Part C
If we were to leave all the Islamist countries, then the Imams would have a free hand and would consequently take those countries back to the sixth century where they'd be no problem to us. After a few decades under the 'comforting' leadership of the Taliban, the Wahabis, and Al Quida, Islamist countries would be begging us to return with all our wester goodies. Now that they've seen Paree, lets put 'em back on the farm. If we could contain Communism, why can't we contain Islam? That's all we need do . So, what's wrong with this strategic and benign advance to the rear?

Part B Part C below

Saudi Arabia would be wondering (shitting in their pants) if we planned to hit them (as we should). We could still show the Wahabis of Saudi the water is more valuable than oil. If a couple of their water desalination plants disappeared that country would fall. And oil would be less expensive today and we wouldn't have the costs of the two wars. And, in Iraq, why didn't we just send in a hit squad, a la the Special Assiniations Squad (SAS) that the Brits have?

Part A Part B below
This is the best "I told you so" I've ever seen. And, of course, Pat is right. To answere Pat's question " Had we to do it over, would we invade Afghanistan to build a nation" , i believe we would invade but not to build a nation. I think and hope the lesson has been learned. Once we discovered that the Taliban or their guests, the Al Quida Network were the culprits in 9/11/01, we had to hit back. If we hadn't, we'd be the laughing stock of the Islamic world. We would have looked week. Had we left Afghanistan after we won though, we'd be highly respected by the Islamist world today.