taliban winning in afghanistan, page-19

  1. 17,307 Posts.
    I would think that the US attack on al Qaeda was motivated not only by "revenge for 9/11 and the removal of the al Qaeda camps" but also among other motivations were:
    - the realization that AQ declaration of war could potentially and actually do them extreme harm
    - the realization of how vulnerable the US mainland was to single or serial attacks by suicidal, homicidal, totally committed fanatics using the tactics of asymmetric warfare and willing to prepare and plan their attacks for years
    - the necessity to reverse the "US as paper-tiger" image that the sleepy and sleezy clinton years had created where an escalating series of attacks had little or no response of any note.
    - the necessity to show to the multitude of other opportunistic and predatory groups/countries that quietly sponsoring and encouraging a massive attack on the US homeland and claiming no knowledge or responsibility was not likely to be a successful strategy to consider
    - the realization that political islam as promoted by AQ, represents a dangerous challenge to the system of secular nation-states (to some degree secular at least), the free-trade and economic system of the western world and the range of possible development trajectories of all parts of the world, and that it would be better that this brand of political islam was removed from to scene to a large extent

    Of course there are many other motivations that can be mentioned, but this seems to be a slightly more complete picture.
    I would agree that AQ strategy in Iraq has been a disaster for them, but this is just act 1 of many more to come.

    When even the NYT is reporting progress in Iraq, it must be time to think about opening a latte coffee shop in Bagdad and investing in the Iraq stock market.



 
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