Quote:
Originally Posted by Pico and ME
So you dont believe that our invasion of Afghanistan had anything to do with protecting US interests in central Asia?
|
George Jr administration did everything possible to get 11 September blamed on Saddam. But facts were irrefutable no matter how hard Cheney, Rove, etc spun it. Bin Laden was the mastermind behind 11 September. Virtually no responsible American civil servant was going to say otherwise.
US ultimatum was bluntly clear to Mullah Omar and his Taliban supporters. They refused to surrender al Qaeda leaders. So the US put massive support behind the Taliban's enemies. Cheney, et al had no choice - all the while planning for a Pearl Harbor attack on Iraq.
US invasion? Hardly. US forces were not even permitted to go after bin Laden in Tora Bora. The 'invasion' of Afghanistan was support for one war party over another. Some of those American allies were even 'bought off' by the Taliban - which is how bin Laden so easily walked out of Tora Bora.
Worse, the US never bothered to complete what is always required to win any war - ie Phase Four planning. If the US had plans on Afghanistan, then Phase Four plans would have - must have - been implemented. No such plans existed or were quashed by a naive administration that had no plans for Afghanistan. Who were also completely devoid of basic military concepts and strategy. Therefore even the Kabul - Kandahar highway was back in Taliban hands within a few years.
Where are all those corporate plans that justified an Afghan invasion? Back where they always existed - in conspiracy fiction stories. The administration's political agenda always was to take back *our* oil - as defined by principles that united those extremists: "Project for a New American Century". Afghanistan and bin Laden were problems that the George Jr administration repeatedly denied, intentionally delegated to subordinates of subordinates, and routinely ignored. Remember the expression, "Every light is flashing red?" Even multiple FBI investigations that threatened to uncover the 11 September plot were hindered or subverted by an administration that was in complete denial about bin Laden and his Afghan hosts.
US had no intentions on Afghanistan. In fact, Afghanistan was considered a greater threat to Iran. Just another reason to let Afghanistan be. Just another reason the administration wanted to blame 11 September on bin Laden's enemy - Saddam.