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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: FaultLine who wrote (5868)	10/18/2001 8:49:39 AM
From: Jill	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 281500

What's great about Ewald (I did email it to Bush and Cheney): Long-term overview of the forest not the trees: a look at what Bin Laden's overall chess game might be. We often think too short-term; as the Hersch piece in the NYer pointed out, we let the Saudi public be swayed by the press going fundamentalist, for instance. We let a situation brew there that is in part responsible for the enormous pressure Saudi Arabia is under now, etc. So Ewald counsels a long-term view and comes up with a scenario that is very plausible to me. I don't see anybody else thinking that way. He points out something extremely important that is simply unacknowledged by our government or most of our public, and certainly most of this thread reflects that same potential mistake. That is: underestimating our enemy. It's possible we're doing so. For example, simply referring to America's strength, might, her potential smack-em-back violence when roused to justifiable anger...can lead us astray. We are already in 5 weeks being seriously hobbled by the economic impact of these various events. Our stock market shut down for a historic near-week, our House shut down for the rest of the week, UAL on verge of bankruptcy. ANd all kinds of unspoken costs--I heard on NPR that $300,000 of overtime for the Boca Raton post office situaiton. And I do agree w/ Mike's view that the intent is not simply to terrorize, but to weaken us. It's a strategic attack. In the beginning I assumed they'd focus on other cities after NY & Washington, but I now see that's not the case. Just MYHO, and to repeat, I love this country and think it has largesse & greatness. But, you know, no mecca lasts forever. All cultures have inherent flaws, and being blind to those flaws can eventually do them in.