Guest Post From Military Vet C.V. Shaw

[The following was originally posted on Military.com in respense to my Afghanistan post below. It is re-printed here with the permission of the author.]

Why did we go into Afghanistan in the first place?

Did the Taliban government initiate, co-operate with or know about 9/11?

No, they didn't!

We should have gone in without notice, immediately after 9/11, with a large number of Special Forces to capture Ben Laden. Instead, we gave him advance notice. As a result, he escaped.

We should've then told the Taliban that if they interfered with our search for Ben Laden, we would declare war and invade the country!
Was the rationale somewhat like the rationale that led to the terrible insanity of W.W. I?

Yes. Arch Duke Ferdinand of Austria was executed by an extremist in Serbia. As a result, Austria wanted war with Serbia in revenge! ( I believe that it was Serbia.)
Rigid and unreasonable and blind alliances (on both sides before W.W. I and now) concommitant with falsehoods and the refusal to follow norms of justice and equity led to the slaughter of W.W. I.

The same has occured in Iraq and Afghanistan.

We should acknowledge that our invasion of Afghanistan was wrong. By not doing the same, we promulgate the same terrorism and need for revenge and unreasonable and rigid alliances that resulted in W.W. I and might result in many more 9/11's and, perhaps, WW III.

Today's News

The most interesting bit of geopolitical news I picked up today: Iran has been holding two of Osama bin Laden's brothers under house arrest since 2003.

Lunacy Makes for Strange Bedfellows

"Sunni al-Qaida has also stepped up its criticism of Shiite Iran, the main backer of Hezbollah, accusing it of trying to dominate the Middle East."
--from AP story on bin Laden's latest message to the faithful, May 18, 2008.

So now all Iran has to worry about are Bush, McCain, Obama, Israel and Osama bin Laden's boys at al Qaeda....and their own so-called president, of course.

Ain't them Shiites and Sunnis just a barrel of fun?