I Hope This Guy is Wrong

[arisbe]

Osama does not view Baghdad as the capital of Iraq. Iraq is one of the false nation states the unbelievers created to sever the sinews and tendons of Islam. Baghdad is the capital of all Islam, the capital of the coming Caliphate. Though Osama was obliged by the Koran to ally himself with the Moslems of a false state, Iraq, against the attack of the Kafirs, it was also the duty of the Osamaites to overthrow Saddam, the secular leader who dared separate religion from government. We did the Osamaites a favor in removing Saddam. We opened a power void the Osamaites and other Jihadists were anxious to fill. Their ultimate goal is clear, simple, and a perfect fit for a rapidly globalizing world. They want to establish Baghdad as the capital of a borderless Islamic empire--a unified, global ummah. -- Howard Bloom, in his Big Bang Tango Media Lab

I have been brooding for some or weeks whether Osama knew that the major effect of 9/11 would be to unleash the long promised American war on Iraq. I had thought that the Likudniks were playing him like a harmonium -- but maybe, just maybe, he was playing them.

Comments

[mad-jamison.livejournal.com]

It's an interesting question. Osama and Saddam have little in common except their hatred of America. Now that the secular head of state has been removed, that's a plus for the Iraqi people, but for reasons not in keeping with U.S. goals and objectives. What I don't understand is why the Shiites are so pissed off at America, and so loyal to Saddam. He wasn't really a devout Shiite was he?

As for Osama's motives? I don't think he knew how America would react. Hell, I don't think America knew how the Bush Administration would react. I think Osama just wanted to stick it to the infidels.

[nandan.livejournal.com]

Who did you think the Likudniks were playing like a harmonium...Osama?

[arisbe.livejournal.com]

Yes. On the assumption that 9/11 did unbelievable harm to the causes he espoused. Or pretended to espouse.

[winegodeatsyou.livejournal.com]

I think he did. Note, Al-Qeida targets have stopped being symbolic and started being practical in the past year. Also, I have heard it said by other people besides Bloom (who I respect for his intellectual honesty, if his theories are sometimes a little off) that the reprisal was designed to enable a recruitment tactic that would push things far beyond what was seen.

Actually, I have thought this since about a week after 9/11. But most people have simply called me paranoid.

What the Islamist want is to allow a mixture of Hatred of Israel and fear of the American Hedgemony to allow them to create a New Ottoman Empire. Which is the only reason why people like Mussaraff are letting us play them, their power base will leveled by a new--Wahhabbi style--Caliphate.

Osama hatred of the US is not simple as a Jyhadist vs. McWorld paradigm--it's calculating. It's deliberate. It will outlive him and the Bush presidency.

We Americans are neither cruel enough nor benevolent enough to truly alter it if it is indeed working.

If we continue to push for a withdrawl from attack by July, I think we'll see that country fall like a stick man.

And all the while, Korea and China are breathing down our necks. If Richard Clarke was right about anything, this is one big distraction.

[rabblebabblelog.livejournal.com]

I have two opinions to share:

1) I'm sure Osama had no idea America would react the way we did. After all, all through the 1990's we did pretty much nothing about him, in spite of repeated attacks and repeated opportunities to nail him. He had no reason to believe we would actually do something this time.

2) I'm also sure that 9/11 was done for motives other than simply to attack America. If they truly wanted to do us in, they would simply pluck us off, one by one. After all, there are thousands of unsolved murders in this country. It's not like they would really have to worry about being caught. And if they did, they would simply be another martyr. Or there are other more effective and anonymous ways to do away with large numbers of us...many of which our wonderful Fourth Estate have detailed for those who didn't already know what our vulnerabilities are. No, I'm convinced that 9/11 was purposely very public and very spectacular in order to recruit new members.

[winegodeatsyou.livejournal.com]

I suppose I need to clarify, I think they knew we would react militarily, but I agree, they were probably just as shocked about Iraq as the rest world was. But it played DIRECTLY into their hands. Destabilization is part of our policy in the mid-East for the purposes of democracy, but it is also EXACTLY what Osama wants because it allows the Islamist to create their new caliphate.