (actually, you may get unintended consequences even if you do everything yourself.
1 posted on 12/15/2001 5:18:06 AM PST by FairWitness
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To: FairWitness
Bump
2 posted on 12/15/2001 5:20:57 AM PST by Fiddlstix
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To: FairWitness
See also: How to win militarily in Afghanistan

"It's relatively simple," Stanford University Professor Peter Duignan said. "The Russians went in ill-equipped, ill-trained and unprepared on the ground, and stirred up all of the Afghan people against them.

"The Americans went in well-trained, well-prepared, not substantially on the ground and we united Afghan nationalist forces against the Taliban," he said. "We really didn't fight a war there. We had proxies fight a war for us on the ground and we battled from 35,000 feet in the air."

3 posted on 12/15/2001 5:34:26 AM PST by FairWitness
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To: FairWitness
It is not important to kill all Taliban members to end that terrorist threat. It was not necessary to kill all NATZI's to end Hitlers threat. It was only necessary to show that the beliefs of the NATZIs were not true.

Such threats and NATZISM, COMMUNISM, or attempts at world domination are always based on the belief in a superior system or an all powerful GOD. Hitler made his pitch on the superiority of the German race. He told his followers they were superior to others. Superior "races" do not get defeated by inferior races. So when the government of the Master Race was totally defeated, the members of 'master race' figured out they were not the masters of much.

Communism believed it to be superior system of organizing society. They would 'bury' capitalism. When capitalism buried communism economically its suport fell dramatically.

The Muslims that followed the Taliban beleived they were the chosen true believers of Islam and Allah. Since Allah is all powerful, he would give them victory over the United States. When Allah fails to do that, the only conclusion for the followers is that Allah was not with the Taliban. In fact they must draw the conclusion that Allah prefered the United States to win.

Any system that claims to be superior, and gains followers on that basis, had best not fail. For if they do, they cease to be thought of by their followers as superior.

If Allah won't give the Taliban victory over the United States, why would Allah give his martyrs 72 virgins and an eternity in paradise for killing a few thousand americans. Why Allah let the Americans defeat the Taliban is a hard qestion for a militant Muslim to answer.

It is hard to get people to die for a cause when the supreme God of the cause doesn't care enough to let it retain control of its own nation. WE don't have to kill the people, we just have to kill their beliefs.

4 posted on 12/15/2001 5:53:15 AM PST by Common Tator
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To: Common Tator
For those who respond to logic, you have nailed it.
5 posted on 12/15/2001 6:02:03 AM PST by FairWitness
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To: FairWitness
bump
6 posted on 12/15/2001 1:20:18 PM PST by Libertarianize the GOP
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To: FairWitness
I don't see any harm if 1/3 of our infantry is to be mercanaries.
7 posted on 12/15/2001 7:59:55 PM PST by weikel
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To: Common Tator
WE don't have to kill the people, we just have to kill their beliefs.

An astute observation worth repeating.

The silence in the Muslim world as the U.S. has systematically dismantled the Taliban has been deafening.

Lots of questions are being asked about whose side Allah is on.

8 posted on 12/15/2001 8:06:14 PM PST by sinkspur
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To: weikel
Hmmm... and a $35 million bounty is enough to get every Afghan enlisting on our side. And what took the wind out of the Talibunnies jihad was being beaten by fellow Muslims. So much for the war against America they dreamed of. Our enemies don't know us as well as they think they do and now Osama Bin Laden and what's left of Al Qaeda are learning the hard way that you do not want to take on Americans. If someone wants to take on us they do so at their own risk.
9 posted on 12/15/2001 8:06:34 PM PST by goldstategop
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To: Common Tator
Failure has never deflected Islam. It is more complicated than that. The negative consequences of violent insular intolerance need to be made more concrete on a focused basis over a considerable period time. It will be heavy lifting, and require patience and wisdom. Western pressure to shut down all those Islamic fundamentalist un-schools financed by Saudi Arabia et al needs to be job one.
10 posted on 12/15/2001 8:40:22 PM PST by Torie
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To: Common Tator
Nazi.
11 posted on 12/15/2001 8:48:33 PM PST by A.J.Armitage
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