Could be bad news folks
Philip Carter (of Intel Dump) has a great post which discusses a recent Los Angeles Times article about the evolution of Al Qaeda since September 11, 2001. The article essentially concludes that the terrorist organization has been forced to restructure and adapt to the "War on Terror" in ways that have actually increased its efficiency as a terrorist network. Surprisingly, Al Qaeda has become more capable, not less, at quickly deploying its followers to carry out attacks. While according to this 2001 State Department map Al Qaeda did not operate in Iraq, Intelligence and counter-terrorism officials now agree that it has become a breeding ground and focal point for such organizations. Carter offers an interesting analysis of the current situation and discusses what the realities of this situation in Iraq might mean for both Republican and Democratic presidential candidates.
4 Comments:
The way I see it, Al Qaeda is evolving not just for self-preservation reasons but also because the world is now at a new phase of the overall struggle, i.e. wether or not it was their intent, they successfully got U.S. to offensively initiate WWIII (I am not the first person to mention this idea, and the only response I've heard was conservatives changing the subject by trying to say "actually it would be world war four because of the cold war which we WON thanks to Reagan" any relevant links or commentary appreciated). The way things are shaping up, the "War On Terror" is roughly analogous to the Palestinian/Israeli conflict at least vis-à-vis asymmetry and mutual assumption of moral high ground. and No, the picture will not get any prettier as time progresses.
After four years of Bush AlQaeda is stronger, hes cutting money to first responders, hes got our military stretched beyond thin, he hasnt killed BinLaden(remember him? Hes the one who attacked us) He has spent 200 billion and sacrificed over 1000 precious American lives in a bogus war that he lied about. He has turned the entire world against the US with his arrogance. (read the world polls)
So he deserves another four years?
Not even close.
Dude Petee, you need to work on your reading comprehension. Mr. Anonymous up there never said he couldn't find moral high ground only "mutual assumption of moral high ground" was possesed by both sides. It sounds like you have your moral high ground all staked out, and I know for sure the Al Qaeda members think they are morally superior. So he was right about that and also that the "WAR" is most similar to the Israel-Palestine conflict and no it will not get prettier. (Be safe Joey!)
Andrew G
I have an uncle pete also! (first anonymous from above, not the guy trying to get into an argument about Bush vs Kerry) yes petee I understand that you are positive we are on the moral high ground. what I ask you to do is try to imagine being inside the enemy's head; stop thinking for a few moments that our enemies are evil crazy and wrong, and realize that they are just doing what their leaders tell them. When Christianity was about the same age as Islam is now, Christians were doing exactly the same kind of shit to moslems as al qaeda is doing right now, except with different technology. this doesn't make ANY of it forgiveable, my point is that in order to break the cycle of violence we all have to admit what is actually going on: people who think (wrongly) that God is on their side are killing eachother again. Al Qaeda motivates their young men by promising them sex with twenty virgins in heaven after they kill themselves, YOUR American government motivates its young men by lying (or, to be charitable, repeating false information they themselves want too much to be true to be sufficiently critical) about WMDs, inventing a Saddam~9/11 connection and spouting jingo about 'bringing freedom to oppressed people' when most people with a few shreds of sense realizes that OIL is the biggest(again, being charitable so not saying 'only' and also leaving the Bible out of it) part of the motivational equation (I'm not going to argue with you about this, it isn't worth it).
one last thing, lets pretend we're all thinking adults and try not to insult eachother, OK? I understand where your mindset is coming from so I don't call your opinions 'tripe' (admittedly fairly innocuous and actually pretty clever as these things go) and I extend to you the courtesy of reexamining your own field of vision; if you can't accept that our enemies are only guilty of using whatever means are available to them to fight what they think is a morally justified war - which after all is exactly what "we" are doing also except "we" think "our" lives are worth more than "their" lives- then I think you have some growing up to do, but I don't insult you because I'm not trying to get into a fight about it; I know that fights don't prove who is right, only who is more violent. Peace isn't going to come from both sides being unwilling to admit they were wrong on any point. If you want to have an actual discussion you're gonna have to dig a little deeper than tripe and pulling out heads! but maybe you don't want to have an actual discussion, maybe you just want to feel that you are already right about everything, in which case: cheers!
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