Eight Years After 9/11: Why Osama bin Laden Failed

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He may have eluded justice and the long reach of the world's most powerful military force; his followers may (and probably will) strike again at some point in the future, near or distant; but history's verdict on Osama bin Laden has been in for some time now: al-Qaeda failed.

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Terrorism departs from the rules of war by deliberately targeting the innocent, but it shares the basic motivational force of conventional warfare " "the pursuit of politics by other means," as Clausewitz wrote.

The purpose of the 9/11 attacks was not simply to kill Americans. Rather, the attacks formed part of bin Laden's strategy to launch a global Islamist revolution aimed at ending U.S. influence in Muslim countries, overthrowing regimes there allied with Washington and putting al-Qaeda at the head of a global Islamist insurgency whose objective was to restore the caliphate that had once ruled territory stretching from Moorish Spain through much of Asia.

Today, however, al-Qaeda is believed to comprise a couple of hundred desperate men, their core leaders hiding out in Pakistan's tribal wilds and under constant threat of attack by ever present U.S. drone aircraft, their place in Western nightmares and security determinations long since eclipsed by such longtime rivals as Iran, Hizballah, Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood.

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Sure, al-Qaeda continues to issue vituperative missives by video from its hideouts, many of them directed at the likes of Iran and Hamas. But Hamas spokesman Osama Hamdan seemed to sum up al-Qaeda's plight two years ago, when responding to a particularly rabid attack from bin Laden's No. 2. Ayman al-Zawahiri had accused Hamas of "joining the surrender train" by participating in elections and agreeing to form a unity government with Fatah. Hamas, sneered Hamdan in response, had no need of advice from a "fugitive in the Afghan mountains" and did not accept criticism from "those who do not know what is going on."

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Type: Discussion • Score: 6 • Views: 3,363 • Replies: 14

Yup . . . it is also worth noting that almost every attack or terrorist incident which is now perpetrated by someone calling themselves al Qaeda is actually being done by "independents" who hope to wrap themselves in a mantle of revolutionary legitimacy by taking the name al Qaeda. Western intelligence services, who very quickly tracked down and shut down al Qaeda's money trail, have never found any credible link between the 7/7 bombers in London, the Madrid train bombers, the "Toronto 18," the African kidnappers who call themselves al Qaeda, the Indonesian terrorist behind the Bali bombing and the actual leadershp of al Qaeda. I'd say that the military operations in Afghanistan and the "follow the money" operations by European security agencies represent one of the most thorough and effective responses to a major terrorist threat in history.

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@Setanta,

Given any circumstance, AMericans will find some excuse to turn the circumstance into another reason for a gathering with food.
HAd we been hit with the Black Plague, wed have a holiday sale and school kids reading from Grayes Anatomy and more backyard barbecues serving rib bones.

bin LAden can only win by turning us to despair. We aint good at despair.

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Hopefully we can learn to stop creating these monsters.

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I believe that bin Laden's goal was to draw the US into a long, costly, bloody
engagement in Afghanistan where the US would meet the same ignoble fate as
the USSR.

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At the end of the day, who is hiding in a cave?

EDIT: At the beginning, and the middle of the day, who is hiding in a cave?

T
K
O

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@Diest TKO,

He was in a cave at Tora Bora.
I seriously doubt he's in a cave now.

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@George,

I guess the point is that all things sow the seeds of their own destruction, and AQ is no different. Terrorist leaders like OBL will until their last day live in hiding, the only victory they can have is eluding capture from a foe that lives openly and freely.

T
K
O

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@Diest TKO,

AQ will consider it a victory to have involved the US and GB in high costs which are economically useless and thus draining and ongoing.

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@George,

George wrote:

He was in a cave at Tora Bora.
I seriously doubt he's in a cave now.

I seriously doubt that he's still alive. We bombed the **** out of the caves at Tora Bora. Bin Laden has become like that image in Orwell's 1984, a face flashed on a large screen at regular intervals so the citizens have someone concrete to hate. I do not believe that binLaden actually exists any more.

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@Merry Andrew,

It is quite a distance to go from "I seriously doubt" to "I do not believe" in 3 lines MA.

The Times of London in the days when it had authority in the land used to take 40 lines at least to perform such a feat.

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"Today, however, al-Qaeda is believed to comprise a couple of hundred desperate men..."

That seems like a ridiculously low estimate. Can that be right?

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So in 2009, people were still largely ignorant of the fact that OBL was not involved in 9-11.

Amazing, absolutely phooking amazing!

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On June 5, 2006, the Muckraker Report contacted the FBI Headquarters, (202) 324-3000, to learn why Bin Laden’s Most Wanted poster did not indicate that Usama was also wanted in connection with 9/11. The Muckraker Report spoke with Rex Tomb, Chief of Investigative Publicity for the FBI. When asked why there is no mention of 9/11 on Bin Laden’s Most Wanted web page, Tomb said, “The reason why 9/11 is not mentioned on Usama Bin Laden’s Most Wanted page is because the FBI has no hard evidence connecting Bin Laden to 9/11.”

Surprised by the ease in which this FBI spokesman made such an astonishing statement, I asked, “How this was possible?” Tomb continued, “Bin Laden has not been formally charged in connection to 9/11.” I asked, “How does that work?” Tomb continued, “The FBI gathers evidence. Once evidence is gathered, it is turned over to the Department of Justice. The Department of Justice than decides whether it has enough evidence to present to a federal grand jury. In the case of the 1998 United States Embassies being bombed, Bin Laden has been formally indicted and charged by a grand jury. He has not been formally indicted and charged in connection with 9/11 because the FBI has no hard evidence connected Bin Laden to 9/11.”

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article13664.htm

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@edgarblythe,

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Hopefully we can learn to stop creating these monsters.

US monsters can only create monsters, Edgar. Just look at all the vicious, right wing dictatorships the US has set up and maintained.

When is the US, when are you going to apologize for falsely accusing people who had nothing to do with the events of 9/11?

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@Robert Gentel,

OBL didn't fail. He is living large somewhere funded by the US government.

The science that has been put together by thousands of science professionals around the world has proven conclusively that the USGOCT is a total lie, beginning to end.

There were no Arab hijackers, [they can't melt/vaporized WTC structural steel - this seems to escape so many of you, why?], which means that OBL had absolutely nothing to do with the US government planned and carried out attack on WTC, Pentagon, ... .

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Eight Years After 9/11: Why Osama bin Laden Failed

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