You are right there. But I am thinking of defending America. The rest of the world has to watch out for themselves. If AQ makes us defend the world, then that would be an attack on our economy that would parallel how Reagan ruined Russia.
Over the past couple days, I've been pondering the relationship between the attempts on Musharraf's life and threats to the United States.
Two days before Al Qaeda's last spectacular strike in the United States, on September 9th, 2001, two Tunisian Al Qaeda operatives assasinated Northern Alliance leader Ahmed Shah Massoud at his headquarters in Afghanistan. Of course the Taliban and Al Qaeda had already been engaged in civil war with the Northern Alliance, but the timing was meant to weaken the Northern Alliance, knowing that they would assist the Americans in their response to what was coming soon. It is possible that the successful assasination of Massoud was actually the "Go" signal to Mohammed Atta and the other hijackers.
Now that Al Qaeda has been flushed out of Afghanistan, they expect United States retaliation for another attack to be directed toward their terror bases and training camps in Pakistan. If Musharraf is dead, the U.S. will have a much more difficult time moving military into Pakistan. With Musharraf, we can count on at least some assistance from Pakistan's military and intelligence. Without Musharraf, we would likely be forced to fight Pakistan's military to get to the imbedded Al Qaeda.
I predict if Musharraf is successfully taken out, it will be a precursor to a large scale attack in the U.S. Had the attempts on Musharraf's life of the past week been successful, this major attack might have already taken place.