Posted on 05/17/2005 1:43:30 AM PDT by rdb3
The great British mathematician Alfred North Whitehead once wrote, "It requires a very unusual mind to undertake the analysis of the obvious." Some Chinese believe that Osama bin Laden has such a mind. Although bin Laden and his minions are plotting the current terror war against the United States, the Chinese – in their quest to create a multipolar world – may have written the book on terrorism…literally.
From the collapse of the Soviet Union and the U.S. victory in the first Gulf War, political leaders and military strategists drew two obvious conclusions. The United States could not be defeated militarily, and any nation that sought to achieve military parity with the U.S. would, like the former Soviet Union, bankrupt itself in the attempt.
To the leaders of China, France, Germany and Russia, a unipolar world with the United States as the world’s only superpower is an unappealing long-term prospect. Jacques Chirac who believes that France’s mission is to shape "the destiny of the world" has been the most vocal proponent of "a world where political, economic and cultural influence" is shared. He envisions a united Europe led by France and Germany (with Germany the junior partner) as one of the centers of power in a multipolar world. Vladimir Putin and Hu Jintao also see multipolarity as the means to eliminating U.S. dominance. However, becoming a "pole" that rivals the United States is easier said than done.
The French and German economies are hobbled by excessive regulation, and in the case of Germany the burden of reintegration with the former East Germany. The Russian economy suffers from governmental interference, bureaucratic bungling and official corruption leftover from the U.S.SR. Only China is growing economically at a faster pace than the United States. But even with its burgeoning economy, overtaking the U.S. is a very long-term proposition.
China has an added incentive for wanting to see U.S. power weakened, the possibility that a declaration of independence by Taiwan could lead to armed conflict. Jiang Zemin, in July 1999, said that he realized that at some point China would have to fight the American wolf, but for now the wolf was too strong, and so the right course for China was to continue to court American business and investment and increase exports to the U.S. China needed to "dance with the wolf" in order to build a strong economy.
In recent years a number of articles and books have been written by Chinese military analysts wrestling with the problem of how to win a war against a seemingly invincible United States. Only one of these has received attention by the mainstream American press. Chaoxian Zhan (Unrestricted War) proposed a total war approach to defeating the U.S. that was praised by China’s highest ranking officers. In their war fighting methodology, the authors (Qiao Liang and Wang Xiangsui) included the possible use of biological, chemical, and nuclear weapons. Western journalists, unable to read Chinese, drew their news reports from an English summary of the book that focused on the weapons of mass destruction and missed the most important point. Osama bin Laden had analyzed the obvious and concluded that while the United States could not be defeated by a foreign power, Americans could be induced to defeat themselves.
In Unrestricted War, Osama bin Laden is the prototype for the "new terrorist." He has acquired capital, technical expertise and access to weapons by taking advantage of the "loopholes in the free economies of the West." (Bin Laden has boasted that his followers understand Western financial systems as well as they know the backs of their hands.) The ease with which his organization has been able to raise funds coupled with his skillful use of religious organizations and the media to gain recruits to his cause has guaranteed a ready supply of men and weaponry to carry out his attacks.
According to Qiao and Wang, the new terrorists are not restrained by "international law, behavioral norms and ethical principles…Because they operate secretly, are well concealed, and cause widespread damage, their attacks …seem uncommonly cruel. All of which when it is broadcast in real time by the round the clock coverage of the modern media further strengthens the effects of their terrorist acts." Defeating the new terrorists is difficult because a nation "which follows certain rules and will only use limited force to achieve limited goals" is at a distinct disadvantage against organizations "which do not observe any rules and are unafraid to fight an unlimited war using unlimited means." Terrorist groups rely on the fact that even though they are fighting a technologically and numerically superior enemy, the nature of their attacks provides insufficient justification for the enemy to make full use of its superiority. The new terrorists are like rats with very sharp teeth and excellent survival skills. Like rats, they strike quickly and then duck back into their holes. However, whereas rat-infested habitats can be destroyed, terrorists conceal themselves among civilian populations and any massive military retaliation is certain to result in the loss of innocent lives. When you kill innocent civilians you are condemned by the media, human rights groups and the nations most closely allied to you.
Prior to 9/11 the U.S. response to each terrorist attack had been predictable. When the Khobar Towers were bombed in 1996, President Clinton said, "The cowards who committed this murderous act must not go unpunished." He responded to the attacks on our embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998, by calling terrorist acts "abhorrent and inhuman" and promising to "use all means at our disposal to bring those responsible to justice." After the U.S.S Cole was attacked in 2000, he warned the terrorists, "You will not find a safe harbor. We will find you, and justice will prevail."
Only after the embassy bombings did he authorize military action, a missile strike against terrorist training camps in Afghanistan and a suspected chemical weapons plant in Sudan. The argument has been made that surgical strikes that limit collateral damage are less likely to result in a negative reaction by the American people. Lieutenant General Paul Van Riper, U.S.MC, and Major General Robert Scales, U.S.A, believe that one of the lessons of the first Gulf War is that when our nation’s leaders think that the American people are unprepared to deal with the carnage of war, "psychological revulsion" becomes a powerful weapon in the enemy’s arsenal especially when that weapon is unwittingly wielded by our own media.
By the time bin Laden laid the plans for his 9/11 surprise, he could feel fairly certain of two things: The U.S. would continue to view terrorists as criminals rather than as enemy combatants engaged in a war against the United States, and even when military power was brought to bear by launching missiles at suspected terrorist hideouts, the mission would be undertaken in the name of law enforcement, not as an act of war.
The Bush administration’s invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq in response to 9/11 caught bin Laden by surprise, and invalidated his hypothesis about the willingness of the U.S. to use military power to destroy terrorist bases and training camps, and to change the regimes of nations that harbored and supported terrorist organizations. However, bin Laden has reason to believe that our military response will be undermined from the inside.
Many of the people educating America’s children today came of age during the protests against the Vietnam War, and by and large believe that all war is wrong. The Association for Childhood Education International (ACEI), established in 1892, is the oldest professional association of its type in the United States. Its executive director considers the presence of U.S. forces in Iraq "profoundly sad and most unfortunate." ACEI takes the position that "a vital way to prevent war and bring about peace is to raise a generation of children who reject killing as uncivilized and as a barbaric, unproductive way to deal with human conflicts." While ACEI’s bold statement stands in sharp contrast to that of the other associations of American educators, which implicitly sanction antiwar teachings under the mantle of academic freedom of expression, the most widely held view is that "peace education" is the "natural role" for America’s teachers at every level from pre-kindergarten through graduate school.
And peace education seems to be working. The Army and the Marine Corps are failing to meet their recruiting goals. The head of the Army Recruiting Command, referring to enlistment projections as "not a bright picture," calls it "the toughest recruiting climate ever faced by the all-volunteer army." The Army is so desperate to sign up new recruits that it has begun offering 15-month active-duty enlistments. However, such a short enlistment will almost certainly mean reduced training time and lowered unit cohesiveness, which will inevitably result in greater numbers of U.S. casualties.
During the Korean War, Joseph Stalin told Zhou Enlai that the United States had "lost the capability to wage a large-scale war." Mao Zedong also believed that Americans "cannot stand wars." In his declaration of war against the United States, bin Laden cited Reagan’s withdrawal of the Marines from Beirut in 1983 after 241 were killed in a suicide bombing, and Clinton’s withdrawal from Somalia "when tens of your soldiers were killed in minor battles and one American pilot was dragged through the streets of Mogadishu" as examples of American "impotence and weakness." Qiao and Wang believe that "CNN’s broadcast of an American soldier’s exposed corpse on the streets of Mogadishu" was all that was needed to "shake American determination."
The Koran teaches that "Allah is with those who patiently persevere." Osama bin Laden believes that if he can just keep killing Americans, the nightly news images of dead and wounded, the rising casualty count and the faces of young soldiers killed in action will take their toll on the American people. The 2004 election was so close that he has every reason to hope that next time the U.S. will elect a president who will end large-scale military operations and return to the practice followed by the Clinton administration of responding to terrorist acts by trying to bring the individuals responsible to justice. When that happens, Osama bin Laden is convinced that we will be forced to withdraw from the Middle East as Clinton did from Somalia, "carrying disappointment, humiliation, defeat, and your dead with you."
Also read " The Art of War" by Sun Tzu .....What it says is if your enemy (in this case america) is stronger than you then the only way to weaken\defeat it is through inside!!!
China is fighting a WAR against the JIHAD of the Al-Qieda and their Uighurs allies.....
a minor war that China can handle with no problems. Does not preclude them from using Al Qaeda or other Jihadists to make terror and war on the United States. Russia has a big Muslim problem in Chechnya and elsewhere yet allies itself with Iran, Syria and the Palestinians.
As far as OSAMA BIB LADEN, and the Al-QUEDA are concerned, I think China REALLY, really regards them as enemies
As far as other Muslim countries lie Syria, Iran, Saudi Arabia,.....well these are another matter altogether
AL-QEIDA IS AN UNTOUCHABLE, the RED-LINE WHICH CHINA WILL NOT CROSS
My point is, while China may use Syria, Iran, and so on as chess moves against the US, I really think that for China, AL-Queda is really a "NO NO' an untouchable pariah, by this I mean, the Chinese realise that any covert cooperation with Al-Qeuda will incur the eternal HATRED and contempt of the American people, and China does NOT plan to make a PERMANENT enemy of the US
In short, Al-Qeida is the RED-LINE which China WILL NOT cross
Plse read my # 25
By the way, thanks for your link b Wudanginternal
Much appreciated
If China follows the teachings of SUN TZU, then China will have NOTHING to do with Al-Qaida
Sun Tzu teaches high MORAL values during war time ----no killing of innocent men, women and children: no terrorism,: to treat POW humanely,etc, ie a General has got to have high moral values
eg, Sun Tzu, said "when after conquering and taking over an enemies city, do not deatroy it but leave it intact
Certainly, Sun Tzu would NOT approve of anybody allying themselves with SCUM-OF-THE -EARTH like Al-Qaida
If this continues, it will be our downfall (IMHO). While the MSM is doing it's best to dissolve any sense of solidarity or national purpose in the US, our politicians, fearing vilification, restrict our soldiers to fighting a kinder, gentler war against an enemy who engages in guerrilla tactics and actually benefits from negative publicity. We're worried about damage control for a story about an Abu Ghraib prisoner being forced to wear panties on his head while our enemy cuts the heads off of it's prisoners and intentionally posts video of it onto the internet. This is sick.
Another unfortunate outcropping of our unilateral method of warfare is that it stretches our military thin. Somehow, the worlds most powerful nation, through it's politics and misguided altruism, has bogged itself down fighting a "relatively" small group of primitive fighters in two nations.
Now let's hope that it stays at only two fronts. North Korea and Iran could go out with either a whimper or a bang. The Saudis, Syrians, Egyptians, and Pakistanis have populations that hate us (regardless of what titular government figures pretend to be our friends). The PROC is busy ramping up it's industrial capacity and doing all it can to enrich itself without killing the goose that lays the golden eggs. It should not fall on deaf ears that although the people of China may want personal social prosperity, this is not the end that their government has in mind.
There is a lesson to be learned from the Germans in WWII. They were, at least in the early years of the war, the most powerful military in the world. Their technology and weaponry was amazingly advanced and had they stopped short of invading the USSR, may very well still control all of western Europe. In the end though, despite any technological or motivational advantage, they were spread too thin, had too few allies, and lacked the natural resources, industrial capability, and manpower necessary to wage war on the scale they intended.
Ok... /Rant..... Taking off the tinfoil hat and going back to work.
Whatever the Govt of PRC has in mind, they certainly lack the MILITARY means to be a threat except to Taiwan and her other immediate neighbours
Any Chinese PLA naval or airforce units that venture outside of 500 miles from her coast-line wil be "sitting ducks" for the USAF and USN
And can the PLA do the "million men 10,000 mile swim to California"?
With prosperity comes wishes for respectivity/status
Now China is talking "strategic alliance with the European Union", ie trying to move in with and to join an better high-class type of countries, NOT trash like Al-Qaida
Agreed but there is one thing worth noting. Destroying a superpower doesn't necessarily have to be achieved through military might. The USSR is a prime example. The US just had the political and economic staying power to wait until the aggregate of internal and external pressures caused collapse.
Fortunately, we recognized the USSR as an enemy and did not engage in beneficial trade agreements to help them fund their military and political ambitions. This does not seem to be our policy with China.
"Any Chinese PLA naval or airforce units that venture outside of 500 miles from her coast-line wil be "sitting ducks" for the USAF and USN
Agreed again. However it doesn't take a great stretch of the imagination to believe that they might wait until we are at war with yet another nation to "reacquire" the ROC. The administration is already getting beaten up by the media for the war we are fighting. Add a third nation (let's say NK) and then tack on the prospect of running out to defend Taiwan from China. It would almost certainly result in a draft back in the US and China will bank on our liberally inspired lack of will to take this necessary step.
"And can the PLA do the "million men 10,000 mile swim to California"?"
LOL! That paints a funny picture! Who knows? Maybe they'll just ship their military here in cargo containers with "Wooden Horse" listed as contents on all the customs papers.
Really though, why would they want to come here any more than we now want to occupy Russia?
While the MSM is doing it's best to dissolve any sense of solidarity or national purpose in the US, our politicians, fearing vilification, restrict our soldiers to fighting a kinder, gentler war against an enemy who engages in guerrilla tactics and actually benefits from negative publicity.
It seems that a handful of liberal reporters were able to do what a million VC couldn't. In a way, I'm thankful that I was young enough not to have understood the Vietnam War while it was happening. From the lack of political will to properly engage the enemy (flatten Hanoi) to the horrible treatment of returning vets, the whole affair was a mess.
I guess that at this point, we should be grateful that they don't have our boys out there armed with rubber bullets and tasers. You know, so that we can fight without killing anyone. / sarcasm
"With prosperity comes wishes for respectivity/status "
No with prosperity comes wishes to dominate the world, to become superpower...ya that's right- Now China is talking "strategic alliance" with the European Union.They know that relations between EU and america are not as good as they used to be and hence trying to turn EU against the US!!!!In other words they are trying to exploit european countries to achieve what it wants and it seems they are doing a good job at that!( Note how EU has been over eager to sell arms to china despite the fact that china is the world's no. 1 humam rights violator)
As far as links with al-qaeda are concerned , there have been regular contacts between chinese intelligence operatives and the terrorist organisation. Al Qaeda "is financing its worldwide terror operations by investing in blue-chip Australian stocks with the assistance of Beijing's powerful Secret Intelligence Service" (World Net Daily). The intelligence group from the People's Republic is also involved in drug deals with Osama bin Laden's terrorist group; which is the original source of the money.
Brain McAdam, a Canadian investigator who helped the FBI find thousands of Communist front organizations in North America, said of the money involved, "We are talking of billions of dollars." The fronts he found include "major players on Wall Street" (The News, Australia), and some "are linked to al-Qaeda through its investments."
Also fingering Communist China is Xu Junping, a former PRC Colonel who "for five years oversaw all secret CSIS operations against the West," before defecting to the U.S. in 2000 (see 3/28/01 Update). Xu "has described Beijing meetings with Osama bin Laden in 2000, during which the investment plan was discussed."
Communist China's links to al Qaeda, while not very well known, go back to at least the 1990s, when the PRC paid up to $10 million for unexploded American cruise missiles the terrorist group recovered in Afghanistan. Communist China has also allowed a piece of Pakistan it controls to be an al Qaeda haven.
China will go to any extend in its quest to overtake america!!!!!
"With prosperity comes wishes for respectivity/status "
No with prosperity comes wishes to dominate the world, to become superpower...ya that's right- Now China is talking "strategic alliance" with the European Union.They know that relations between EU and america are not as good as they used to be and hence trying to turn EU against the US!!!!In other words they are trying to exploit european countries to achieve what it wants and it seems they are doing a good job at that!( Note how EU has been over eager to sell arms to china despite the fact that china is the world's no. 1 humam rights violator)
As far as links with al-qaeda are concerned , there have been regular contacts between chinese intelligence operatives and the terrorist organisation. Al Qaeda "is financing its worldwide terror operations by investing in blue-chip Australian stocks with the assistance of Beijing's powerful Secret Intelligence Service" (World Net Daily). The intelligence group from the People's Republic is also involved in drug deals with Osama bin Laden's terrorist group; which is the original source of the money.
Brain McAdam, a Canadian investigator who helped the FBI find thousands of Communist front organizations in North America, said of the money involved, "We are talking of billions of dollars." The fronts he found include "major players on Wall Street" (The News, Australia), and some "are linked to al-Qaeda through its investments."
Also fingering Communist China is Xu Junping, a former PRC Colonel who "for five years oversaw all secret CSIS operations against the West," before defecting to the U.S. in 2000 (see 3/28/01 Update). Xu "has described Beijing meetings with Osama bin Laden in 2000, during which the investment plan was discussed."
Communist China's links to al Qaeda, while not very well known, go back to at least the 1990s, when the PRC paid up to $10 million for unexploded American cruise missiles the terrorist group recovered in Afghanistan. Communist China has also allowed a piece of Pakistan it controls to be an al Qaeda haven.
China will go to any extend in its quest to overtake america!!!!!
Also, China's military provided training for Afghanistan's Taliban militia and its al Qaeda supporters, according to a U.S. intelligence report.The intelligence was obtained from anti-Taliban Afghan sources. The training of the Taliban forces took place before September 11. Defense officials said it was carried out in cooperation with Pakistan's ISI intelligence service.
Evidence of Chinese military backing for the Taliban continues to surface. Late last month, U.S. Army Special Forces troops discovered 30 HN-5s, the designation for Chinese-made SA-7s surface-to-air missiles, in southeastern Afghanistan.
Other intelligence reports indicated the Chinese shipped missiles to the Taliban after September 11. China's government has denied supporting al Qaeda and the Taliban.
I guess that at this point, we should be grateful that they don't have our boys out there armed with rubber bullets and tasers. You know, so that we can fight without killing anyone. / sarcasm
Can you provide the SPECIFIC US intelligence reports, ie links etc, rather than just saying intelligence reports??
It is SO ridiculous to say that China trains the Taliban, while the Taliban is trainning anti-China forces
The US Govt had already confirmed that the Chinese made weapons found in Afghanistan were those that China supplied to the Mujahedeen during the USSR-Afghanistan War of 1980
Shortly after 9-11 Pres George Bush visited China in Oct 2001 for the APEC and personally thanked Chinese Pres Jiang and the Chinese people for their support for the US in its War on Terrorism. Why would Pres Bush do this if China is on the side of the Taliban?
China was one of the first countries to offer support to Pres BUSH on 911
Pres BUSH thanked China for providing vital and important intelligence on Al-Qaida to the US, and for her support
China allowed the US to open an FBI station in Beijing China, to coordinate US-China anti-Al-Qaida operations
After much cooperation, Pres BUSH agreed with China's request to officially classify the anti-China Xinjiang Separatists "EAST TURSKETAN" Uiphurs movement as a terrorist organisation
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