Quote Originally Posted by Miss Z View Post
I was intrigued by this statement. I wonder if you could clarify - did you mean that focusing on destroying one man takes the proverbial eye off the ball, with regards to the real problems in the country? Or perhaps that, once you have the man, you create more problems in getting the population on your side? Just curious.
I'll try.... I am going to use Somalia as an example.

Adid was not THE problem, but he was the face of it. Grab him and the problem does not go away as some other wanna be despot takes his place. But for (IMO) political expediency 'getting Adid' was how we were going to define success.


See how making the mission about ONE person can tie the hands of the people asked to accomplish the task? Yes, Osama is gone, but the problems are still there. I think the next question is are we willing to do what is necessary to try and create the conditions necessary to allow the people of Afghanistan to govern themselves in a way that will allow them to be a peaceful contributor to the world? Personally, I do not think so. If that is the case, its time to leave.