nogoodname
Banned
- Joined
- Jul 28, 2006
- Messages
- 526
- Reaction score
- 0
- Location
- Arizona
- Gender
- Male
- Political Leaning
- Independent
http://news.yahoo.com/s/huffpost/20060901/cm_huffpost/028478\
*snip*
Osama Bin Laden, enraged by U.S. efforts to dominate Middle Eastern governments, culture and economics dating back decades, flips his lid when secular Saddam Hussein, a former U.S. puppet who gassed his people keeping Islamic Iran at bay, invades Kuwait, drawing the U.S. military into Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, home of Mecca, Islam's holiest site. He sees Hussein and the Gulf War as proof the U.S. is creating too many problems at the expense of Muslims. In order to remove what he perceives to be a serious threat to the cultural of Islam posed by U.S. military, economic and cultural hegemony, a perception not shared by a majority of Muslims until 2006, he decides the U.S. must be driven from the Middle East.
Neo Cons and conservatives like Bill O'Reilly interpret "driven from the Middle East" to mean "wiped off the face of the earth." You don't wipe 25% of the world's oil market- the economic engine driving explosive growth in oil consumption- off the face of the earth if you come from the Royal Family of Saudi Arabia. Bin Laden correctly recognizes Arabs "can't drink the oil." The petroleum industry is the life blood of the Middle East. The fact that America still exists given the vulnerabilities this country faces five years after 9/11 tells you what Al Qaeda wants.
Bin Laden's only way to reduce American influence in the Middle East is to make the cost of dominating the region outweigh the benefit. Bin Laden realizes he can't bankrupt the U.S. with just one attack. America is too vast and strong and supported for even a massive terror attack to create the sustained economic blood letting required to get the U.S. to quit the Middle East. While devastating, any single attack will only wake a sleeping giant, making further attacks on U.S. soil harder and harder to pull off. Each subsequent gashing will be smaller and less effective, only making it harder to bleed America from within. However Bin Laden believes if 9/11 comes off as planned the U.S. will invade Afghanistan, where he may be able to bleed the US like he did the Soviets in the 80's. If he can gain access to enough U.S. assets on AQ controlled turf he's confident he can prick us to death. Bin Laden knows he will have one shot at an attack on American soil sufficient to lure the U.S. into a decisive military move in the Middle East. It's a weak plan. The U.S. is no Soviet Union. But it's all Al Qaeda has.
Bin Laden said to anyone listening he wants to get the U.S. military en masse in the Middle East. Today's Iraq shows why he worked so hard to make that happen. The tragedy here is that Bin Laden was wrong- he could never have bled us to death in Afghanistan. Had Bush immediately gone into Afghanistan with overwhelming numbers and sealed the border Bin Laden would be dead by now, he could have forced Pakistan and Saudi Arabia to stop supporting terrorists and 9/11 would not have been a turning point in world history. But Bush, it turns out, wanted Iraq all along, and skimped on Afghanistan so he could have Iraq. When Bush invaded Iraq he made Bin Laden's desperate snow ball's chance in hell strategy pay off. Lucky guy, that Bin Laden. The price of dominating in the Middle East is getting higher by the day- Israel is less secure, oil prices are way up flooding the coffers of terrorist organizations, Iran is now the rising power in the region, Iraq, once under sectarian control is now under the control of radical elements, and Al Qaeda has brushed off Bush's feeble Afghanistan invasion and regained control there. Our government is bankrupt and our power in the region is all but gone. Bush is being forced to quit Iraq, opening the door for Iran to walk right in. America is rapidly becoming a paper tiger. Made of chinese paper. And a chinese type horoscope tiger like on menus in chinese restaurants.
*snip*
Osama Bin Laden, enraged by U.S. efforts to dominate Middle Eastern governments, culture and economics dating back decades, flips his lid when secular Saddam Hussein, a former U.S. puppet who gassed his people keeping Islamic Iran at bay, invades Kuwait, drawing the U.S. military into Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, home of Mecca, Islam's holiest site. He sees Hussein and the Gulf War as proof the U.S. is creating too many problems at the expense of Muslims. In order to remove what he perceives to be a serious threat to the cultural of Islam posed by U.S. military, economic and cultural hegemony, a perception not shared by a majority of Muslims until 2006, he decides the U.S. must be driven from the Middle East.
Neo Cons and conservatives like Bill O'Reilly interpret "driven from the Middle East" to mean "wiped off the face of the earth." You don't wipe 25% of the world's oil market- the economic engine driving explosive growth in oil consumption- off the face of the earth if you come from the Royal Family of Saudi Arabia. Bin Laden correctly recognizes Arabs "can't drink the oil." The petroleum industry is the life blood of the Middle East. The fact that America still exists given the vulnerabilities this country faces five years after 9/11 tells you what Al Qaeda wants.
Bin Laden's only way to reduce American influence in the Middle East is to make the cost of dominating the region outweigh the benefit. Bin Laden realizes he can't bankrupt the U.S. with just one attack. America is too vast and strong and supported for even a massive terror attack to create the sustained economic blood letting required to get the U.S. to quit the Middle East. While devastating, any single attack will only wake a sleeping giant, making further attacks on U.S. soil harder and harder to pull off. Each subsequent gashing will be smaller and less effective, only making it harder to bleed America from within. However Bin Laden believes if 9/11 comes off as planned the U.S. will invade Afghanistan, where he may be able to bleed the US like he did the Soviets in the 80's. If he can gain access to enough U.S. assets on AQ controlled turf he's confident he can prick us to death. Bin Laden knows he will have one shot at an attack on American soil sufficient to lure the U.S. into a decisive military move in the Middle East. It's a weak plan. The U.S. is no Soviet Union. But it's all Al Qaeda has.
Bin Laden said to anyone listening he wants to get the U.S. military en masse in the Middle East. Today's Iraq shows why he worked so hard to make that happen. The tragedy here is that Bin Laden was wrong- he could never have bled us to death in Afghanistan. Had Bush immediately gone into Afghanistan with overwhelming numbers and sealed the border Bin Laden would be dead by now, he could have forced Pakistan and Saudi Arabia to stop supporting terrorists and 9/11 would not have been a turning point in world history. But Bush, it turns out, wanted Iraq all along, and skimped on Afghanistan so he could have Iraq. When Bush invaded Iraq he made Bin Laden's desperate snow ball's chance in hell strategy pay off. Lucky guy, that Bin Laden. The price of dominating in the Middle East is getting higher by the day- Israel is less secure, oil prices are way up flooding the coffers of terrorist organizations, Iran is now the rising power in the region, Iraq, once under sectarian control is now under the control of radical elements, and Al Qaeda has brushed off Bush's feeble Afghanistan invasion and regained control there. Our government is bankrupt and our power in the region is all but gone. Bush is being forced to quit Iraq, opening the door for Iran to walk right in. America is rapidly becoming a paper tiger. Made of chinese paper. And a chinese type horoscope tiger like on menus in chinese restaurants.
