Dionys

"Is that like saying all black people look similar?"

No Dionys, its like saying the Iraqi Commander was convinced that he had arrested al-Masri, also known as Abu Hamza al-Muhajir" based on name, looks, whatever.

"Don't they teach basic logic these days?"

Yes and basic logic would tell the Iraqi commander same name (s) AKAs, matches description, hey look who we got.

Kinda sorta ya know what happened.

"Is that like saying all black people look similar?"

Are you still beating your mother?

When the person who runs the country (or is the puppet for the people who do) doesn't go after you and invades a country that had no connections to 9/11 instead it's pretty easy to stay hidden, too.

I thought you libs said catching al Qaeda leaders didn't do any good?

For all you know, the man is dead. When you have a vast expanse of mountain chains and live like a hermit, it's pretty easy to stay hidden.

I don't have a problem with cops at all. Some of my friends are cops, imagine that.

Armstrong agrees that the bombings could backfire. "It could recruit huge numbers of people to his cause," Armstrong says. "He has about 4,000 active members right now, and he could call on many thousands more. These raids will multiply that by a factor of 10.""

History shows Armstrong was correct. Not only did the bombings attacks increase the number of bin laden terrorist, the failure to follow through and get bin laden guaranteed a retaliation attack that came on 9/11/01.

http://dir.salon.com/story/news/feature/1998/08...

You do know that bin laden declared war on the USA back in the 90's?

Also note if you look up this article notice the name Al Qaida is not used.

This is how RepugnantCons get you to ignore dead Americans fighting a war they have no business being in and an enemy that didn't exist before the war.

"an enemy that didn't exist before the war"

Could you clarify what "war" your referring to?

"Terrorism experts question U.S. air strikes

Clinton's military gambit may embolden terrorist backer Osama bin Laden and his followers.

SALON | Aug. 21, 1998

BY HARRY JAFFE , JEFF STEIN AND LORI LEIBOVICH | The bombing of six supposed terrorist sites in Afghanistan and the Sudan Thursday by U.S. forces may have given some Americans a sense of revenge -- and temporarily diverted some public attention from President Clinton's deepening sex scandal -- but a number of foreign policy experts believe it will serve only to embolden Middle East radicals bent on further terrorist acts against the United States.

that's the first time I heard a number quoted

sounds about right to me

You are one silver-tongued lady. You really know how to brighten up a party.

Bush himself said terror was 'an evil ideology'

you can't bomb an idea

but bombs can feed and validate one

That's right! No comprehensive plan to get Bin Laden (no plan at all, in fact) and.. drumroll please

The Bin Laden Group! (Well. The House of Saud, too.)

It sure is. Now if we could only be sure he's actually an al-Qaida militant and not a bread baker taken in a mistaken "raid."

But not until 2000.

1 down, 2,345,523 to go!

Kinda like making a thousand dollar payment on the interest only portion of the 10 trillion Bush National Debt. Better than nothing, even though the interest alone is a billion per day.

Or, perhaps more likely - invent an enemy to justify the cost of your army?

Sounds to me like the Iraqi "leadership" is more interested in the gravy train of U.S. dollars than anything else.

This is how RepugnantCons get you to ignore dead Americans fighting a war they have no business being in and an enemy that didn't exist before the war.

Considering that most of their equipment is crap, exceping perhaps their weaponry, and tends to break down I'm not sure I would consider them the best equipped. Especially for the region. The same goes for training. It seems that for this particular kind of war the Afghans and fighters in Iraq had better training. Perhaps from dealing with the Soviets. Or maybe like Bin Laden they had personal training from some of the best in the CIA.

The U.S. Military has been taking a census... one or two at a time. It was determined to be best to kill them (or detain them indefinitely) as they are counted so that we don't count them twice.

Those are not organizations as we understand organizations. Most are one thing by day and Al Qaeda by night. The point is to keep killing them as quickly and as surgically as possible... and demonstrate that we will not be deterred by ours getting killed... so that eventually their inner cost-benefit calculus will be overwhelmed. Stabilizing Iraq is as much a question of will as it is of tactics.

Some how, with the odds at 160,000 to 2,500 I would have thought that after five=plus years the odds would have at least changed a wee bit.

The belief that you can talk to and reason with Middle Eastern Radicals is more naieve that Bush and Cheney thinking that Iraq would be fine without a strong controlling force.

Middle Eastern culture is VERY different from Western and Far Eastern culture. THe deserts breed a different kind of people that does the rest of the world.

And of course, you can't talk to madmen. If a man is so incensed with anger, hatred, and "piety" that is willing to blow himself up kililng tens, if not hundreds, of children with him what can you say to him to make him change his mind?

Two years ago, Petreus said that any progress would require a political solution.

Why are you so deluded about the power of bombs to help our cause rather than hinder it?

----Based on U.S. troop deployments I question this.

----Based on funds requested by Mr. Bus, I question this

After five-plus years, I agree, it is LONG PAST time that the Iraqis stepped up to the plate to police their own country.

The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.

Since I am sure that you recognize the similarity in your names, I find it hard to believe that you would even think of writing such a comment.

""No disrespect intended, but don't they all have similar names? Surprised it has not happened before."

Is that like saying all black people look similar?

They don't all have 'similar' names, but just like any culture there are a lot of "Johns," "Jeffs" and "Mr.Smiths.""

Dionys, did you read the article?

If you did then you would know info about the who was arrested AND the confusion came from the commander of Iraqi forces in the Mosul, not the US.

Are you lecturing the Iraqi's them selves about their culture?

FTA

"Iraqi Defense Ministry spokesman Mohammed al-Askari said the confusion arose because the commander of Iraqi forces in the Mosul region was convinced that he had arrested al-Masri â;; also known as Abu Hamza al-Muhajir".

I'm certainly glad that FDR didn't think that when Hitler died that "someone would take his place."

Bush's certainly taken the why-bother-at-all going after Bin Laden.

Maybe because the Bin Laden group owns his testes?

Is that like saying all black people look similar?

They don't all have 'similar' names, but just like any culture there are a lot of "Johns," "Jeffs" and "Mr.Smiths."

As far as I have been able to discern, the membership is actually quite small and has been relatively constant since after the invasion (it was zero before the invasion).

Well, wouldn't that be the same case if we captured Bin Laden? Hell, by bother at all? Let's just let them keep killing thousands of innocent people at a time. They'll just keep doing it, anyway.

Completely amazing.

Even if it is mistaken identity, at least Iraqi forces are doing more and more of the leg work all the time. More and more progress is being made.

Playing wack-a-jihadi against a small piece of the puzzle is not going to get the job done.

No disrespect intended, but don't they all have similar names? Surprised it has not happened before.

And if number two steps in place it is still one less.