Mood:
a-okWho'd ever think that an arch-conservative like Pat Buchanan would honestly look at the down side of occupying foreign countries? Here's some interesting quotes:
"But if the aim of suicide bombers is not to advance Islamism in a war of civilizations, what is its purpose? Pape's conclusion: "(S)uicide-terrorist attacks are not so much driven by religion as by a clear strategic objective: to compel modern democracies to withdraw military forces from the territory that the terrorists view as their homeland. From Lebanon to Sri Lanka to Chechnya to Kashmir to the West Bank, every major suicide terrorist campaign has had as its central objective to compel a democratic state to withdraw."
"Before the U.S. invasion, says Pape, "Iraq never had a suicide attack in its history. Since our invasion, suicide terrorism has been escalating rapidly, with 20 attacks in 2003, 48 in 2004 and (more than) 50 in just the first five months of 2005. Every year since the U.S. invasion, suicide terrorism has doubled ... Far from making us safer against terrorism, the operation in Iraq has stimulated suicide terrorists and has given suicide terrorism a new lease on life."
"Between 1982 and 1986, there were 41 suicide-bomb attacks on U.S., French, and Israeli targets in Lebanon. When U.S. and French troops withdrew and Israel pulled back to a six-mile buffer zone, suicide bombings virtually ceased."
If anyone has evidence to the contrary, please send it to me.
The Full Buchanan Article
Posted by qualteam
at 9:26 PM EDT
Updated: Tuesday, 19 July 2005 9:44 PM EDT
St Johns