Osama Bin Laden is a Saudi. The Saudi’s exiled him, is that correct? The Saudi’s are saying that they will find the perps and that their destiny is in a firey place.
Who says Osama Bin Laden is alive? Could this not be just a cell of Al Qaeda?
Would a copycat terror network necessarily pick Saudi Arabia to hit? Would logic suggest that the perps picked Saudi as a sign pointing to their fallen - or not - leader, whether or not he is alive?
So again, is the efficacy of the war on terror challenged in such a way to think it may not be working afterall? I still don’t think Al Qaeda is as full and powerfull as they were pre 9/11.
Well I think it is certainly to the advantage for al Qaeda or copycat group to try to make-out that he is alive or at least that he’s possibly alive.
There is a very good chance he is dead, either in one of the US raids or that he has just died of natural causes as he was a very sick (physically) man just before the start of the war in Afghanistan and his condition wasn’t getting any better.
You may well be correct in your belief Al-Q isn’t as big a threat as it was but there is little evidence to support that.
Even if true, the threat itself is terrorism and if you are correct we may be looking at the actions of one of a thousand dragons teeth in the form of autonomously acting cells or newly radicalised terrorists unconnected to Al-Q.
My money is on Al-Q, I think we underestimate the resilience of a decentralised cell structure organisation with a large pool of potential recruits, constantly refreshed by perceived greivances and underestimating how damn easy it actually is to kill lots of people if you don’t really care about getting caught or who you kill.
Either way it’s not a comforting situation, making it important that we address legitimate grievances to try and stem the flow of potential recruits as well as continue to crack down on terror whenever it rears its head.
Your analogy of a thousand dragon’s teeth is a good one Tagos. But I am forced to think why Saudi Arabia? Why attack somewhere so wealthy in such an area where you kill more arabs than Americans? What are the terror groups learning from this? Maybe that they are making more enemies in their own, area of the world.
Maybe, just maybe OBL has recently died, and his group picked Saudi as a last F-you for exiling their leader.
Most Islamicists see the current regime in Saudi Arabia as throughly un-Islamic, and there is also alot of discontent in Saudi Arabia over the way the regime treats it’s subjects.
I’d guess SA because that’s where the cell with the resources and the organisation was, like in Bali. Plenty of foreigners as targets, note that the attacks took place when many local staff were off on a training course somewhere.
And as people here keep trying to point out, Al-Q hates secular arab states as much as they hate the USA and if this bombing sparks even more Saud oppression then they get a double pay-off of even more recruits and it will make the rulers look even more like imperialist puppets.
IMO the UK experience in Ireland shows you can’t win a military victory against terrorism when it is underpinned by a population that shares it’s sense of grievance, however illegitimate we may or may not judge it.
You have to simultaneously keep on the military pressure, address grievances and attempt to isolate the radical elements to create some faction that you can negotiate with.
And as people here keep trying to point out, Al-Q hates secular arab states as much as they hate the USA…
If there’s anything Saudi Arabia isn’t it’s a secular state.
True. The royals are viewed as being under the thumb of the West, though, which is still a problem.
Yes, though there are obviously disputes about prominent Saudis backing Al Qaeda.
There’s not really any reason to think he’s dead. There’s no evidence pointing to it, and recent tapes and info from captives seems to suggest he is alive.
By definition, everything is done by cells. Are some of them acting independently, without centralized leadership? Possibly.
They killed some Americans, and also some people who might’ve been pro-West. You have to keep in mind that they were also attacking a place.
Not everyone supports these groups anyway, but I personally doubt this.