Tom you wrote The fundamental argument of this book is that since terrorists are inconsequential in real terms and operationally inept, they should not receive the level of attention or funding that they currently enjoy. So bin Laden (I know the audio has been verified not sure about the video part) released his own video tape and his news coverage surpasses that of some of the most powerful leaders of the world ! The video was released in the middle of the Asian Pacific Economic Cooperation(APEC) meeting in Sydney where President Bush has met with President Hu Jintao of China, Prime Minister John Howard of Australia John, President Roh Moo-hyun of South Korea, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan, President Arroyo of Manilla, etc. President Bush has also met informally with all 21 leaders of APEC. Yet, our media led not with what was discussed by China's President Hu Jintao and President Bush but with the Bin Laden tape. Granted the afore mentioned leaders did not release a tape of their conversations but still the 9:00 PM cable news shows commenced with 15 minutes on Osama bin Laden and the release of his tape. Larry King assembled a panel of "experts" on bin Laden, one of which noted bin Laden has said that 90% of this war will be fought in the media! In contrast I didn't see any panels of China "experts" discussing what transpired, or was discussed at the APEC meeting. Is there any doubt in anyone's mind how much more powerful China is then Bin Laden? We know the majority of our TV news shows focus on the sensational and not substance but I can see how the terrorists use this to their advantage.
Also I read the beginning of Bin Laden's transcript, this part stood out for me, bin Laden says...
to preface, I say: despite America being the greatest economic power and possessing the most powerful and up-to date- military arsenal as well; and despite it spending on this war and is army more than the entire world spends on its armies; and despite it being the major state influencing the policies of the world, as if it has a monopoly on the unjust right of veto; despite all of this , 19 you men were able- by the grace of Allah , the Most High “to change the direction of its compass, and in fact , the subject of the Mujahideen has become an inseparable part of the speech of your leader, and the effects and signs of that are not hidden.
Since the 11th, many of Americas policies have come under the influence of the Mujahideen.
When I read that part I was immediately reminded of the advice you offered in one of your YouTube videos., and how accurate your advice was! Tom, you said... Terrorism is an effects based operation, they simply can't defeat us militarily they are trying to effect the way we use our force, our political willpower and You are enabling them to continue meeting their organizational immperatives, And They still have to recruit and fund their organization and in order to do those two things they need to be able to show successes¦ those recruiters can go back to their money people and say look, when you bomb the Cole and the US Navy never goes into Yemen again those guys are sitting there going look if we would have had 2 more guys , two more of your sons we could have gotten them entirely out the region .. you have to stop at every turn feeding them those successes ¦ In FOR THE COURAGE OF THE FOUNDERS you talk about our relationship with the terrorist. You wrote An interesting question is would the attacks of 9/11 have occurred if we had developed a different relationship with terrorists ? What if the attacks on U. S. interests increased the presence of those interests? What if there was a casino on the pier in Yemen?I laughed out loud at the thought of a casino on the pier in Yemen ... it was one of my favorites :) What an EXCELLENT question and a persuasive point!!
I know I read Osama bin Laden's transcript differently as a result of having read FOR THE COURAGE OF THE FOUNDERS and hearing your advice on your YouTube video. I had a different insight..thanks Tom! Any thoughts on the bin laden tape other then we are giving it too much attention ?
Tom replies: Apparently there is a grass roots effort to turn 9-11 into a "good will" or"kindness" day. I think that that is an excellent idea---imagine, the result of the a terror attack being that people go out of their way to help each other!!
As to Bin Laden, it appears that people, including the intel community, is coming around to the view point that he is "Virtually impotent", which of course has been my thought all along. Howevere, now I think that more importantly he is actually impotent. There is a problem in that he did commit a crime for which we can never stop hunting him, but that aside, there really is no reason to give him a second thought. Incidentally, I think it was a huge mistake by President Bush to promise to catch him--if only that it made one victory for Bin Laden to easy to achieve.
All that said I do think that Bin Laden has good writers---he presents circular logic in a very subtle way---"you pay attention to us, thus we matter to you--since we matter to you you must pay attention to us". Unfortunately his main point seems to be correct---he was able to change the way we think, the question is, can he/they continue to do so?
Also I read the beginning of Bin Laden's transcript, this part stood out for me, bin Laden says...
to preface, I say: despite America being the greatest economic power and possessing the most powerful and up-to date- military arsenal as well; and despite it spending on this war and is army more than the entire world spends on its armies; and despite it being the major state influencing the policies of the world, as if it has a monopoly on the unjust right of veto; despite all of this , 19 you men were able- by the grace of Allah , the Most High “to change the direction of its compass, and in fact , the subject of the Mujahideen has become an inseparable part of the speech of your leader, and the effects and signs of that are not hidden.
Since the 11th, many of Americas policies have come under the influence of the Mujahideen.
When I read that part I was immediately reminded of the advice you offered in one of your YouTube videos., and how accurate your advice was! Tom, you said... Terrorism is an effects based operation, they simply can't defeat us militarily they are trying to effect the way we use our force, our political willpower and You are enabling them to continue meeting their organizational immperatives, And They still have to recruit and fund their organization and in order to do those two things they need to be able to show successes¦ those recruiters can go back to their money people and say look, when you bomb the Cole and the US Navy never goes into Yemen again those guys are sitting there going look if we would have had 2 more guys , two more of your sons we could have gotten them entirely out the region .. you have to stop at every turn feeding them those successes ¦ In FOR THE COURAGE OF THE FOUNDERS you talk about our relationship with the terrorist. You wrote An interesting question is would the attacks of 9/11 have occurred if we had developed a different relationship with terrorists ? What if the attacks on U. S. interests increased the presence of those interests? What if there was a casino on the pier in Yemen?I laughed out loud at the thought of a casino on the pier in Yemen ... it was one of my favorites :) What an EXCELLENT question and a persuasive point!!
I know I read Osama bin Laden's transcript differently as a result of having read FOR THE COURAGE OF THE FOUNDERS and hearing your advice on your YouTube video. I had a different insight..thanks Tom! Any thoughts on the bin laden tape other then we are giving it too much attention ?
Tom replies: Apparently there is a grass roots effort to turn 9-11 into a "good will" or"kindness" day. I think that that is an excellent idea---imagine, the result of the a terror attack being that people go out of their way to help each other!!
As to Bin Laden, it appears that people, including the intel community, is coming around to the view point that he is "Virtually impotent", which of course has been my thought all along. Howevere, now I think that more importantly he is actually impotent. There is a problem in that he did commit a crime for which we can never stop hunting him, but that aside, there really is no reason to give him a second thought. Incidentally, I think it was a huge mistake by President Bush to promise to catch him--if only that it made one victory for Bin Laden to easy to achieve.
All that said I do think that Bin Laden has good writers---he presents circular logic in a very subtle way---"you pay attention to us, thus we matter to you--since we matter to you you must pay attention to us". Unfortunately his main point seems to be correct---he was able to change the way we think, the question is, can he/they continue to do so?
posted by Tom at 9:19 AM
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