The first thing you need to know about terrorists is that their goal is not to kill people. Their goal is to effect political change. Their method is to kill people . That's what terror is and has always been about, effecting political change with limited resources through outrageous actions, and the subsequent fear and irrational response.
The second thing to learn is that their success is measured not by how many people they kill, or how gruesome the killing is, but by the political reaction. No irrational response, no success. They frankly don't care if 3000 American live or die.
And that’s why OBL is far and away the ultimate terrorist of all time. And 9/11 was the Ultimate of all terrorist acts. Look at our reaction:
We’ve fought two wars;
We’ve thrown our government into a crippling deficit;
We’ve marginalized our most stabilizing international institution, NATO;
We’ve marginalized the second most important international institution, the UN;
We’ve repealed many of our legal freedoms;
We’ve created animosity towards the US throughout the world;
We've destabilized the region that sets the price for the lifeblood commodity of our economy;
We’ve polarized our domestic politics to the point of dysfunction.
OBL is a huge success because we’ve given him exactly the reaction he wanted.
OBL, and the other Al Qaeda leaders are the most dangerous people in the world. And yet, they are still free, while we romp in Iraq. If you think about the 9/11 attacks, the planning, the execution, it is pretty phenomenal. The operatives, the flying lessons, the time lines, the resources. If it had been in a novel prior to 9/11, you wouldn’t believe that anyone could pull it off. OBL did, he’s an evil genius, yet he is still alive and free. And we romp in Iraq.
Take a look back at the terrorist attacks over the last 5-10 years, 90%+ Al Qaeda. And OBL is alive and free, and planning and executing other attacks.
32 months after 9/11, and all we are doing is giving Al Qaeda recruiting tools. My WAG is that there are at least four times as many AL Qaeda operatives today as there were on 9/11. At the same time, we are ruining our country, politically and economically, and destroying the worldwide relationships that have made the world a better place to live.
And we romp in Iraq while OBL makes his next plan...
John |
