President Obama made a solemn and mostly non-political speech on the anniversary of the September 11 bombings that will have politicos guessing about his policies in Iraq and Afghanistan for weeks to come. “Let us renew our resolve against those who perpetrated this barbaric act and who plot against us still,” Obama told an audience in front of the Pentagon memorializing the attacks of September 11, adding that “in pursuit of al Qaeda and its extremist allies, we will never falter.”

But the disappearing connection between al-Qaeda and America's wars in Iraq and Afghanistan in the minds of most Americans means that if President Obama meant to use the speech to drum up public support for the wars, he likely mistepped. “With a record 44 U.S. soldiers dying in Afghanistan in July and last month's Afghan presidential election dogged by allegations of widespread fraud,” the Associated Press reported on September 11, “Obama faces an uphill battle in persuading fellow Democrats in Congress of the need to commit more resources to the war.”

And it's not just Democrats who have become more sceptical of America's wars abroad. During the past month, ABC news pundit and syndicated columnist George Will abandoned his neoconservative colleagues on both wars. Will published columns in the Washington Post earlier this month advocating U.S. withdrawal  from Iraq (September 4) and a pullout from the erstwhile “good war” in Afghanistan (September 1). The U.S. Afghan effort, Will says, “should be called Operation Sisyphus.”  Sisyphus was the Greek mythological figure cursed with having to roll a stone to the top of a hill, only to watch it roll back down again. Sisyphus as forced to repeat the feat for eternity, and has become emblemmatic of a task that is impossible to complete.

Will's columns met with fire from the neoconservative establishment, with the Weekly Standard's Robert Kagan calling Will's ideas a “double surrender” in a Washington Post rebuttal. Kagan is a cofounder of the neoconservative Project for the New American Century and a member of the establishment Council on Foreign Relations.

But even very public fire by Kagan and other formerly powerful Republicans may not be enough to stem what could become a Republican tide away from the wars. While the Republican Party leadership has remained strongly behind the wars (and Democrats have not), the rank and file of the Republican Party has given itself more over to “tea parties” where the majority of attendees are skeptical of both the Washington GOP establishment as well as the President's increasingly unpopular foreign wars. The slight erosion of support for the wars among Republicans could become a flood as “tea parties” make their influence felt in home districts and the Democratic President becomes the face of those wars.

President Obama's speech was the first federal “National Day of Service and Remembrance” address by a president. September 11 became the National Day of Service and Remembrance after the April passage of the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act in April, a bill that tripled the size of the Americorps federal service program.

Photo: AP Images

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Bonnie said:

Laughing It's been eight years. Bin Laden and al-Qaeda are sitting in their comfy caves laughing at us. The war on terror derailed a long time ago. We have gotten ourselves mired in two wars which bear which are unconstitutional, have cost many lives, billions of dollars, and are far removed from the original "objectives". As far as al-Qaeda is concerned, all we have done is swat a couple of flies.

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September 12, 2009
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Bonnie said:

	"which bear"??? I have no idea where that came from! I must have modified my thought sequence in mid-sentence. Sorry.
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September 12, 2009
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zman said:

	Bin Laden Worked For CIA Until 9/11/2001 FBI translator Sibel Edmonds says it is clear from NSA intercepts that bin Laden was still a protected asset of the CIA up until 9/11/2001; the broader "War on Terror" and the specific wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are scams based on demonstrable lies and intelligence agency fabricated terrorist events.
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September 13, 2009
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Lee Gonzales said:

The History of Terrorism A low budget presentation but nonetheless explains the who, what, why and where of "the war on terrorism." you won't hear Rush Limbaugh explaining "terrorism" as clearly as Mr. Art Thompson. CEO of The John Birch Society does not resort to Neo-con type canned answers or talking points. credited in the video is Senior editor of The New American William Jasper. http://www.vimeo.com/6567370

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September 14, 2009
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Thomas Paine said:

Aaron Russo was a bircher It is clear to me now more than ever, that everything Aaron said in his interview regarding Nick Rockefeller (youtube) is true. George Orwell's 1984 is the playbook used by the ruling elite in US and Russia to maintain control over the people. The NWO pulled off 911 as Aaron said, as a means of taking the Iraq oil, putting the pipeline through Afganistan and beginning the endless war on terror. Every time we americans assert our freedoms (like the tea party march), they bring out the terror card to shut us up again. (Funny how Osama Bin Laden came out with his latest audio tape today). Oh what a tangled web we weave. God protect us as we march forward to retake our country.

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September 14, 2009
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Bonnie said:

	A bit off topic, but For those of you are wondering about Thomas Paine's quote, "Oh what a tangled web we weave." The full quote is: "Oh, what a tangled web we weave, When first we practise to deceive!" "Marmion: A Tale of Flodden Field" by Sir Walter Scott (180 This is an excellent read and is available in both print and online format.
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September 14, 2009
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Bonnie said:

	Now that's FUNNY The comment interface interpreted 8 as a smiley! That SHOULD be ( 1808 )!
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September 14, 2009
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Always American said:

	You Tube Link I am new here (and to JBS) and really don't know much and would like to learn, please help me to help others take our country back. It is clear to me now more than ever, that everything Aaron said in his interview regarding Nick Rockefeller (youtube) is true. Please provide link for youtube. Thanks, Always American
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September 27, 2009
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