[QUOTE=phareye]my reading doesn't indicate that bin laden or any other anti-soviet agents wanted american troops on the ground to repel the soviets. like the american revolutionaries didn't want french soldiers on the ground; they just wanted the equipment.
reagan DID in effect go to war w/ the soviets. we supplied arms, money, and intel. the US wasn't directly engaged w/ the soviets, but we did everything short of putting troops on the ground.i see "helping them, training them in military maneuvers, allowing them to establish a theocratic dictatorship, and giving them economic aid", to quote you, as tantamount to goading them on then getting pissed when they bite back. this is another example of the mentality that has gotten the US into so much hot water over the years: let's do what helps us the most now, regardless of how it will affect the next administration, much less future generations".[/QUOTE]

Please do not compare these lowlife idiots to the Patriots of the American Revolution. Not only are they in another league, they are not even in the same universe!

OK, so we made a mistake, but the taliban and al quedas' sending of crazed suicidal religious zealots to NY and Washington accomplished nothing for these idiots. There was absolutely nothing we did that warranted the attacks on 9/11, and nobody in their right mind, in my opinion, would think otherwise.

We should have nuked them, and then denied it - in the same manner that the taliban denied that al quada was responsible for 9/11.

The absolute best way to respond to violent people that use craziness against you is to surprise them by out-crazing them. To a certain degree, we DID surprise them with our counterstrike responses and resolve to win - hence the cessation of attacks on American soil.

You don't seem to understand that bin laden and his kind are out to destroy everything that is not Moslem - and think that if it results in the whole world being destroyed, then that is Allah's will - and he will start over. They think that they are on a "mission" for Allah and radical Islamic government.

Any movement that has these homicidal, irrational impulses must be stopped dead in their tracks, before they are able to carry out more destructive actions against everything, and everybody, that they hate - which is most of the world. This is the best thing we can do for "future generations", lest there not be any.