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Originally Posted by Darkbender423
If we look back to the 80's at the situation in Afganastan we have to learn some important lessons. In those days Al-Qidia were known as Afganastan Freedom fighters and we helped to train them, provided them with weapons and turned the country over to them.
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Though I agree with the majority of your remarks throughout your entire post, Dark, I'm going to just dissect a few things in this quote here:
There's a fundamental difference in the way by which the collective Mujahideen forces in Afghanistan durring the 80s operated and that in which al-Qaeda does today. The one major difference is their choice in targets (which is what separates legitimate resistance from terror): military vs. civilian. al-Qaeda has chosen to blur and eventually do away with the line that separates these two types of targets.
Legitimate resistance groups have a major problem with the way by which al-Qaeda operates in this day in age and especially in Iraq. Though there was little reporting on it in the media, a group was formed in the town of Anbar comprised of insurgents who had family members killed by al-Qaeda attacks. This group was known as the Anbar Revolutionaries and specifically targeted and killed al-Qaeda members.
While both groups target US military personnel and Iraqi forces in their attacks, one major faction of these groups (the popular concept of the Mujahideen) does not stoop so low as form it's basis for attacks on the intentional murder of innocent men, women, and children. This, in the modern split, has led to the two factions of the Mujahideen being opposed to one another based on their choice of tatics and targets.
The second point I want to touch on is the training and financing that went into al-Qaeda. It wasn't US money the CIA funneled into Pakistan that reached or financed Bin Laden's pre al-Qaeda organization known as the Maktab al-Khadamat. He used much of his own fortune, raised money through charities, and in all likelihood recieved assistance from the Saudi government (as they matched every US dollar that went into Afghanistan). Our military advisors in Pakistan only trained Mujahideen fighters in basic combat and ambush-style tatics as well as weapons operation. The advanced skills they use in more modern conflicts were more likely aquired from Soviet trained KHAD agents left over from the communist government who defected into the Taliban's ranks when Kabul fell in the 90s.