This question was posed to me in the comments. It required a rather lengthy answer, so... it deserves a post of its own.
... Dear Citizen Phil, Exactly what lesson is Usama Bin Laden supposed to learn when we retaliate for 9-11 by eliminating Usama's enemy Saddam? ...
Dear Tom:
To declare categorically that Saddam was Bin Laden's enemy is a bit of a stretch. A more accurate description would be nervous bedfellows.
Al-Qaeda operatives enjoyed, at the very least, a tolerated presence in Saddam's Iraq. Perhaps they were not invited guests, but then Saddam was not about to hunt them down either.
To answer your question directly... there is no lesson for Bin Laden in the picture at all. Bin Laden was responsible for the attacks on the United States. Saddam was responsible for disregarding the cease-fire agreements, which caused George H.W. Bush to withdraw from Iraq without demanding an unconditional surrender.
Saddam was purposefully provocative militarily, and evasive regarding his weapons programs. And yes, he did have weapons programs at various stages of development in violation of agreements.
The fact that we did not find stockpiles of suspected biological and/or chemical weapons does not provide him cover; rather, it only tells us that our intelligence was faulty regarding his progress. In any case, the responsibility for the action taken against Saddam's regime, rests fully on Saddam.
We disassembled Bin Laden's puppet Taliban regime, and we disassembled Saddam's ever-threatening military empire.
The issues are separate and distinct, yet Al-Qaeda has chosen to engage our forces (and innocent Iraqi civilians) in the Iraqi theater. That fact is what I see as the current advantage to our operations in Iraq... that Al-Qaeda's not-unlimited resources have been and continue to be depleted there, and their tactics of inspiring the religious to become suicide weapons has become more difficult.
This is the case, despite the oft-cited claims that we are spawning new suicide-prone terrorists. Many would-be applicants have since retreated and have become disillusioned with Al-Qaeda and their maniacal leader.
Despite claims that I have the intellect of a neo-con mushroom, I want people to examine the issues as they should be examined, by not purposefully wadded them together like a sticky ball of duct tape.
Thanks for writing,
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