Why then, was it necessary to remove the Pashtun-dominated Taliban government after the 9/11 attacks that bin Laden, not the mujahideen-led Taliban, conducted?

It’s fun, though, to see neoconservatives arguing that Al Qaeda is a rogue radical faction among disparate tribal Islamic fundamentalists groups. Usually, they are arguing just the opposite: that all Islamists are evil terrorists.

Gray is certainly correct to point out the importance to draw distinctions between the various Islamic factions and to note that many are opposed to one another.
Like all extremist movements, radical Islam is deeply divided. That’s probably its biggest weakness, along with the suicidal bent of its military tactics.

What the Progressives can’t remember, or can’t grasp, is that ALL regimes in the Middle East, with the exception of Israel and Turkey, came to their ascendance through force of arms.

The gamut runs from monarchy to theocracy to dictator. Historically, if the US has dealt with any Middle Eastern nation, it has necessarily and routinely dealt with unsavory regimes. The US could hardly do otherwise considering the prolificacy of Middle Eastern despots and the historical scarcity of Middle Eastern democracy.

McCain is struggling to find funding.

On the other hand, even with meager funding McCain is effectively carrying out a debate over Iran with Obama. After the conventions when official campaigning begins I suspect there may be more parity between the McCain and Obama campaign funds.

“Carter II” So right.

Yes, memories ARE short. Actually, US intelligence(the CIA) did NOT present Pakistan as developing a nuclear capability. Just the opposite. In fact, without exception the CIA has been wrong, beginning with the Soviets, about EVERY country that has EVER developed nuclear weapons. To now include Iran. The history of the CIA has been of hostility to administrations they should have been serving, incompetence, or both, for many years.

The comment above comes under the common tactic of claiming the US is responsible for every bad actor on the world stage. Which is a variation of the cherished Progressive Blame America meme.

Yes, the aid wasn’t handed directly to bin Laden. This is why I wrote: “and his ilk.”

To the above writer the US is supposed to look into a crystal ball and SEE that OBL, an obscure individual at the time, would become a terrorist in the future. The US is asked by implication to identify ALL the bad actors even before they play their roles.

In debate one can always rely on a fervent declaration from Progressive quarters that the US ‘created’ any murderer. To the Progressive mind the US is responsible for ALL perfidy that might occur, not the real perpetrators, no matter how tenuous the connection.
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by the time we got that far, i just said to him that i notice you speak french… he said oui! i asked him then does he know any german? he said non…

i said thats beacuse we occupied france for a while.

otherwise, he would be speaking either german or russian given the outcomes…

at that point he got disgusted about americans and their blindness to facts about imperialism…

[heck i almost got him to see the difference between the american revolution and the french... the major difference is that the losers had a choice as to what they did... as far as i remember, the french revolution was birthed in a indiscriminate blood bath... against a feudal aristocracy... but heck, they like adminstrative feudalism now]

I agree to nothing of the sort. His viability as a terrorist was damaged by the successes of the indigenous mujahideen we were arming and training.

The Mujahideen in Afghanistan turned their backs on the starving radicals in favor of US support.

No longer needed, Binny and ‘his ilk’ tried to return to Saudi Arabia, but because of their training and radicalism were seen as a threat to the Saudi Monarchy–and they were.

Most of the Afghan Arabs who left Afghanistan ended up in The Sudan–who tried to turn them over to the US ‘cuz they were destabilizing the place with money and Wahhabism. But Clinton said ‘No, we don’t want them’.

You know the rest of the story.

Go read a book, or do some research, ‘Amanda’….

Makes me feel like a beef looking into the abbatoir in front of me; maybe interesting to observe, but only from a far-removed distance.

Reality, for the “reality-based community” is endlessly mutable. Words mean what they decide they mean. The past changes to suit them. The laws of nature can be repealed.

This is not new, either:
http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/orwell46.htm