How can we get out now, as John suggests, when we have such a great track record of killing the #1 man in al Qaida?
U.S.-led NATO forces killed most-wanted al Qaida member Abu Hafs al-Najdi, also known as Abdul Ghani, in an air strike April 13 in the eastern province of Kunar, according to a statement issued by International Security Assistance Forces (ISAF).
If we just keep killing the top guy, this war will be over in six months, max. I don’t understand the short-sighted naysayers who think otherwise.
Hermione Granger-Weasley
Professor Dumbledore, I doubt we can leave now.
Maliki just rudely rejected America’s kind and generous offer to continue to occupy his country, and now the mil-brass is going to engage in frenzied posturing and lying about “progress” in Af-Pak in order to continue to have jobs.
At least McC had the decency to fire himself when he realized that droning and pop-centric COIN were epic fails.
I really respect him for that.
Hermione Granger-Weasley
Can I ax a question?
If I change my nic to Ghanima Atreides what will you change yours to?
Ghanima Atreides
voila.
i can haz sockpuppet.
;)
Mandramas
@Hermione Granger-Weasley: Sharpen your crysknife, sister. (Can a crysknife to be sharpened?)
Ghanima Atreides
@Mandramas: my brother.
yes, if it is unfixed.
I will preface all my battles with the ritual formality–
;)
Ghanima Atreides
So mistermix, are you going to be the Baron Harkonnen now?
;)
Joseph Nobles
It’s the #3 guy we kept killing. Please curb your memes.
Bulworth
Is this in Libya? Afghanistan? Pakistan? Iraq? Yemen?
scav
So many Casio F-91W watches to choose from, so little judgement.
Villago Delenda Est
@Bulworth:
Compton.
D.H.
@Joseph Nobles: You and OP are both wrong: it was the “#2 Al-Queda Leader” that we keep killing over and over again.
Villago Delenda Est
@D.H.:
I thought it was always “#3” that we somehow manage to kill.
They all have the authenticity of “Comrade Ogilvy” in the first place.
Bulworth
There’s really something called the International Security Assistance Forces? Can’t believe I’m so far out of the loop this entity isn’t familiar to me. It sounds almost comical, if there weren’t actually lives at stake in faraway places.
gypsy howell
How many hundreds of times can they recycle this story and still think it’s believable? Oh well, I guess the fact that Donald Trump is now the top republican candidate for the presidency means most Americans will believe just about anything. Carry on, Pentagon
propagandistspokesman.gypsy howell
@Bulworth:
Does it matter? When you’re being force-fed a steady diet of bullshit, who cares if the source is bullshit too?
Bill in Chicago
Well, the beat goes on. Add this guy to the ever-growing list:
http://www.asecondlookatthesaudis.com
Obama has certainly been as diligent at willfully ignoring the true source of Al Qaeda as Bush ever was. And then we wonder why we never seem to turn the corner on these guys.
Robert Waldmann
Be patient. It’s a war of attrition Atrides just remember attrition Atrides attrition.
Also you missed the obligatory “drummer in Spinal Tap” reference.
Robert Waldmann
crap. I never could spell, but honestly I typed Atreides first then uncorrected to Atrides. Really. Of course, being a kwisatz haderach, you know all that already (but you don’t want to know how I spelled kwisatz before I checked).
Ghanima Atreides
@Robert Waldmann: yes, since mistermix is the Kwisatz Haderach now he should just be able to tell us what will happen, right?
We just have to induce a spice trance.
;)
sukabi
hey, at least we’ve moved on to the #1 guy… we’ve been busy killing numbers 2 & 3 for the last 9 years.
trollhattan
@by Paul mistermix Muad’Dib
I believe a fresh new set of Number 2s escaped from prison this weekend. (Why am I thinking of “The Prisoner” right now? Can I leave the village, please?)
Brachiator
@sukabi:
So, does this make America Number 6, and this whole stupid “war against terror” thing an extended episode of The Prisoner?
Ah, I see trollhatttan is on the same trail.
@Bill in Chicago:
Don’t matter. It’s hard to combat an ideology, especially one with grounding in religious beliefs.
Joseph Nobles
@D.H.: Dude. Don’t be tickling the penguin, all right?
http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/06/01/eliminating-al-qaedas-no-3-again/
Osama’s number 1. Zawahiri’s number 2. It’s always number 3 that gets the Spinal Tap drummer treatment.
(I really don’t care, really. I’m just being silly.)
Carl Nyberg
Maybe if we tunnel into Afghanistan we can get the troops out before the commanders notice they’re gone.
Llelldorin
Er…. what happened to bin Laden? Has he gone emeritus or something? (Shows up, delivers an occasional rant to young terrorists about how the direction of the field is getting muddled, and so on?)
dj spellchecka
this cartoon about our perpetual progress in afghanistan ties into the subject at hand
http://politicalwire.com/archives/2011/04/26/cartoon_of_the_day.html
merl
Looks like we’re making progress. We used to only kill the #2 guy.
chris
What Joseph said. Whoever we kill must be #3, because we know who #1 and #2 are, and it wasn’t them.
If we just keep killing the top guy, this war will be over in six months, max.
De Gaulle might disagree.
Nate Dawg
It’s becoming more and more plausible that Bin Laden is dead. I’ve suspected it for a few years, but when will anyone acknowledge it? Perhaps he’s living on some farm with Elvis and will be with us always…
BD of MN
eventually the #3 guy will figure out not to wear the red Star Trek uniform, then we’ll really be in trouble…
tones
Did they not say there were only about 100 AlCiada in Afghanistan?
So , we already got a good 30-40 percent , the war is over.
Surely 150K US mercenaries can take care of the last 40 – 50 guys left, no?
[answer:no]
mclaren
That explains it.
Al Qaeda is full of vampires. Only explanation.
We keep killing ’em and they keep coming back.
No wonder this war on terror thing is gonna take so long…
M. Bouffant
A thousand Wordsworth(s).