Connecting the disposessed, Al Qaeda's Victory

[Bandwraith at aol.com]

It's amazing reading some of the posts to this list- the
degree of denial, the wishful thinking, the "saying makes
it so" desperation.

Afghanistan has been a defeat for the U.S., and
is falling into the same pattern as what seemed
like easy victories in the early days of Viet Nam,
but the casualties are mainly economic and will
continue to play-out in the U.S. for years, as 
bankrupt local and state governments cut health-
care and education budgets to service the growing
debt, untill finally, domestic politics will demand
another abandonment of that foresaken land.

Pakistan is in jeapardy.

North Korea is much closer to obtaining the Atomic
Bomb than Iraq but has a real tough army and is
without oil.

Iraq is weak and can be defeated in weeks. It is no
threat to the U.S. There is active fighting in northern
Iraq between Al Qaeda-like muslim extremists and U.S.
backed Kurds, both of whom are oblivious to Hussein,
who is impotent in Bagdad. U.S. special op's are directly 
involved in the fighting, and have been for years.

Al Qaeda is an extremely sophisticated and deadly
opponent with global reach, bombing embassies in 
separate countries within minutes, hobbling a 
state-of-the-art missle cruiser with a motorboat, 
causing billions (trillions?) of dollars of destruction 
by the most impressive tactical attack on the U.S. 
since Pearl harbor, by eluding the best trained and
equipped troops in the world, on several occasions, 
and that's only part of it.

Attacking Iraq will play right into the hands of Al Qaeda.
They hate the U.S. AND Saddam Hussein. They are
fighting for control of the Islamic dispossessed and 
could care less about NYC, Washington, Chicago, etc., 
excepting how attacking those soft targets can help  
them overthrow the status quo through-out the muslim 
world. The U.S. will ablige them, by so inflaming the 
situation that whatever moderates may still exist there, 
will either be pushed over into radicalism, or, murdered.

The U.S. will "win" a military victory in Iraq and the cost
to the U.S. economy will be devastating. This country
already changed by 9/11 will never be the same, but
will get much worse. The Gulf War of Bush the Elder was
the first war of the century to herald a war-time recession i
n the U.S. Iraq promises to be the second. This is not cyclical
economics, it is a wholly new pattern, without precedent,
and Al Qaeda is way ahead of the U.S. strategically. They
are controlling events. Iraq is an appealling target for
Bush because it is easy. There is not a shread of evidence,
however, linking Iraq to Al Qaeda, but if the U.S. further 
destabilzes that impovershed land, there will be, albeit, 
sans Hussein.

The North Korean "revelation" is nothing new, but it's
release to the media at this time is easily understandable.
The Bush Administration is finally beginning to get a whiff
of Victory, Al Qaeda's victory, and just maybe they are
beginning to realize what a disastrous strategic defeat
attacking Iraq at this time would be, inspite of Bush's
desperate need to hit back, and to deflect domestic
attention from the loomimg scandals surrounding his
administration. North Korea is a distraction that will
provide cover for a retreat from the previously ill-advised 
unilateral threats against Iraq.

China and Russia are reaping huge economic and political
benefits by remaining on the sidelines as the U.S. squanders
whatever advantages it has by following the ill-advised policies
of the current administration.

STOP THE WARMONGERS!

regards

Don't even get me started about Columbia, Venezuela and Guatemala.