Here's my take:
The things being done in Afghanistan and Iraq specifically aren't really doing anything to protest us RIGHT NOW persay. The problem is that if we were to allow the organizations there to thrive, we would eventually need protection. Say what you will about 9/11 conspiracies, attacks like that would become fairly commonplace were it not for our military's prowess. Radical Islam is not going away. Hatred for America, regardless of our foreign policy, will continue based on our consumerism based society. The origination of the Radical Islam movement was from a well educated average guy in Egypt who traveled to America only to be disgusted by it. Sidenote, coming back from deployments, I and many others have agreed with alot of the reasoning behind that hatred. The US is one hell of an ignorant and arrogant nation of entitlement. Seeing kids starving and dying of easily treated diseases/illnesses really makes you take a second look at all those people buying $300 shoes and just say 'wtf'. So while we're there to alleviate the threat from growing into an actual power, our main focus has to be, and is, convincing the nationals to not support and join those organizations. Which means we have to win them over by being good guys to them. That doesn't mean we have to be good guys to the selective few that are mostly out of their fucking minds.
Without us there, families have no protection from Al-Qaeda and the Taliban who threaten, kill, or tax to death anyone who isn't fighting with them. They'll also force farmers to grow opium instead of other crops, and then take all the final product without paying them(or at least not what they would have made by growing what they wanted to). They also pay about double what the Afghan National Army does, again along with the threats and violence. Obviously way more examples to be had, but you get the point. This stuff is very real. Even after occupying an area for years, we leave and the region falls back into radical hands. Some heads get cut off, a few women get raped, houses burned down, and then life under extremist government begins.
Now am I saying that we're completely perfect in protecting them and doing what we should? No. Watch Restrepo. That's what's mostly going on over there as far as tactics, though usually on a much less violent scale. We occupy an area and try to gain favor with the local elders (since they're all still organized into villages and tribes) so that the extremists can't gain foothold in their town. Without the support of the locals in at least some fashion whether it be intel, production, protection, or money, Al-Qaeda can't gain a foothold. And as much as it sucks, I think that without an American presence the 'sleeper cells', if you can call them that, would gain power back, instead of continuing to lose it. And while I don't agree with the politics that got us there in the first place(thanks WWII/Cold War politicians), I think that at least for now, our presence there is an unfortunate necessity, and the lesser of two evils. Unless our society is going to conform to what they want, which is for us to change our entire social and governmental structure, though not necessarily a religious conversion like bin Laden wanted, there will always be 'rebels' against us. This group just happens to have a lot more support than most.
Founder of Al-Qaeda has it about right:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/wor...aunches-fierce-attack-on-Osama-bin-Laden.html
All that said, I joined under the Bush administration planning to deploy, and still wouldn't change what I did given then chance. Like I said, I no longer agree with what got us there in the first place, but that doesn't mean that I don't support why we may HAVE to be there now. Idk, I've been kinda torn about this lately, and I'm still back and forth on where my overall support lies as far as our next necessary move(not that my opinion matters anymore, aside from at the polls). Either way, I'm definitely much better off personally than I would have been without joining. Got me across the country from home, away from all the bs holding me back, and I got my head on mostly straight and set myself up pretty well, using the benefits to pay for my school now.
