It's obvious that military strikes against the Afghan Taliban won't stop idiots and nuts with bombs [View All]

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. . . from trying to blow something up somewhere. What's not openly discussed by our government is what effect our military presence and aggression in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iraq is having in fueling and fostering more individuals bent on violent acts against the U.S.. our interests, and against our allies.

During the heart of the Iraq occupation, (which the military hopes to emulate in Afghanistan), a leaked classified National Intelligence Estimate from 16 spy agencies collectively concluded that the military presence and aggression there was creating a new generation of terrorists.

from a 2006 NYT article: http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B0DE7D71E31F937A1575AC0A9609C8B63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=print

The intelligence estimate, completed in April, is the first formal appraisal of global terrorism by U.S. intelligence agencies since the March 2003 invasion of Iraq, and it represents a consensus view of the 16 disparate spy services inside government. Titled "Trends in Global Terrorism: Implications for the United States," it asserts that Islamic radicalism, rather than being in retreat, has metastasized and spread around the globe.

An opening section of the report, "Indicators of the Spread of the Global Jihadist Movement," cites the Iraq war as a reason for the diffusion of jihad ideology.

The report "says that the Iraq war has made the overall terrorism problem worse," one U.S. intelligence official said.

The present military aggression against the Afghanistan Taliban is as disconnected from resolving the causes and catalysts of terror plots and actual bombings since 9-11 as was the Iraq invasion and occupation. But the military aggression in Afghanistan and Pakistan evidently is inspiring this recent trickle of would-be U.S. territory attackers to violence. It's a self-perpetuating cycle of U.S. military aggression sparking scattered, sporadic reprisals - acts of terror by individuals most often completely disconnected from the forces and elements our military are targeting in their occupations.

It's a lunk-headed strategy to assume that one more military push is going to create 'space' or some vacuum where Afghan or Pakistan forces can assume our nation's blundering, antithetical 'war on terror'. If anything, our efforts to intimidate and stifle Afghanistan's Taliban with the force of our escalated military appear to be inspiring more violent resistance, not less. All of that force certainly didn't stop the hapless Nigerian living in the $5 million suite his daddy bought him from attempting his terror stunt on a plane.