« Photomatt | Main | You think it's all over? Don't complain – organize! » Bin Laden says his goal is to bankrupt the U.S.A couple of days ago I posted part of an email I'd sent that said, among other things, that "the current Bush administration and its intellectual substructure (the New American Century people) are prepared to enforce 'American' dominance in the world with our superior military force, but they've fallen into the same hole that broke the Soviet economy: enforcing dominance via military engagement has significant costs, and there are other forces in the world (such as the Al Qaeda network) that are more agile, and that will not stop fighting." Al-Jazeera has just released a transcript of the Osama bin Laden's recent video; CNN notes that he says "his group's goal is to force America into bankruptcy." He also says "We, alongside the mujahedeen, bled Russia for 10 years until it went bankrupt and was forced to withdraw in defeat." [Link to CNN article about Osama tape] | [Link to Newsweek article suggesting the U.S. may be losing the war in Iraq.] jon posted this at 5:14 AM |
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Comments
It is soooooo politically incorrect to acknowledge, but Bin Laden is the fucking brilliant evil genius that every superhero movie wishes it could create. Nobody can deny that with an investment of half a million bucks and 20 suicide volunteers, he has exacted a disproportionately huge financial toll on the US's economy, along with incalculable damage to its body politic and image in the world.
You gotta cop: bringing down the WTC was the most spectacular evil deed since the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. It was even more spectacular for being broadcast in realtime around the world.
Bin Laden's single act will torment us well into the future whether we eliminate him or not. And he is right: we do need to change our foreign policy in the Middle East. Any president who resists making those adjustments just to spite him is playing Russian Roulette with our security.
Posted by: Cliff | November 2, 2004 11:58 AM
I definitely agree with what you are suggesting. I do not know whether Osma Bin laden is a Genius or not. For all I know, it may have been one or more of Bin Laden's Cohorts who hatched the plan to use our own Commercial airplanes against us. Regardless of who thought up the plan,... it can't be denied,... Osma got alot of "Bang" for the buck, and will continue to do so, for along time.
However, in the large scheme of things, three thousand people dying in this Country is not alot in comparison to the people that die from conditions caused by our own American citizens, such as in the Medical Industry.
Don't misunderstand me, one American dying at the hands of a terrorist is "One Too Many", but considering that almost 200,000 people die from malpractice and hospital staff incompetance every year,... the number of people that died in the Twin towers shrinks by comparison, and those 200,00 people are only the situations that are voluntarily reported by Hospitals. Knowing that human nature is to first try to cover up ones own mistakes, I suspect that the number of deaths is much higher
In this example and others,... I often wonder if we are not our own worst enemy.
Posted by: Jim | January 19, 2005 12:22 PM