Osama bin Laden is dead

[Enoch Root]

Originally Posted by smc

Bravo to franalexes for stating what should be obvious: "Further, I don't believe Tracy cares either. I think he posted contraversy just to piss somebody off."

You consistently post deliberately provocative and incendiary things, like a troll would do on any Internet site, and then when someone challenges the troll-like behavior you take umbrage. If someone wants to be treated as an adult, one must act that way. In political discourse, seriousness is the hallmark of mature behavior.

You're stealing my thunder smc. I should have been the one to judge Tracy as troll.

[randolph]

For many years after WWII the Soviet Union was presented to us as the ultimate evil. The collapse of the USSR left a gap in our world view that was filled by Bin Laden, a man determined to destroy us and our way of life. Who or what will replace him as the new threat? We will have to wait and see what the neocons come up with next, to keep us scared and easy to manipulate and willing to spend umteen billions on military activities.

[TracyCoxx]

Originally Posted by randolph

For many years after WWII the Soviet Union was presented to us as the ultimate evil. The collapse of the USSR left a gap in our world view that was filled by Bin Laden, a man determined to destroy us and our way of life. Who or what will replace him as the new threat? We will have to wait and see what the neocons come up with next, to keep us scared and easy to manipulate and willing to spend umteen billions on military activities.

I joke about Al Qaeda's latest threat against us, but the fact is as long as there is an Al Qaeda there is a constant threat. Do you really think they're gone?

But the good news is we do not have to take down countries anymore to get them. The rest is a mop-up operation.

But despite them, the biggest threat to the country right now is not military.

[transjen]

Originally Posted by randolph

For many years after WWII the Soviet Union was presented to us as the ultimate evil. The collapse of the USSR left a gap in our world view that was filled by Bin Laden, a man determined to destroy us and our way of life. Who or what will replace him as the new threat? We will have to wait and see what the neocons come up with next, to keep us scared and easy to manipulate and willing to spend umteen billions on military activities.

Well there's still Iran and North Korea and if that doesn't work they'll invent someone

Jerseygirl Jen

[TracyCoxx]

80 Dead in Bin Laden Revenge Attack

Taliban bombers kill at least 80 at a paramilitary training center in Pakistan, claiming the attack is the 'first revenge' for the U.S. raid that killed Usama bin Laden.

To quote Captain Kirk:

Originally Posted by Captain Kirk

You've managed to kill everyone else, but like a poor marksman, you keep missing the target!

[randolph]

Originally Posted by TracyCoxx

80 Dead in Bin Laden Revenge Attack

Taliban bombers kill at least 80 at a paramilitary training center in Pakistan, claiming the attack is the 'first revenge' for the U.S. raid that killed Usama bin Laden.

To quote Captain Kirk:

According to a well informed person in Pakistan, the army could round up all the Taliban in Pakistan in a matter of hours. Why don't they do that? Billions of dollars from the good ol USA.

[TracyCoxx]

Originally Posted by randolph

According to a well informed person in Pakistan, the army could round up all the Taliban in Pakistan in a matter of hours. Why don't they do that? Billions of dollars from the good ol USA.

Odds are that the Pakistani military did know Bin Laden was living right next to their equivalent of West Point and allowed him to live there in secrecy. The military in Pakistan is much more independent than in the US and is more sympathetic to Al Qaeda than the US. Our billions may have gone to the government of Pakistan. But if the government presses too hard on the military to go after Al Qaeda then they will simply sieze control of the country.

The Taliban attacked recruits leaving a paramilitary training center. If Pakistan's military is helping Al Qaeda, then the Taliban is helping the US.

[smc]

Originally Posted by TracyCoxx

Odds are that the Pakistani military did know Bin Laden was living right next to their equivalent of West Point and allowed him to live there in secrecy. The military in Pakistan is much more independent than in the US and is more sympathetic to Al Qaeda than the US. Our billions may have gone to the government of Pakistan. But if the government presses too hard on the military to go after Al Qaeda then they will simply sieze control of the country.

The Taliban attacked recruits leaving a paramilitary training center. If Pakistan's military is helping Al Qaeda, then the Taliban is helping the US.

What I have bolded above may well be the most ridiculous application of the old adage "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" that I have ever read on this site, and there has been some ridiculousness of epic proportions posted here in the past.

The Pakistani military is, by all less-than-facile analyses, is not a monolith. Many of its officers were trained in the West, just like officers in the Egyptian armed forces, and thus often have somewhat dual value systems. The analyses by most of the foreign policy institutes in Washington suggest that the rank-and-file soldiers in the Pakistani military are more likely to have Taliban/Al Qaeda sympathies than officers, although there is nothing absolute about that. Most important is to draw a clear distinction between the Pakistani military and the ISI, the Pakistani intelligence agency. It is with the latter that the bigger problem for U.S. interests lies.