Ossama is undoubtedly a very sharp mind. Granted that his agenda is rather odd, he is much brighter than most people give him credit for.
That being said, what exactly was it he was trying to accomplish with 9/11? Obviously only he knows that for sure, but I think its very possible for well informed people to have a good idea based on the facts.
Violence begets violence, period. And I’m sure he knew from the start the US wouldn’t just ignore what happened. So back to my op, what if Ossama wanted war the whole time?
War on Afganistan. War on Iraq. Anything to make the gap between these two sides grow. From what I hear, tensions are infinitely tighter in arab countries now, and far fewer people support America…so again I ask you, what if we’re just being played?
Of course he is. His one act has caused us to spend billions of dollars we don’t really have. Put our very own civil rights in dire jeapordy. He doesn’t have to do anything else but sit back and laugh.
This seems more than a little bit specious to me. While I am entirely against most of the expansions in executive power that have taken place over the past year, I can’t really see Osama sitting in a cave somewhere in Afghanistan (or Pakistan, or Kashmir, or Chechnya, or wherever the hell he is/was) saying, “Boy we got those Americans! Now they only need one wiretap authorization per person, instead of per phone!”
Draw the USA into a war in Afghanistan which he expects will lead to the break-up of the USA.
Get attention
1 and 4, he accomplished. 2 and 3 are more questionable. Keep in mind that intelligent people are perfectly capable of fooling themselves, especially when they are surrounded by devout followers.
This makes a lot of sense, in general and in its specific explanation of the motive for the attack on the WTC.
Basically, the author is saying that the ideology of al Qaeda/the Taliban is a kind of fantasy ideology that doesn’t advance by rational, realpolitikal means; rather it affirms itself by achieving symbols. Thus, there is no comprehensible (to us) political objective to be obtained; instead, what was sought was the symbol itself of destroying the heart of the American capitalist society. There is a disconnect between the ideology and the real world (as we understand it)–it’s not important that pragmatic effects be achieved, if the overall ideology is furthered.
Compare that act with the attack on Pearl Harbor, which was eminently rational, if a gamble: destroy the U.S. navy, knocking them out of a Pacific war long enough to consolidate Japanese control and entrench Japanese power in the Pacific, at which point the U.S. would negotiate a peace that left Japan in control of the Pacific.
There was also the economic damage. I have heard that it was Al Queda’s intention of destroying our economy (the WTC attacks cost roughly 100 billion in lost wages & property damage) by the attacks. Shutting down commerce due to fear and destruction.
For anyone who says they did it because they envy our rights, why didn’t they attack any of the 30+ other countries that are just as free as we are?
Odd? His agenda is insane. Being “bright” does not make his ideas or strategy sound.
It is very obvious that Ossama wants war. The question is “why?”. And what part of inciting the US to oust the Taliban, replace them with a more moderate and multi-cultural Afghan government, kill or capture hundreds or thousands of Al Quaeda, and destroy dozens of their bases sounds like good strategy?
Tensions are tighter in middle eastern countries relative to when? Who are these “far fewer people” who don’t support America? The foreign exchange students in your liberal arts classes? There is a world of diference between disagreeing with US policy of ousting Sadam and supporting a lunatics bid to turn back the clock a thousand years.
It is because America is a symbol that represents the freedom and power of all those other countries. That, and we are the most powerful nation and its always good strategy to try and take out your strongest enemy first.
I suspect in the mind of the average Islamic fundamentalist, they feel that if they can create enough destruction, they can cause the economic and political collapse of Western civilization and replace it with some kind of Islamic fundamentalist paradise.
Yes, CLEARLY his strategy was to quickly lose the battle in Afghanistan.
What he probably hoped for was that we would attack with our own ground troops to take control of Afghanistan, Soviet style. He figured we would get bogged down fighting against the population who would resent our invasion, a la the Soviets. The resulting conflict would be a rallying point for Islam vs. the world propoganda.
With a delicacy I still find amazing from this administration, we listened and worked with the international community. We managed to sell the idea that Afghanistan was liberating itself (albeit with our help).
What Osama didn’t count on was that this is the United States. We would NEVER invade another country to throw out the leadership and replace it with one of our choosing without support from the international community and the people within the country.
IMHO, Osama is not trying to bring down Western civilization so much as kick it out of the Middle East. To do that, he wants to provoke the US into doing something that will unite all of Islam against it. (Thus allowing everything Western/American to be branded as wrong, in the same way that we rooted out a lot of German influences in this country during WWI). Our efforts in Afghanistan didn’t do that, but our talk about Iraq sure seems to fit the bill.
Obviously not. So I highly doubt that we have been “played” as if the Taliban loosing Afghanistan was some kind of tactical feignt.
The story of the Northern Alliance defeating the Taliban was like the story of David and Goliath…and David’s friend the B-52 Bomber. No one doubts that the reason Afghanistan could liberate itself was support from American air power and Special Forces on the ground.
Personally, I think that our strategy in Afghanistan was pretty slick. Especially compared to what happened to the Russians 20 years ago and the Brittish a hundred years before that.
That’s part of it. Just like all Hitler wanted was to unite the Germanic nations. Problem with madmen is that they have big egos. Once they have a little taste of victory, they want more. If Osama (assuming he wasn’t vaporized or burried under a mountain) was able to succeed in driving the US out of the Middle East, why do you think he would not try to further his Islamic fundamentalist agenda with additional terrorist attacks? He didn’t attack American interests in Saudi Arabia. He attacked what he perceived to be the heart of America.