“The failure to finish the job represents a lost opportunity that forever altered the course of the conflict in Afghanistan and the future of international terrorism, leaving the American people more vulnerable to terrorism, laying the foundation for today’s protracted Afghan insurgency and inflaming the internal strife now endangering Pakistan.”  France-Presse, 2009

The Geneva Conventions consist of four treaties and three additional protocols that set the standards in international law for humanitarian treatment of the victims of war.  If only we could get terrorists to follow the Geneva convention like we do!  Young Americans have died because we follow the rules against opponents who couldn’t care less.  When I first heard about this, I was asked if I had read about the senate report that said President Bush let Bin Laden get away.  To be fair, this could be looked at in three ways (at least):

1. President Bush let Bin Laden get away.  For the people who are blaming President Obama for everything under the sun this is the view they should take.  That is of course if other things didn’t skew their opinion of our current president.
2. President Bush was in charge (of course), but Donald Rumsfeld and General Franks were horrible advisers.
3. Bin Laden was only a patsy anyway.  If all the cards were laid out on the table, some US agencies [cough, CIA] could be involved with funding some “organizations” to keep business going.

“President George W. Bush’s expression of America’s desire to get Osama bin Laden ‘‘dead or alive’’ seemed about to come true. Two months later, American civilian and military leaders celebrated what they viewed as a lasting victory with the selection of Hamid Karzai as the country’s new hand-picked leader. The war had been conceived as a swift campaign with a single objective: defeat the Taliban and destroy Al Qaeda by capturing or killing bin Laden and other key leaders. A unique combination of airpower, Central Intelligence Agency and special operations forces teams and indigenous allies had swept the Taliban from power and ousted Al Qaeda from its safe haven while keeping American deaths to a minimum. But even in the initial glow, there were concerns: The mission had failed to capture or kill bin Laden. Removing the Al Qaeda leader from the battlefield eight years ago would not have eliminated the worldwide extremist threat. But the decisions that opened the door for his escape to Pakistan allowed bin Laden to emerge as a potent symbolic figure who continues to attract a steady flow of money and inspire fanatics worldwide. The failure to finish the job represents a lost opportunity that forever altered the course of the conflict in Afghanistan and the future of international terrorism, leaving the American people more vulnerable to terrorism, laying the foundation for today’s protracted Afghan insurgency and inflaming the internal strife now endangering Pakistan.”

Republicans/Conservatives will be able to explain why Bush wasn’t responsible for this, but everything that has happened over the last 16 years and – hold on while I count from January 20th until now -  10 months is either Bill Clinton’s or Barack Obama’s fault.

“There were enough U.S. troops in or near Afghanistan to execute the classic sweep-and-block maneuver required to attack bin Laden and try to prevent his escape. It would have been a dangerous fight across treacherous terrain, and the injection of more U.S. troops and the resulting casualties would have contradicted the risk-averse, “light footprint” model formulated by Rumsfeld and Franks. But commanders on the scene and elsewhere in Afghanistan argued that the risks were worth the reward.”

What should the United States do now?  President Obama is no doubt being raked over the Republican coals for sending more troops to Afganistan, but a Republican president should have and could have done something to send a message to terrorists around the world.  I say send a message, because it will be impossible to totally erradicate the threat terrorists pose around the world.

I wish we could use our technology, strategic planning and tatical planning to end the war in Afganistan.  Yes, we may have to ask for a Geneva Convention pass, but if some other nations would temporarily look the other way, we could save the lives of some young men and women while sending a message to terrorists around the world.  If not, we should at least reduce the defense budget since we aren’t using all these cool war tools to their full extent.