Originally Posted by Wayward Clam
Dude, you're completely diverging from my point. I was trying to enumerate and analyze the results of the TERRORISTS' actions... NOT the Americans' responses. Everything is connected. Bin Laden may be insane, but he isn't stupid, or he could never have arranged a serious threat in the first place.
So he must have had SOME idea of what the fallout to his actions would be.
Therefore, if you list and analyze what the fallout WAS, you can get some idea what his TRUE goals were.
If you know what his TRUE goal is, it is much easier to defeat him.
What does Bin Laden want? To bring down the US government entirely? It's not a realistic goal, unless he has more moves in his strategy that we haven't seen yet.
He has accomplished some other things along those lines though:
-Much more, and much more violent, internal dissension in the United States
-Less democracy, free speech, and civil rights in the United States
-Political wedges driven between the United States and many former strong allies
-Political disruption in Great Britain
-More hatred for America in the Middle East
It's too hard to list all of the repercussions of 9/11 and the American response to it... but just looking at some of them provides interesting information IMNSHO.
Is it possible that the news we see every day was more or less planned by Bin Laden? That he expected the Western world to be divided over war, and to spend half a trillion bucks stomping on Iraq because Al Qaeda couldn't be found?
Is it possible right now that everything is STILL GOING EXACTLY ACCORDING TO PLAN for Osama Bin Laden?