You think AQ is deterred by America's inclinations? C'mon...
AQ is, if nothing, opportunistic. They could care less about the retaliation. After all, they're going to paradise when the retaliation is over.
So, no, they're not deterred. If anything, they consider us very weak at this point and are apt to grab the opportunity. OTOH, THEY are weak right now due to 7 years of relentless war with the GWB administration. That's all that is keeping us safe right now because they can obviously see that we have a weak president right now.
We just have to hope they can't muster the strength to hit us now. Over time, with our weak leadership they will be back. I think almost every expert agrees it is "when" and not "if".
OTOH, Ten is right. If we're hit again, it is likely to be huge -- killing 100,000s or even millions, not mere thousands. Should that happen even Obama would have to respond or he would be ousted by the American People. And that action might well end the downward economic trend.
Everyone should take a deep breath, however, before assuming that what happened in the 30s through WWII somehow constitutes a "pattern". It doesn't. It is a one-time event and we really don't know whether the spending of the war turned the economy around or perhaps it might have just been the prevalent psychology of the era. It would be very careless to assume that massive spending will automatically pull one out of a bad economic cycle. |
