No no, they're worried about losing the war to us, they don't care about human life, as shown time and time again when they bomb innocent people all over Iraq. (and the rest of the middle east)
Yeah, that's not really what I was talking about, but sure. You have to realize that Iraq is just the beginning to them. Iraq and Afghanistan are kind of like, preliminary wars. These are the conflicts they want America to be fighting so as to weaken them and in turn the entire world (and they have gained confidence that the plan is working given our economy.) Remember, these people are in it for the long run. The really long run. The best scenario for them is for the Middle East to become so war torn and for the Western powers to become so weak that they can easily swoop in and take over and create a new Caliphate and have no real opposition. This could happen in the next 20 years or the next 1000 years. They don't really care. These people have an unbelievably long cultural memory. People like Osama bin Laden see themselves as figures that will be lauded as heroes in the future Middle East, which they will help to create. They are confident it will happen, even if they were to die tomorrow. So, no. I don't think they care if we "win" in Iraq, because to them the damage is already done.
Just so you know, the Al-Qaeda are a religious movement, not one person... This also made me think: Perhaps Obama will be assassinated by the Al-Qaeda!
There is nothing to laugh about Thrilla. Because Powell supports Obama now, here he comes telling us to listen to him on the Russia issue Did you have anything else to say besides the "lol"?
I disagree. Obama talked about the harm that a war with no exit strategy could have on us financially. Ron Paul talked about that point over and over again. I think there is a strong possibility that al-Qaeda had the foresight to see this. We have to realize that these terrorists are not all idiots (perhaps the hijackers, but not the leaders of these terrorist groups). They aren't attacking us because they hate our people having freedom, they hate us because we are dicking around in their part of the globe.
They're the ones that left Russia (and other communist regimes) to live in freedom and democracy here in the US, I have nothing against them. My problem is with the people who support Putin.
No you really are missing the point of most Al Qaeda/Islamic extremist action. Leaving opinions on whether America should remain in Iraq aside for now, you have to understand that these extreme ideologies depend on their people being in a shitty situation with a desire to blame someone or something. The shitty situation in the Middle East over the past half century has been well documented and these extremist organizations have done a good job of directing blame at America and the West. The closer and more immediate that enemy is, the easier it becomes for these groups to appeal to the same sentiments and gain more followers. Al Qaeda and co.'s acts of aggression have always sought to provoke a US military response that they could then use to grow their own ideology. They're not trying to kill us, so much as they're trying to use us to become more and more powerful (obviously they're trying to kill us too, but the real important figures in these movements don't consider this the end goal of their actions).
Most would call me right of center and what I wouldn't give to move back full-time to the People's Republic of Portland. Home is home, no matter how fucked up.
But your making the assumption that Russia is fucked up there. It is no less fucked up than the United States at this point. This article by Rany Jazayerli that I read a while back is pretty interesting. Definitely a good read for people. http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/search/label/october surprise
Well, yes. I agree with all that. What I was trying to say is that they could have never assumed their "plan" to work so well as to see the financial crisis we're in. As I said before, al-Qaida are opportunistic propagandists, and this financial crisis was as big of news to them as it was to us.
