@CaptainHarley Sadly true. Bush was so hell-bent to invade Iraq he starved the effort to get Bin Laden. We had him pinned down at Tora Bora and the Bush Administration refused to send in troops requested by the commanders on the ground there. Instead, they left it to the Afghan Warlords who took some bribes and lo-and-behold, Bin Laden, Mullah Omar and the senior leadership of the Taliban and Al Qaeda all slipped safely into Pakistan where they are today.
Those who are against this war like to point to the fact that Al Qaeda isn’t in Afghanistan anymore as if that means the job is done. Unfortunately, the job is not done. And the terrorist who walked into Pakistan can also walk back out into Afghanistan if it falls back into Taliban hands. That would be a huge betrayal of Pakistan, who we have pressured to go after the Taliban and Al Qaeda in the tribal lands. Pakistan would either have to invade Afghanistan themselves and try to pacify it, ot face repeated incursions from a reinvigorated enemy sitting right back in the safe haven they used to attack us on 9/11.
It’s a lousy hand, but that’s the cards we were dealt.