There is a certain strain of expert who believes Osama bin Laden is a political genius-(brilliant!)

There is a certain strain of expert who believes that Osama bin Laden is a political genius who is using terrorism to accomplish political aims. If true, it follows that, while the West should pursue Islamist terrorists militarily, we should also seek politically to alleviate the conditions which so inflame them.

Okay, let's just name names--I'm talking about Michael Scheuer who suggests in his books that bin Laden is a genius on par with America's Founding Fathers and that in order to win the war on terrorism, America needs to stop agitating Islamists by stationing troops in Saudi Arabia, going to war in Iraq, helping Israel defend itself, etc. There is a respectable branch of opinion which concurs with Mr. Scheuer.

So let's start at the beginning: Just how smart is Osama bin Laden? For almost two decades bin Laden was allowed to run amok, conducting his own private guerilla war against America and the West. His political aims, if you took them at face value, were to get American troops out of Saudi Arabia, to preserve the religious integrity of the Hijaz, and to punish America for supporting Israel with the eventual hope that Israel could be disappeared and its Jews scrubbed from the Holy Land.

During this time, bin Laden and his cohorts scored a number of tactical victories--the USS Cole, the African embassy bombings--all culminating with the attacks of September 11. But those attacks have proved to be an enormous strategic failure for bin Laden. America decided to finally take him at his word and wage a reciprocal war. A coalition of Western allies invaded and democratized first Afghanistan and then Iraq.

So now when bin Laden's minions mete out death and destruction their demand for this or that country is that they get out of Afghanistan or Iraq. In other words, even if bin Laden's latest attacks somehow achieved their political aims, all he would have accomplished would be returning to the status quo of 15 years ago. Osama bin Laden has been successful as a tactician, but by his own lights, his leadership can only be judged a drastic strategic failure. If he really believes in his stated goals, he is further away from achieving them today than he has been at any time since the first Gulf War.

This isn't quite Washington or Jefferson territory we're talking about here. If bin Laden has any American analog, it might be Chief Sitting Bull.

And if bin Laden isn't a genius, the way Scheuer et al suggest, there is also no reason to believe that if their stated political aims were accommodated they would lay down their bombs and stop slaughtering innocents.

In the coming days you are likely to hear that England was targeted because of its involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan. Anyone who buys this line should be ridden out of town on a rail. Terrorists kill people. It's who they are; it's what they do. They don't need provocations and their "reasoning" is, contra Scheuer, post facto. The people of Bali weren't fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. There was no Iraq and Afghanistan on September 11, or at Khobar Towers.

If the Western allies pulled out of Iraq and Afghanistan tomorrow, there would still be attacks for some other slight--maybe the affront of having troops in Saudi Arabia. If our Zionist infidel troops left the Saudis, there would still be attacks because there are Jews in the Holy Land. If the Jews were pushed into the sea, there would still be attacks because there are Gucci stores in Riyadh. It never ends. And so we should care not at all why these monsters claim they are making war against us (and by "us," I mean we who uphold the principles of Western liberalism, be we in New York, London, Paris, Toronto, or Melbourne).

Some people have been slow to come around to this realization. But more and more of them will do so in the coming days. That's why yesterday's attacks on London were a barbarity, yes, but for bin Laden and his monsters, they were also another important strategic defeat.

"The streets will run red with their blood and bile for a short while. Then it will be over. Sorry to be so graphic. But mark my words."

Thank you. THANK YOU! I hate to say it, because it sounds so "brutal," but you're right. "Blood in the streets" and possibly some tactical nuke "shock and awe" displays from the United States will be required before these rabid dogs are silenced.

Better sooner than later, IMO. Why wait? What ARE we waiting for?........until Iran is fully nuclearized?....until Chicago or Houston.......or Los Angeles are only memories in our history books?

You sound so strategically brilliant, Mad_Tom....so what do you think we are waiting for?......the Colin Powell style of "diplomacy?" That, and a serving of pork ribs......means nothing to Bin Laden and his gazillion followers.

Thanks for your comments. I'm glad that I'm not alone in perceiving that your prognosis is the only way this will end.

Char :)

http://www.hindutva.org/

Sorry about Seymour Hersh having anything to do with this, but I like it anyway....

Shape of things to come in Iraq (and the world over)

• The elections are held in Iraq
• Sunni clerics denounce elections
• Voters are killed on election day in Terror attacks
• But election results are announced
• Sunni turnout is less than 20%
• Sunni clerics reject results
• Shia dominated govt is formed
• Sunnis call for US troops to leave
• New Shia dominated govt calls for phased pullout of US forces
• US forces begin a phased pullout
• They re-locate outside the cities in isolated fortified camps
• Terrorists blow off Iraqi parliament, Presidential palace Prime Minister’s residence
• Terrorists assassinate Ministers, Parliamentarians
• A full scale civil war starts between the Sunni dominated insurgents and the new Shia and Kurd Iraqi military
• Iran sends in insurgents to back Shias
• Saudis, Syrians, Egyptians, Kuwaitis, Palestinians send in insurgents to back Sunnis
• Saudis and Kuwaitis call for US action to stop Iran from intensifying the Iraqi civil war
• US seizes the opportunity and bombs Iranian nuke facilities
• Iran tries to crash missiles into Israel and Europe
• Internal rebellion breaks out in Iran
• US special forces start operating inside Iran to topple Mullah regime
• Iranian/Hezbollah forces stage terrorist attacks in Israel and in the West
• US launches an air blitz of Iran followed by a land invasion and sets up a new regime
• The Shah of Iran returns to Iran as a private citizen
• Shia-Hezbollah led terror attacks across the West and Israel intensify
• Israel invades Lebanon to wipe out the Hezbollah threat
• Egypt/Syria threaten Israel with serious consequences.
• Terrorist attacks originating from Gaza intensify in Israel
• Israel warns Syria with military action
• Spectacular mega terror attack in Israel
• Israel declares Syria to be culpable and launches a swift land and air assault on Syria
• Syria appeals for Arab military action to save itself
• Egypt, Jordan and Saudis start military action against Israel
• Israel overruns Jordan to join up with US forces stationed in Iraq
• Israel occupies Damascus
• US forces enter Syria from Syrian-Iraqi border in the North, join up with Israeli military
• After the conquest of Syria, Israel turns on Egypt, annexes Sinai, crosses Suez Canal and threatens Cairo
• Mecca, Medina, Mena, Jiddah taken off the map thru IAF (Israel Air Force) nuke strikes
• Upheaval in the entire Arab world
• Western diplomats and businessmen attacked, kidnapped, beheaded
• Anti-American riots in Pakistan, Indonesia, Malaysia.
• Musharraf and Yudhyono regimes under tremendous pressure to give up pro-US stance
• Musharraf assassinated by pro-Jihadi elements in Army due to his association with the US. The Jihadis last straw being his helping the Americans in finding Iran's nuke sites as a trade off for letting AQ Khan off the hook. But Mushy's gamble does not pay off, as he loses his job and life.
• Jihadi regime in Pakistan ups hostility with India
• Jihadis succeed in smuggling nuclear devices in the US and exploding them simultaneously
• US army takes over US administration, suspends constitution
• US military regime blockades the UN and declares it persona non-grata
• US enters into emergency war council with Russia and Britain
• The triple alliance starts nuclear bombing military targets across the Islamic world
• Pakistani nukes taken out in first strike
• Pakistan explodes some nuke devices on India
• Indian retaliation wipes off Pakistan off the map – death toll in South Asia is over half a billion
• Widespread Hindu-Muslim riots in India on the lines of the Gujarat riots of 2002. Muslim population decimated, Hindus and Christians also suffer heavy death toll.
• Nuclear campaign launched by the triple alliance intensifies as many cities in the Islamic world are taken off the map to wipe off the air forces.
• Seaports in the Islamic world crippled to decapitate the navies
• Radiation causes second wave of deaths. The toll in secondary deaths more than three billion
• More than half of the fatalities are Muslims.
• Almost the entire population in the Muslim world is decimated.
• China joins war against Islam, wipes off Muslim (Ughir) population in Eastern Turkestan
• Muslims in Europe launch a wave of terror attacks in European capitals
• Conditions in Europe very disturbed in a civil war like situation
• Right wing coups in France, Germany, Spain, Netherlands, Denmark. The new regimes join the triple alliance
• Widespread anti-Muslim riots in Europe aided by the militaries of those countries and NATO forces
• Domestic military action against Muslims in Europe intensifies as European militaries do combing operations to flush out Muslims
• The post-war Muslim population worldwide now accounts for only one percent of the global population concentrated mostly in Europe
• Military action ends, US, Britain and Russia announce reconstruction plan for the world
• Islam outlawed across the globe
• Residual Muslims worldwide embrace Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism. Judaism
• Humanity enters post-Islamic phase.
This write-up has been compiled based on analysis by Seymour Hersh and information at the following sites; Stratfor.org, Rand.org, Military.com

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Better sooner than later, IMO. Why wait? What ARE we waiting for?<>P>The complete empowerment of the Good Ole Boys over the average citizen. When Saudi Arabia attacked with terrorists we did not bomb Saudi Arabia, we bombed the US Constitution and local freedom with the "Patriot Act". The Combination of the CIA and FBI violates the separation of the use of the CIA on internal affairs, so we have now our own secret police. We also now use American Military gear men and equipment inside the borders of the United States. Not to close the Borders mind you. But to "police" our own population.

Islam is a mighty tool in the hands of Politics, why every thing that America stood for as a free nation has been reduced or removed from the law. Something Hitler and Stalin wanted to do, we did to ourselves. Instead of starting a civil war about gun control, fiat government and the removal of personal property rights, the sheeple are cheering. Islam is simply far to valuable to be wiped out, something we could do in less than a day if we simply attacked, destroyed our enemies and left.

Islam is a tool of the Globalists to convert the world into a cheering slave camp. When the job is done, Islam will be crushed and discarded like the stone age death cult it is.

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