Quote (Mondain @ Aug 1 2022 06:09pm)
Gotta wrap up those CIA loose ends.
I mean it actually was the CIA passing weapons to Al Qaeda just a few years ago to fight ISIS in Syria, and al-Zawahiri was one of the leaders seeking to counter ISIS with al-Nusra.
It would have taken a lot of the accomplishment out of killing Osama Bin Laden or al-Baghdadi or Suleimani if we had spent a decade cozying up to them and sending them missiles instead of sending missiles at them.
We had good reason to want al-Zawahiri dead, he was more active in terrorism back prior to 9/11, but its not like he was masterminding any recent attacks nor was he an active threat anymore. When ISIS was around, we had a good argument for actually wanting al-Zawahiri alive and in charge, so killing or capturing him then might have actually been to our detriment. But with the Taliban ruling Afghanistan and Syria back under Assad's thumb and Iran lording it up over Iraq, Al Qaeda might as well be a group of middle aged guys releasing social commentary podcasts, which arguably is what they actually are
/e to make it clear, we still had good reason to want him dead for the 1998 embassy bombings, but since then he's been basically our enemy-of-an-enemy
This post was edited by Goomshill on Aug 1 2022 05:57pm