like it or not we played a very large role in this, a veeeeeeery large role. you can downplay it by saying we only gave pakistan the $ and weapons and had no other role in it.
What about my statements don't you understand? Yes we played a large role in this. I've never claimed otherwise. All I'm saying is that our roll was neither unique nor was it directorial and that absent US actions in Afghanistan Al Qaeda would still exist, would still be well funded, and would still be actively engaged in a fight against the West. I'm not attempting to justify the idiotic American actions here, nor the similar actions we have made and continue to make throughout the Middle East, the Soviet Bloc and Africa. I simply reject the short-sighted argument that says those actions along with other foreign policy moves are somehow primarily responsible for the current situation.
I understand that you want to believe that Al Qaeda was an American invention and that the Afghan war was a colonial conflict. Such a perspective is a prerequisite for most of your views on this "War on Terror" and on America itself. But the information you post contradicts that. Furthermore, the past and continued hypocrisy of Al Qaeda and similar factions further contradicts that. Anti-secular ideologies were more than nascent before the United States got involved in this conflict and before the United States was even a major international player.
People who believe that this conflict is being fought over American foreign policy ignore the important ideological distinction between groups like Al Qaeda and the much more prevalent anti-American sentiments throughout the Middle East. Al Qaeda and similar organizations fear secular society and are willing to kill to prevent it from "infecting" their societies.
When some moron in this country says "they hate us for our freedoms", they're actually closer to the correct answer than you are. They don't hate our freedoms but they do hate the secularism that creates those freedoms and are terrified of it reaching their borders. Like many Arabs (and others), they certainly despise our foreign policy. But the influence of our foreign policy pales in comparison to the influence of Western secular culture.
Is American foreign policy in need of serious changes? Of course. Will those serious changes eliminate or even lessen foreign resistance to America from Islamic Radicals? No.
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What about my statements don't you understand? Yes we played a large role in this. I've never claimed otherwise. All I'm saying is that our roll was neither unique nor was it directorial and that absent US actions in Afghanistan Al Qaeda would still exist, would still be well funded, and would still be actively engaged in a fight against the West. I'm not attempting to justify the idiotic American actions here, nor the similar actions we have made and continue to make throughout the Middle East, the Soviet Bloc and Africa. I simply reject the short-sighted argument that says those actions along with other foreign policy moves are somehow primarily responsible for the current situation.
I understand that you want to believe that Al Qaeda was an American invention and that the Afghan war was a colonial conflict. Such a perspective is a prerequisite for most of your views on this "War on Terror" and on America itself. But the information you post contradicts that. Furthermore, the past and continued hypocrisy of Al Qaeda and similar factions further contradicts that. Anti-secular ideologies were more than nascent before the United States got involved in this conflict and before the United States was even a major international player.
People who believe that this conflict is being fought over American foreign policy ignore the important ideological distinction between groups like Al Qaeda and the much more prevalent anti-American sentiments throughout the Middle East. Al Qaeda and similar organizations fear secular society and are willing to kill to prevent it from "infecting" their societies.
When some moron in this country says "they hate us for our freedoms", they're actually closer to the correct answer than you are. They don't hate our freedoms but they do hate the secularism that creates those freedoms and are terrified of it reaching their borders. Like many Arabs (and others), they certainly despise our foreign policy. But the influence of our foreign policy pales in comparison to the influence of Western secular culture.
Is American foreign policy in need of serious changes? Of course. Will those serious changes eliminate or even lessen foreign resistance to America from Islamic Radicals? No.