Question Details	Asked By	Asked On
Alternate Thinking About Terrorists	MarySusan	08/29/06
There is one theory that 911 was Bin Laden's plan to scare America in to removing their troops and bases from the Islamic Holy Land.....there are now only 300 American soldiers there, and Bush said in a televised appearance some time ago when asked about Osama, "I dont' think about him any more"...we closed our Bin Laden office in the FBI....Bin Laden's mission accomplished? AlQuaeda is splintered into various groups, the centralized leadership decimated...Bin Laden and the good Dr from Egypt making occasional television appearances. We see the results of the Lebanon War. Israel was severely beaten because they couldn't FINISH OFF SUCH A PRIMITIVE, fighting force with sophisticated air power and weapons, an army of trained soldiers, a superior intelligence force. I see no way to defeat terrorism by force and violence. Lebanon, Iraq, Afghanista has proven that. Time for some serious thinking about American foreign policy. Note: nothing in the world will solve the violence problems between Jews and Palestineans. The reason, they are *both correct* in their reasons for the existence or non-existence of Israel. Terrorism of all kinds has always been with us, and it will go on into the future, hopefully at a lesser pace, so time for creative approaches and super espionage and intelligence and police work to lessen the death. Any comments?
Clarification/Follow-up by MarySusan on 08/30/06 8:00 pm: Annihilate Iran and make a lot of the oil in the Middle East radioactive????? bwahaha haha hahahahaha
Answered By		Answered On
tomder55		08/30/06
Here's my take; OBL regrets the day he authorized the attack on the WTC . I'd say the last 5 years have been tough on the old boy . After 9-11 ;his patron's the Taliban were dispersed and scattered into the hills . He no longer has a country that he can claim is his base of support . Today he hides out in at best a lawless region in Pakistan awaiting his inevidible turn . He goes to sleep at night every day knowing that he is a hunted man by the most powerful nation in the history of the world;and with the full understanding that the U.S. used only a small fraction of it's vast military might to bring him to this point. In 2001 al-Qaeda was a relatively centralized organization, with a planning hub, a propaganda hub, a leadership team, all within a defined geographic area. All that is gone, because we destroyed it.There are no more al-Qaeda training camps pumping out jihadists .His troops by the thousands have been arrested, detained, or killed. So have many members of the crucial al-Qaeda leadership circle around bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri.The al-Qaida that was centralized had a state, a base and limitless resources is gone. This is an important achievement. The circle of people he can trust is shrinking and not being replaced .If anyone thinks that he is still central in 'command and control' they are mistaken . Bush is right . Bin-Laden beyond being a mythical Che Guevera type figure to the jihadi is irrelevent. Increased intelligence efforts by the United States and its allies have made it extremely difficult to execute transactions of any type(communications, travel, money transfers)have become more dangerous for the jihadists. Where bin Laden’s central leadership team could once wire money around the world using normal bank networks, it now must rely on couriers with vests full of cash.Where bin Laden’s network could once use satellite phones and the Internet for communication, it now has to avoid most forms of electronic communication, which leave an electronic trail back to the user. Bin Laden and al-Zawahiri now send information out through videotapes(a combined total of maybe 2 dozen in 5 years)and via operatives in Internet chat rooms. A poor substitute for direct communications. Training and operations have been decentralized, raising the risk of fragmentation and loss of unity. Jihadists everywhere face the threat of capture or martyrdom. To make matters worse for them ;All measures show that its brutal tactics (beheadings ,car bombs to incite sectarian violence )have cost it support in the Arab and Islamic world for the most part .No one shed a tear for the death of Zarqawi. Yes jihadist terrorist organizations have fragmented and that poses a different set of challenges but without the command and control ;and the State backing and resourses these groups are hardly the existential threat that al-Qaeda became. Yes they can blow up trains but I do not see another 9-11 attack coming from small fragmented cells operating out of Miami . As I've mentioned many times ,we are far from being in a war footing in this country .The increases in security have been at worse a minor inconvienence... Far from the wailings of the Cassandras who think their basic rights are being trampled. They should at very least acknowlege that it would've been much more difficult to break up the airline plot in England if the British and Pakistani investigators were handcuffed with the Constitutional restraints imposed on our law enforcement and intel organizations .Pehaps the plot would've succeeded. Instead the British apparently had the current plotters under surveillance for a sustained period. A recent analysis from “Stratfor” (no link subscription required ) pointed out the following observations : "First, while there obviously remains a threat from those not only sympathetic to al Qaeda, but actually participating in planning with those in the al Qaeda apex leadership, their ability to launch successful attacks outside of the Middle East is severely degraded. Second, if the cell truly does have 50 people and 21 have already been detained, then al Qaeda might have lost its ability to operate below the radar of Western — or at least U.K. — intelligence agencies. Al Qaeda’s defining characteristic has always been its ability to maintain operational security. If that has been compromised, then al Qaeda’s importance as a force has diminished greatly. Third, though further attacks could occur, it appears al Qaeda has lost the ability to alter the political decision-making of its targets. The Sept. 11 attack changed the world. The Madrid train attacks changed a government. This failed airliner attack only succeeded in closing an airport temporarily. Fourth, the vanguard of militant Islam appears to have passed from Sunni/Wahhabi al Qaeda to Shiite Iran and Hezbollah. It is Iran that is shaping Western policies on the Middle East, and Hezbollah who is directly engaged with Israel. Al Qaeda, in contrast, appears unable to do significantly more than issue snazzy videos." I agree with the last sentence that it's time for creative approaches and super espionage and intelligence and police work to lessen the death. Indeed in the last 5 years that is what the administration has attempted .If some of the measures that heve been taken prove in fact to be unconstitutional as the many critics parrot then they are easily fixable. I have argued that Congress need be a partner in the war against jihadistan .Passing war resolutions and then sitting on their hands and being Monday morning quarterbacks ;or yelling obscenities from the bleacher seats is not in my view responsible governing .

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