Saturday, November 15, 2008

Bush's Parting Gift to al Qaeda


Ever since he abandoned the fight in Afghanistan to invade Iraq, George w. Bush has been playing straight into al Qaeda's hand. Bush stupidity has been the greatest recruiting tool and fundraiser that the terrorists could have ever dreamed of.

Not only has al Qaeda narrowly escaped certain destruction thanks to Bush, it has grown stronger, diversified and spread from one corner of the Muslim world to the other and beyond into places like Europe and even the United States.

Bush's legacy of aiding al Qaeda will live on long after he's replaced in January. Security experts, private and government, are warning that the subprime mortgage/dodgy derivative/credit default swap-driven global meltdown will present terrorists with new opportunities even as the West's ability to fight them declines. From the Washington Post:

"U.S. government officials and private analysts say the economic turmoil has heightened the short-term risk of a terrorist attack, as radical groups probe for weakening border protections and new gaps in defenses. A protracted financial crisis could threaten the survival of friendly regimes from Pakistan to the Middle East while forcing Western nations to cut spending on defense, intelligence and foreign aid, the sources said.

The crisis could also accelerate the shift to a more Asia-centric globe, as rising powers such as China gain more leverage over international financial institutions and greater influence in world capitals.


...The crisis could also accelerate the shift to a more Asia-centric globe, as rising powers such as China gain more leverage over international financial institutions and greater influence in world capitals.

...many government and private terrorism experts say the financial crisis has given al-Qaeda an opening, and judging from public statements and intercepted communications, senior al-Qaeda leaders are elated by the West's economic troubles, which they regard as a vindication of their efforts and a sign of the superpower's weakness.

"Al-Qaeda's propaganda arm is constantly banging the drum saying that the U.S. economy is on the precipice -- and it's the force of the jihadists that's going to push us over the edge," said Bruce Hoffman,
a former scholar-in-residence at the CIA and now a professor at Georgetown University.

Whether terrorist leader Osama bin Laden is technically capable of another Sept. 11-style attack is unclear, but U.S. officials say he has traditionally picked times of transition to launch major strikes. The two major al-Qaeda-linked attacks on U.S. soil -- the World Trade Center bombing in 1993 and the 2001 hijackings -- occurred in the early months of new administrations."

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