Left vs Right: conversations with a good conservative friend

Here is a small part of an ongoing conversation I have with a good friend. He is very onservative. I am very liberal (and proud of it).  Me=GC
Friend=FG

GC: BTW, I
think things are a hell of a lot worse now than they were during Carter’s reign. At least he didn’t have a war sucking $80 B out of our pockets every year. I’ll ask again. If there is another attack like 911 would you say that Bush failed in Iraq?

FG::That is like saying if someone dies then medicine is a failure so we should not be spending money there either.

You live in some kindergarten fantasy world of absolutes.  That there have been multiple attacks around the world since 9/11 which have not again touched our shores indicates to me that we have had some success.  That the number of attacks around the world has diminished also tells me that the positive effects of our work is showing .  The decreased deaths in Iraq indicate tremendous success there. With some cooperation from Pakistan the Afghanistan war may also end sooner than thought.  But the simplistic views you forward really don’t deserve a response.  But I did it anyway.

GC: So, if we do get attacked then the effort is wasted. That’s the way it looks to me.

Simplistic? Might makes right, that is your answer. That is simplistic.

FG: How do you know that we have not prevented multiple attacks?

GC: I don’t know either way. But I do know they bombed the twin towers in 1993. It took 10
years to bring a second major attack on the US. Yes, I am aware of the ship incident too.What I am saying is that the US has gone “all in”. We watched while Russia fought to keep  fghanistan Communist. We watched when the Soviet Union bankrupted itself after nine years of totally wasted effort and resources in Afghanistan. As I recall, this is where Bin Laden received help
from the U.S. (arms) and where he got his training. In effect, Bin Laden won. Isn’t that the least bit ironic to you after seeing what has happened in Iraq? Below is an interesting review of the Soviet-Afghan War.

But I need to ask this first. Bush is now pushing for a troop withdrawal by 2010. How did he come up with 2010? How would even Petreus know that? Why are they seeking to withdraw now? Is it a head fake? That is what I think it is. I believe that this is enough time to secure the bases in Iraq and keep a large force on  those bases. Thus, this seems like another lie to many people but how do you feel? If my scenario pans out, would you not feel they lied to you?

Please leave your comments.

Greg Cryns