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Sunday, November 14, 2010

West cannot defeat al-Qaeda, says UK forces chief

From the BBC:
The West can only contain, not defeat, militant groups such as al-Qaeda, the head of the UK's armed forces has said.

General Sir David Richards, a former Nato commander in Afghanistan, said Islamist militancy would pose a threat to the UK for at least 30 years.

But he told the BBC's Andrew Marr Show a clear-cut victory over militants was not achievable.

The BBC's Frank Gardner said the comments reflect a "new realism" in UK and US counter-terrorism circles. 
A new realism, huh? It is not realistic to say we can not defeat Al Qaeda. It is patently absurd to say we can not defeat them.

Here's realism. Al Qaeda's base is no longer in Afghanistan, it is in Pakistan and Yemen.

We can certainly beat Al Qaeda. All we have to do is nuke Pakistan and Yemen.

One day these "militants" will take it too far, and they will nuke us. At that point we will, finally, take the gloves off, and we pound them into dust.

This British General would have done better to say, "Given the methods we are allowed to use, we will never defeat Al Qaeda.


That would have been realism.

Defeatist talk from top Military brass if a sign of terrible decadence. We have to get over this sickness. Men like this need to be expelled from the Military, not promoted.

UPDATE -

For the record, I didn't say we should nuke them, or that we have to nuke them.

I said, we can win by nuking them.

The point is, we have a General who is defeatist in his attitude. And, in his defeatism, he is not acknowledging reality.

When he says we can not win, he is saying something that is simply not true.

We can win.

By nuking them, at the worst.

There would be other ways to win.

However, if one starts with the idea that we don't want to hurt the civilians in the country against whom we are fighting, then we are not going to be able to imagine any scenarios by which we can win.

That is not the way to fight a war.

7 comments:

Juniper in the Desert said...

More bending over by our so-called military for the muslim masters!

Yes we can - NUKE THEM!!

Reliapundit said...

pasto - brilliant analysis and commentary

Paul said...

I just don't see the point in nuking anything. Nukes = the end of earth and that doesn't really help anyone.

Your mindset is no different than Osama Bin Laden's. Perhaps you two are more alike than you would like to think.

What you need to understand sir, is that there are very few actual extremist militant islamists in the world. Why punish an entire country of people who just want to live their lives like you and I?

I do not agree with the statement that 'we cannot defeat Al Qaeda', but nuking Yemen and Pakistan is not the answer.

I look at it like this: If a militia in our country bombed another country, would that give that country a right to nuke all of us? Do you seriously think ALL of the billion + muslims think the same, like insects?

Think about what you're saying.

Reliapundit said...

thanks 4 commenting paul.

u r ignorant a/o a dupe.

our use of nukes in ww2 saved 20 million JAPANESE lives and 2 million on our side.

good thing we used them b4 hitler/hirohito, 2.

we shoulda used them in november of 2001 in tora bora.

we should use them whenever they are called for.

no reason to have troops in Afghanistan defending pederastic drug dealing muzzies.

we should just give the taliban regions a deadline and let women and children out if they convert, and then nuke it all.

this will save l,ives - and even save civilization from islam.

Pastorius said...

For the record, I didn't say we should nuke them, or that we have to nuke them.

I said, we can win by nuking them.

The point is, we have a General who is defeatist in his attitude. And, he is not acknowledging reality.

When he says we can not win, he is saying something that is simply not true.

We can win.

By nuking them at the worst.

There would be other ways to win.

However, if one starts with the idea that we don't want to hurt the civilians in the country against whom we are fighting, then we are not going to be able to imagine any scenarios by which we can win.

That is not the way to fight a war.

Paul said...

I see that I cannot change your mind, so thanks for replying honestly and sincerely.

I can only be grateful that people like you are not in command, but safely contained behind a keyboard.

I agree the general is being defeatist, but 'nuking them' is like pouring Borax on an ant hill. The borax will poison the land for years to come, and the ants will simply crawl deeper underground, grow, and pop up in another part of the yard. You guys are pure genius.

Use your heads, not what you heard from your grandpa.

Reliapundit said...

BORAX ANALOGY WAY OFF.

WE MUST USE THE WEAPONS THAT WILL WORK.

THEY WORKED IN WW2.

THEY SAVED LIVES.

WHY PUT OUR BEST IN HARMS WAY - AND SUBMIT OUR CIVILIANS TO GROIN SEARCHES WHEN A FEW NUKES WILL SOLVE EVERYTHING.