Those that have committed these outrages must be brought to justice. Those that did this have set into motion events they will come to regret. Many innocents will probably die because of this, and many have already died.
If the Taliban refuses to hand over Bin Laden, then most likely, as a result of the heavy bombings Afghanistan will undergo, Civil War will be touched off in Pakistan, because of the strong ties that exist between the peoples of the two countries. Hell, we have the same ethnic groups on both sides of the border there. The fundamentalists are strong there, and more than likely, those in Pakistan will make efforts to come to the aid of the Taliban. Pakistan is economically very weak. Falling further and further behind India. This will set off Kashmir. The radicals there will feel they have nothing to lose, because they know that if Pakistan is weakened further, then more than likely India will keep Kashmir.
If the situation there erupts like I think it will, then we will see our coalition, along with India, overwhelm the fundamentalists in both countries. They will go down fighting, and these clearly aren't sane people. Pakistan has nukes. More than likely the Army there is infiltrated with some radicals, and they will fire any weapons they can get their hands on at India and any other country they can.
What I'm trying to say here is that the situation in that part of the world is such that serious internal problems could arise within Pakistan that would quickly set the stage for a larger war. Some people there, in order to stave off total defeat, might feel it's in their interests to involve the rest of the Moslem world in the war. In fact, I would say they definitely feel this way. It only takes several missiles fired towards India. They could plot to gain control of several sites, and set off the weapons.
Iraq would then make mischief. Probably doing all it can to engage Israel in the conflict. The West Bank and Lebanon would then go up in flames. Syria would become involved. Then all hell would break loose.
I don't have the answers. The people who did this must be brought to justice. Sadly, we may be in for a horrible conflict.
You know, for all of my life, people have been trying to lay down the gauntlet of the jittery effects of what happens if there is a "war" in the middle east. I went to high school in the 70's, and I remember the mock "UN conventions" we had then that set up the fear of what would happen if we had a "big" war in the middle east. I've now seen something that I thought my eyes would never see, I've seen my own cities bombed by suicide terrorists in civilian planes. I've seen an attack on the city, on the government, and on the financial system that is absolutely unfathomable.
There has been nothing in the history of our country that in any way measures this. Yes, the middle east in unstable, it has been for thousands of years. BUT THIS WILL NOT STAND.
"The commitment of our fathers is now the calling of our time."
President George W. Bush, National Cathedral, September 14, 2001
While your analysis is quite plausible and interesting, I believe all hell has already broken loose.
There are close to 6000 Americans dead in one day on US soil at the hands of islamic fundamentalist terrorists.
All nations whose governmnents are or have been sympathetic to, aided, abetted, or are unable to control these types of organizations within their borders are our enemy and must be dealt with accordingly.
And one other very important thing.
All these countries together haven't been able to take out tiny Israel.
That should speak for itself.
Fred: I agree. If I weren’t so old, I’d be downright worried. I’ve been practicing my “duck and cover” exercises that I was taught in school in the early ‘50s. It’s easy for me to get down on the floor really fast, but it’s darned difficult to get back up again.