Top cop: Talk to al-Qaeda boss

[Liberty Star]

This is apparently old news I just came across, still pretty incredible:


Top cop: Talk to al-Qaeda boss

By LEON WATSON
Published: 31 May 2008

ONE of Britain’s top cops yesterday said the Government have to negotiate with al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden.

Sir Hugh Orde, head of the Police Service in Northern Ireland, claimed we cannot win the War on Terror.

He said 30 years tackling the IRA convinced him of the need to talk.

Sir Hugh said: “Some of the biggest risks people have taken is talking to people who historically they would not have dreamed of talking to.


“Were we going to actually police our way out of the Troubles? No.

“Are we actually going to police our way out of the current threat? No.

“It means thinking the unthinkable. The question is one of timing.”


http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article1231013.ece

[Zolah]

I have to admit as a person who lives in the UK I had not actually heard this story, although I tend to avoid reading The Sun like the plague. It's a nice little titbit of an article though, it's exactly what I've been saying we should be doing, often using Northern Ireland as an example of change of policy and the remarkable recovery from the Troubles there as evidence of what stopping interventionist policy can do.

Though I'm sure The Sun only paid attention to this guy so its readers will say "Talk to Al Qaeda!? I don't know who's loonier, bin Laden or this Irish copper!"

Well, it's still progress..

[AmericaFyeah92]

I have to admit as a person who lives in the UK I had not actually heard this story, although I tend to avoid reading The Sun like the plague. It's a nice little titbit of an article though, it's exactly what I've been saying we should be doing, often using Northern Ireland as an example of change of policy and the remarkable recovery from the Troubles there as evidence of what stopping interventionist policy can do.

Though I'm sure The Sun only paid attention to this guy so its readers will say "Talk to Al Qaeda!? I don't know who's loonier, bin Laden or this Irish copper!"

Well, it's still progress..

Al Qaeda is a bit worse than the IRA, IMHO

[Zolah]

Al Qaeda is a bit worse than the IRA, IMHO

The parallels are there.

[AmericaFyeah92]

to the best of my knowledge (correct me if i am wrong) the IRA didn't behead "infidels" on video or use women with downs-syndrome to suicide bomb marketplaces of their own people

how many friends do u think we'd lose by talking to AQ? We're not their only enemies u know.

We need to kill as many as we can while at the same time disengaging from the middle east

[revolutionman]

The US gov wont talk to anyone. unless its a message scrawled on the side of a cruise missle.

[Zolah]

to the best of my knowledge (correct me if i am wrong) the IRA didn't behead "infidels" on video or use women with downs-syndrome to suicide bomb marketplaces of their own people

how many friends do u think we'd lose by talking to AQ? We're not their only enemies u know.

We need to kill as many as we can while at the same time disengaging from the middle east

The IRA was a political movement and mostly wasn't involved in violent action. Talking to AQ also means listening to them, instead of ignoring them like we have been doing for over a decade - we know the reasons they're pissed off, and a lot of what they're pissed off about is the same stuff I'm pissed off about regarding American foreign policy. It's in the interest of only the industrial-military-complex to ignore AQ.

[Danke]

Nobody told him? Or are they planning a séance?

[AmericaFyeah92]

The IRA was a political movement and mostly wasn't involved in violent action. Talking to AQ also means listening to them, instead of ignoring them like we have been doing for over a decade - we know the reasons they're pissed off, and a lot of what they're pissed off about is the same stuff I'm pissed off about regarding American foreign policy. It's in the interest of only the industrial-military-complex to ignore AQ.

My point exactly.
i'm not advocating ignoring them, but i don't think that they are worthy of dialogue like the IRA or even some group like Hezbollah.

Again, we should change our foreign policy but kill as many AQ as we can