Quote:
Originally posted by Bad_Rich_Chic
But it is a shame that the election results boost al Qaeda's position by handing them (at least the appearance of having) some degree of power over and influence in the internal politics of coalition nations.
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If we had focused on terrorism in the places it was manifesting itself after Afghanistan rather than on trying to invade Iraq, we would not have had a tenuous coalition of governments whose policies were opposed by their people. It's much easier to topple a government if we weaken that government first. Strategically, this is one of the things I've been saying all along. By going into Iraq, we weakened our coalition and we weakened the international consensus on waging a war on terror, and weakened it to the point where I am no longer sure it exists.
The Spanish people never wanted in on Iraq, though they were behind us in Afghanistan. We got the government's support, but it was always an unpopular position for the government. So the idea that this already weakened government fell because of terrorism should be an indication that we did not build a coalition that has staying power. The way to solve that problem is not by screaming at the world, ridiculing them, and telling them to fly straight or else, because when it comes to Spain and the UK, we don't have an or else.
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