We dropped missiles on many empty mountains. The source is what we were after (Osama) and we didn't find him until 2011, and this is only after dropping about $4 to $6 trillion on the entire campaign (Iraq + Afghanistan War + Intelligence needed to find him in Pakistan).
The attack on Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11, but if not for 9/11, we wouldn't have been there. What ammunition would have Bush had to get in there? Suspicion of Weapons of Mass Destruction? That was the biggest waste of time, money and American lives, ever. We had no business invading that country, none. Let the damn Arabs figure that shit out.
Our economy is still trying to recover from all of the madness. We still have 18 Trillion in debt, more than any other country in the world. We largely base our view of economies by way of GDP, but GDP is not the most accurate indicator of a thriving economy (China's artificial inflation of their GDP can tell you that) and Standard & Poor's credit rating of the US is at a AA (granted Moodys & Fitch claims otherwise), but our economy would be much better off if not for the last decade of wartime.
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Yes, we dropped bombs on some empty mountains and some populated mountains. A friend that was one of my training partners got shot and killed in one of those empty mountains. And, yes, we did not find OBL but so what? Nothing is guaranteed. We destroyed their base training camp and put OBL on the run and we got him. Just we eventually get everyone we are looking for.
What would you have done or think should have been done after the 9/11 attack?
As far as or invasion of Iraq. People have very short memories. We had a cease fire agreement with Iraq following the first Gulf War. An agreement that Hussein continued to violate. In our attempt to enforce the no fly zones (to keep him from killing the Kurds which he has done before) Iraq shot at our planes almost daily. Even one such attack is considered an act of war. Hussein continuously violated the UN resolutions, sixteen of them. We kept drawing lines in the sand and Hussein continued to ignore them. Bush stood before the UN Security Council and stated that if the UN did not enforce the security council resolutions then the U.S. would. A final resolution, Resolution 1441, as a last opportunity to comply with the disarmament agreement and the various terms of the cease fire agreement the Security Council passed this Resolution with a unanimous vote, 15-0, including Russia and Syria. This Resolution had wider support than the Resolution passed authorizing the first Gulf War which was unique in it's vast world wide support.
When Saddam Hussein called our bluff and ignored Resolution 1441 he signed his death warrant. His dealings with Clinton convinced him that America was weak. After all, he was able to ignore all the warnings and Resolutions throughout the Clinton administration without consequences. But Bush was no Clinton.
