[BBell]

OK. We did not create Bin-Laden directly but we created a vacuum of which he filled. He was not a big player and he did come late in the game. But what he did was keep a book of like minded individuals and groups that he later used to create Al-Qaeda, or loosely translalated as "the base", along with Ayman al-Zawahiri and others.

I believe, but we will never know, that had we not armed the Mujaheddin we would not be having the problems we are having now. Once the Soviets were defeated there were a lot of restless Islamist and Al-Qaeda took advantage of this to move on to bigger and better things. As I wrote before, I believe the collapse of the Soviet Union was inevitable as long as we had a strong leadership in this Country.

It's hard to argue when you are dealing with "what ifs."

[ansel12]

You can play that ‎Kevin Bacon game forever, about everything and any era. It isn't substantive and our helping to defeat the Russians, may have saved the world. Thank God for Reagan.

[Pelham]

Starting around 1984 Bin Laden donated money through Maktab al-Khidamat. It went for plane tickets, lodging, paperwork and similar ends. Bin Laden split to form al Qaeda in 1988. The Mujahideen-USSR war ended in 1989. It seems exaggerated to portray him as a major player.

“I believe, but we will never know, that had we not armed the Mujaheddin we would not be having the problems we are having now.”

Considering that we were helping Moslem Mujahideen defeat Soviet occupiers your guess seems to turn logic on its head. You’d have a better argument if you said that the Kuwait war had something to do with it. Bin Laden was angry about the presence of infidel American troops on sacred Saudi soil.

Islamic radicals think Saudi Arabia is an infidel regime. The Saudis are our allies for the oil. Al-Qaeda and other Qutb heirs are angry with us for supporting the Sauds and Israel.