I am deeply disturbed regarding these words by Osama bin Laden in light of current events

[chknltl]

I am a fan of The Thom Hartmann Show. When discussing what may result in another costly involvement militarily over in the Middle East, Hartmann has been quoting this segment of a speech given to Al Jazeera by Osama bin Laden. The premise is a strategy map for defeating the US economically by a relatively small group of 'terrorists'.


from: http://www.aljazeera.com/archive/2004/11/200849163336457223.html
(this is a few paragraphs down in that speech and is in regards to the Bush Administration)

".....All that we have mentioned has made it easy for us to provoke and bait this administration. All that we have to do is to send two mujahidin to the furthest point east to raise a piece of cloth on which is written al-Qaida, in order to make the generals race there to cause America to suffer human, economic, and political losses without their achieving for it anything of note other than some benefits for their private companies.

This is in addition to our having experience in using guerrilla warfare and the war of attrition to fight tyrannical superpowers, as we, alongside the mujahidin, bled Russia for 10 years, until it went bankrupt and was forced to withdraw in defeat.

All Praise is due to Allah.

So we are continuing this policy in bleeding America to the point of bankruptcy. Allah willing, and nothing is too great for Allah.

That being said, those who say that al-Qaida has won against the administration in the White House or that the administration has lost in this war have not been precise, because when one scrutinises the results, one cannot say that al-Qaida is the sole factor in achieving those spectacular gains.

Rather, the policy of the White House that demands the opening of war fronts to keep busy their various corporations - whether they be working in the field of arms or oil or reconstruction - has helped al-Qaida to achieve these enormous results.

And so it has appeared to some analysts and diplomats that the White House and us are playing as one team towards the economic goals of the United States, even if the intentions differ.

And it was to these sorts of notions and their like that the British diplomat and others were referring in their lectures at the Royal Institute of International Affairs. [When they pointed out that] for example, al-Qaida spent $500,000 on the event, while America, in the incident and its aftermath, lost - according to the lowest estimate - more than $500 billion.

Meaning that every dollar of al-Qaida defeated a million dollars by the permission of Allah, besides the loss of a huge number of jobs.

As for the size of the economic deficit, it has reached record astronomical numbers estimated to total more than a trillion dollars. "

I am very much interested in your opinions DU: Regarding the beheadings of our fellow Americans and in light of Citizens United and the foreign monies that can influence (and profit from) American foreign policy in the Middle East, is it possible or even likely that our government is being hand delivered to further economic disaster along these very lines? Is Thom Hartmann giving us a fair warning here?

[blkmusclmachine]

1. Appears like everything is going according to plan.

[NealK]

2. Interesting...

[bl968]

4. George Washington

George Washington followed the same strategy with the British, he knew he didn't have to win the battles, he just had to keep fighting. We are in exactly the same situation as the British were in 1776 and we are repeating their mistakes.

This war is about two things; oil, and putting more tax payers money in the hands of the Military industrial complex that President Eisenhower warned us about in the 1950's. We ignore genocide in Darfur; but Iraq, Syria, and Iran all of which have significant oil reserves are right at the top of our foreign adventure agenda.

$5,000,000,000,000 has been spent going after an organization with at best 15,000 members. We spent a total of 333,333,333.33 per member and haven't even really made a dent, we likely could have bought them all off for a fraction of that number. Countless lives lost, over 50,000 mutilated for life. Now we want to jump in more foreign adventures intervening in civil wars in Iraq and Syria, where we will be enemies to both sides. All I can say is that is not very smart... This is a battle you can't win on the battlefield.

We need to step back and stay out of internal conflicts in other countries. We need to stop fighting wars in other countries and take the money currently being spent on these foreign adventures, and an overly bloated military, and invest it here in our own country. We need to declare a war right here at home to rebuild our stagnant economy and our crumbling national infrastructure. Once we get our country rebuilt, then we can help other countries do so as well; making friends instead of people who hate our country, and all that it stands for.

[snot]

5. Do you really need to ask?

This country has been run by corporations, for corporations, for a very long time (although "corporations" really means, the individuals who effectively control them, i.e., their senior execs and major shareholders).

Look at who owns the goods and services required for war (who profits).

Look at who owns 95% of traditional media worldwide.

Look at who owns the biggest banks, which own and control the Fed.

You don't have to be a conspiracy theorist to notice there's a lot of overlap.

Bin Laden was a boon to them, but he's dead; hence, ISIS.

Few know for sure, but . . .

Cui bono (To whose benefit)?
– attributed by Marcus Tullius Cicero to Lucius Cassius Longina Ravilla, ca. 125 B.C.

and

Why of course the people don't want war. Why should some poor slob on a farm want to risk his life in a war when the best he can get out of it is to come back to his farm in one piece? . . . But, after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. . . . All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the peacemakers for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger.
– Hermann Goering, per Nuremberg Diary (Farrar, Straus & Co 1947), by Gustave Gilbert

[grahamhgreen]

6. Hook line and sinker

[neverforget]

7. Notice how there is always money for war but not

for the people? And, how there has been no public discussion of how to pay for this? Bomb first, pay later with cuts to programs that help the People.

[gtar100]

8. These people who think war is the answer to anything never learn.

There are so many ways for humans to be idiots. Thinking that a military can solve any problem other than defending against yet another invading military is at the top of the list.

We (the US) were correct in naming our military institution the *Defense* Department. However, it ceased being about "defense" long ago. And no matter how stone faced and serious its leaders and soldiers get, no matter what words of valor they ascribe to themselves, at this point they are in reality nothing more than self-serving and well practiced in the art of self-aggrandizement. They are in fact a huge part of what is wrong with this country and this world.

For all their bluster about "loving America" and "serving" this country, their real effect is in bleeding it dry and leading this country to its demise. If they really cared about the US, they would voluntarily cut its budget by 75% and let that money be used to build up our communities with proper, well funded services and investments in cleaning up our environment and enabling the use of renewable energy sources. We can quibble over the details like we always do. But nothing of any significance will get accomplished so long as we keep dumping so much of our collective wealth into that black hole money pit we call the US Military.

[pansypoo53219]

9. bill maher pointed this out tonight.

exactly what i have been thinking since the rise of ISIL. its kubuki terror. SEE HOW EVIL WE ARE!!! of course teevee gnewz went RABID SQUIRREL! its the optics. and the rite can't see the fucking LURE.

[cui bono]

10. And note that while the country is going bankrupt, the MIC and TPTB are not.

They don't care what happens to our country and its people as long as they can make a profit. They're happy to have this War on Terror. I'm not sure they're falling for anything, just using it as a good excuse to pillage.

[SleeplessinSoCal]

11. Perspective please

This group ISIS/L is barbaric and determined to kill all who don't join them. That is not what OBL talked about. The murder of journalists meant to retaliate for U.S. air strikes as well as provoke, succeeded only in acquiring support of the majority of Americans to stop this "Caliphate" in its tracks.

I do not see this as a valid comparison. Though the task won't be easy or without heavy costs.

[truebluegreen]

12. Perspective? The parallels are obvious.

Oh, but this time US military action is justified...

[SleeplessinSoCal]

14. Quite different as I outlined

But it's roots are the same - global Wahhabaism. Al Qaeda wanted to destroy the U.S. ISIS/L has global sites for ruling the entie Muslim world via submission through barbarism.

We stirred up a hornet's nest. Walking away would be irresponsible. What the best tactic is needs more debate with honest brokers IMHO.

[ZombieHorde]

13. I don't know what everyone is thinking and feeling,

but OBL's plan seems to be working very well. I don't know why we keep falling for it.

[awoke_in_2003]

15. They achieved their goal...

they have made us a nation of cowards, who passed (and renewed) the Patriot Act, which flies in the face of the Constitution. We have drained the treasury in Iraq in Afghanistan, and are getting ready to burn more money chasing the latest hobgoblin- ISIS.

on edit: Changed "there" to "their"- I hate it when I do that.