[Spktyr]

Got a point there.

That said, I have to wonder if he thinks (or thought) that all "free" economies are as fragile as the Saudi one that he's familiar with. If something took out the Saudi financial center, they would be dead in the water - but he effectively took out the US's fianancial center (albeit temporarily), and all he got for his trouble was a lot of angry Americans chasing him from cave to cave and a decimated organization.

[Cheburashka]

That said, I have to wonder if he thinks (or thought) that all "free" economies are as fragile as the Saudi one that he's familiar with.
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I don't think he thinks of it like that. I think he sees himself as similar to hitting a giant concrete wall with a sledge hammer. He may bring the wall down. He may not. But if he doesn't he will weaken it, leave cracks in it, and someone else following after him will complete the job.

Think Byzantine Empire. The Battle of Yarmuk in 636 pushed the Byzantines back behind the Tarsus Mountains, out of Syria and Palestine. In 1071 the battle of Manzikert pushed the Byzantines out of the Anatolian Highlands and back to the area around Constantinople. Finally in 1453 Constantinople fell. But in between each of these dates there were centuries of back and forth warfare, which changed very little.

He hits us because his religion orders him to. And I'm sure he dreams in his heart of hearts of sitting in the Oval Office and receiving the submission of the Americans. But I doubt he thinks in terms of anything he does being the killing blow, although he believes sooner or later the killing blow will be dealt.

The fear he and all the Mullahs must have is that Moslem society will fall so far behind the West that it will irretrievably lose control of the Moslem masses.