How To Fight Al Qaeda Now

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  • Posted By: FATJOEY @ 10/28/2008 4:03:13 PM

    HUGS! HUGS ARE THE ANSWER! MUSLIMS JUST WANT A HUG!!!

  • Posted By: hewey truax @ 10/28/2008 11:58:45 AM

    To "FAT JOEY" stop eating, my friendm and start reading! Start with Riedel's book where he asserts that Iran had as much to do with the "success" of the surge as the surge itself. Do you really think the old school unilateralism of W & Cheney and the rest of the neo-con-knucleheads will do anything to change the landscape? Do you even know where our long-standing alliance with the Saudi royal family comes from? Do you have any idea who OBL really is? And why he is who he is? The sooner we promote peace the sooner we get allies in the War on Terror the sooner the War comes to a close. Grow up and get informed by something or someone other than the Republican Party.

    • Posted By: Nins @ 10/28/2008 2:47:20 PM

      Bravo, Huey Truax, for telling it like it is. Alas, many of the readers here don;t understand the long view of how a century of foreign policy mistakes have led us to where we are today in our relationship with the Muslim world.

      Personally, I prefer Obama's solution: Diplomacy, war when necessary, and build a new energy infrastructure to free us from our dependence on foreign oil. If we didn't need their oil, would they have us by the short hairs?

      • Posted By: FATJOEY @ 10/28/2008 4:02:20 PM

        yeah,diplomacy is really working WELL with IRAN?...

    • Posted By: FATJOEY @ 10/28/2008 12:30:15 PM

      You liberal ,naive fool,go back to burying your head in diplomacy....you probably even think the U.N. is relevant huh? ahahahahahahahah!

  • Posted By: Vote Now @ 10/28/2008 3:46:46 PM

    People on these bogs are fond of saying that the current economic meltdown was caused by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac underwriting bad mortgages. While Fannie and Freddie obviously are guilty of writing bad mortgages, and worse, guilty of lobbying Congress to allow them to do so with impunity, their actions are just a small piece of the puzzle when it comes to determining who (or what) caused the financial crisis we face today.

    In 1929 the stock market crash caused the banks to fail, because the banks were in bed with the stock market. Back then, banks owned investment houses, so when the stock market fell, the banks fell too. This triggered the Great Depression. So in 1933 the Congress wrote laws that regulated banking, making it illegal for banks to own investment companies, mortgage guaranty companies or insurance companies. The idea was to keep key industries separated by a fire wall, so that if one industry failed the whole economy would not go down in flames.

    But the Republicans under Bush deregulated the banking industry. Senator Phil Gramm wrote legislation (the Gramm Rudman Act, the Gramm Leach Biley Act, etc.) that stripped away the regulations in the financial and insurance industies. He pushed them through the Republican Congress and they were signed into law by Geo. W. Bush. John McCain voted in favor. Everybody said how great it is to deregulate and create free markets.

    Lehman Brothers, Bear Stearns and Merrill Lynch each gave over a million dollars to Senator Gramm's re-election campaign.

    The economic collapse that happened later was a direct result of the deregulation, and here's how: the banks wrote bad mortgages, then bundled the mortgages into investment vehicles that they sold all over the world, and they even got firms like AIG to insure the investments. It was all a house of cards.

    If there had been no deregulation, sure we would have had a bunch of bad mortgages, and the mortgage guaranty and real estate industries would have suffered, but there would not have been a global financial meltdown, since the problem would have been contained in one sector of the economy. You can thank Geo W. Bush, Sen. Phil Gramm and Sen John McCain for the meltdown, since they were strong proponents of deregulation.

    Furthermore, although Fannie and Freddie are now holding the bulk of these bad mortgages, Fannie and Freddie did not originally write most of these mortgages. They bought them after the fact, bundled by banks/investment companies. Fannie and Freddie got screwed by the Wall Street fat cats. And so did you, if you pay taxes.

    What is Phil Gramm doing today? He works as a lobbyist in Washington, trying to make it legal for the Swiss bank he represents to sell Death Bonds in the United States. Nice guy, Phil Gramm. Incidentally, John McCain has said that he wants to appoint Phil Gramm as Treasury Secretary. Some people just can't learn from their mistakes.

  • Posted By: Vote Now @ 10/28/2008 3:46:34 PM

    People on these bogs are fond of saying that the current economic meltdown was caused by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac underwriting bad mortgages. While Fannie and Freddie obviously are guilty of writing bad mortgages, and worse, guilty of lobbying Congress to allow them to do so with impunity, their actions are just a small piece of the puzzle when it comes to determining who (or what) caused the financial crisis we face today.

    In 1929 the stock market crash caused the banks to fail, because the banks were in bed with the stock market. Back then, banks owned investment houses, so when the stock market fell, the banks fell too. This triggered the Great Depression. So in 1933 the Congress wrote laws that regulated banking, making it illegal for banks to own investment companies, mortgage guaranty companies or insurance companies. The idea was to keep key industries separated by a fire wall, so that if one industry failed the whole economy would not go down in flames.

    But the Republicans under Bush deregulated the banking industry. Senator Phil Gramm wrote legislation (the Gramm Rudman Act, the Gramm Leach Biley Act, etc.) that stripped away the regulations in the financial and insurance industies. He pushed them through the Republican Congress and they were signed into law by Geo. W. Bush. John McCain voted in favor. Everybody said how great it is to deregulate and create free markets.

    Lehman Brothers, Bear Stearns and Merrill Lynch each gave over a million dollars to Senator Gramm's re-election campaign.

    The economic collapse that happened later was a direct result of the deregulation, and here's how: the banks wrote bad mortgages, then bundled the mortgages into investment vehicles that they sold all over the world, and they even got firms like AIG to insure the investments. It was all a house of cards.

    If there had been no deregulation, sure we would have had a bunch of bad mortgages, and the mortgage guaranty and real estate industries would have suffered, but there would not have been a global financial meltdown, since the problem would have been contained in one sector of the economy. You can thank Geo W. Bush, Sen. Phil Gramm and Sen John McCain for the meltdown, since they were strong proponents of deregulation.

    Furthermore, although Fannie and Freddie are now holding the bulk of these bad mortgages, Fannie and Freddie did not originally write most of these mortgages. They bought them after the fact, bundled by banks/investment companies. Fannie and Freddie got screwed by the Wall Street fat cats. And so did you, if you pay taxes.

    What is Phil Gramm doing today? He works as a lobbyist in Washington, trying to make it legal for the Swiss bank he represents to sell Death Bonds in the United States. Nice guy, Phil Gramm. Incidentally, John McCain has said that he wants to appoint Phil Gramm as Treasury Secretary. Some people just can't learn from their mistakes.

  • Posted By: Vote Now @ 10/28/2008 3:25:41 PM

    People on these bogs are fond of saying that the current economic meltdown was caused by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac underwriting bad mortgages. While Fannie and Freddie obviously are guilty of writing bad mortgages, and worse, guilty of lobbying Congress to allow them to do so with impunity, their actions are just a small piece of the puzzle when it comes to determining who (or what) caused the financial crisis we face today.

    In 1929 the stock market crash caused the banks to fail, because the banks were in bed with the stock market. Back then, banks owned investment houses, so when the stock market fell, the banks fell too. This triggered the Great Depression. So in 1933 the Congress wrote laws that regulated banking, making it illegal for banks to own investment companies, mortgage guaranty companies or insurance companies. The idea was to keep key industries separated by a fire wall, so that if one industry failed the whole economy would not go down in flames.

    But the Republicans under Bush deregulated the banking industry. Senator Phil Gramm wrote legislation (the Gramm Rudman Act, the Gramm Leach Biley Act, etc.) that stripped away the regulations in the financial and insurance industies. He pushed them through the Republican Congress and they were signed into law by Geo. W. Bush. John McCain voted in favor. Everybody said how great it is to deregulate and create free markets.

    Lehman Brothers, Bear Stearns and Merrill Lynch each gave over a million dollars to Senator Gramm's re-election campaign.

    The economic collapse that happened later was a direct result of the deregulation, and here's how: the banks wrote bad mortgages, then bundled the mortgages into investment vehicles that they sold all over the world, and they even got firms like AIG to insure the investments. It was all a house of cards.

    If there had been no deregulation, sure we would have had a bunch of bad mortgages, and the mortgage guaranty and real estate industries would have suffered, but there would not have been a global financial meltdown, since the problem would have been contained in one sector of the economy. You can thank Geo W. Bush, Sen. Phil Gramm and Sen John McCain for the meltdown, since they were strong proponents of deregulation.

    Furthermore, although Fannie and Freddie are now holding the bulk of these bad mortgages, Fannie and Freddie did not originally write most of these mortgages. They bought them after the fact, bundled by banks/investment companies. Fannie and Freddie got screwed by the Wall Street fat cats. And so did you, if you pay taxes.

    What is Phil Gramm doing today? He works as a lobbyist in Washington, trying to make it legal for the Swiss bank he represents to sell Death Bonds in the United States. Nice guy, Phil Gramm. Incidentally, John McCain has said that he wants to appoint Phil Gramm as Treasury Secretary. Some people just can't learn from their mistakes.

  • Posted By: Vote Now @ 10/28/2008 3:25:21 PM

    People on these bogs are fond of saying that the current economic meltdown was caused by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac underwriting bad mortgages. While Fannie and Freddie obviously are guilty of writing bad mortgages, and worse, guilty of lobbying Congress to allow them to do so with impunity, their actions are just a small piece of the puzzle when it comes to determining who (or what) caused the financial crisis we face today.

    In 1929 the stock market crash caused the banks to fail, because the banks were in bed with the stock market. Back then, banks owned investment houses, so when the stock market fell, the banks fell too. This triggered the Great Depression. So in 1933 the Congress wrote laws that regulated banking, making it illegal for banks to own investment companies, mortgage guaranty companies or insurance companies. The idea was to keep key industries separated by a fire wall, so that if one industry failed the whole economy would not go down in flames.

    But the Republicans under Bush deregulated the banking industry. Senator Phil Gramm wrote legislation (the Gramm Rudman Act, the Gramm Leach Biley Act, etc.) that stripped away the regulations in the financial and insurance industies. He pushed them through the Republican Congress and they were signed into law by Geo. W. Bush. John McCain voted in favor. Everybody said how great it is to deregulate and create free markets.

    Lehman Brothers, Bear Stearns and Merrill Lynch each gave over a million dollars to Senator Gramm's re-election campaign.

    The economic collapse that happened later was a direct result of the deregulation, and here's how: the banks wrote bad mortgages, then bundled the mortgages into investment vehicles that they sold all over the world, and they even got firms like AIG to insure the investments. It was all a house of cards.

    If there had been no deregulation, sure we would have had a bunch of bad mortgages, and the mortgage guaranty and real estate industries would have suffered, but there would not have been a global financial meltdown, since the problem would have been contained in one sector of the economy. You can thank Geo W. Bush, Sen. Phil Gramm and Sen John McCain for the meltdown, since they were strong proponents of deregulation.

    Furthermore, although Fannie and Freddie are now holding the bulk of these bad mortgages, Fannie and Freddie did not originally write most of these mortgages. They bought them after the fact, bundled by banks/investment companies. Fannie and Freddie got screwed by the Wall Street fat cats. And so did you, if you pay taxes.

    What is Phil Gramm doing today? He works as a lobbyist in Washington, trying to make it legal for the Swiss bank he represents to sell Death Bonds in the United States. Nice guy, Phil Gramm. Incidentally, John McCain has said that he wants to appoint Phil Gramm as Treasury Secretary. Some people just can't learn from their mistakes.

  • Posted By: TheVigil @ 10/28/2008 3:01:49 PM

    This article and this analyst are utterly brilliant. I haven't seen a better analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of Al-Qaeda - as well as an *admission* that our overly militaristic policies are failing and that we're playing right into the role that bin Laden wanted.

    bin Laden is going to be ranked up there with the major villains of history, I believe, and most of us either underestimated or misjudged the threat. The right misjudged the threat as being pan-Islamic due to a lack of cultural understanding of the broader foreign landscape - the left underestimated the threat to the country *from* the right-wing misjudgement of that threat. The right's been fighting many of the wrong people for eight years, while the left has failed to appreciate the depth of the right-wing hatred of Islam.

    Overall, no matter what anyone may think of bin Laden, we cannot afford to underestimate his intelligence any longer, or proceed against the threat with either indifference *or* overconfidence.

    We need to realize that this conflict does not come down along international lines, but across tribal ones. The U.S.' sphere of influence is exceptional in the international sphere but far more limited - currently - in the *extranational* sphere of organizations working outside of established national boundaries. We are limited in our organizational structure.

    Why isn't there an *international* effort to create a global antiterrorist agency or agencies that have the authority to work across national bounds? Something like INTERPOL? It would benefit both the attacked nations in the West and the underdeveloped areas in Central Asia and the Middle East whose lack of development helps hide the organizations.

  • Posted By: Nins @ 10/28/2008 2:44:07 PM

    Here's a video in which Obama discusses fiscal responsibility. Anyone who cares about the economy should see it.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5d4a6RNhCUo

    On this web page, you can calculate the amount of your TAX RELIEF under Obama's plan (This tax calculator is for personal income, not for businesses. Remember that if you itemize, your tax cut will be higher than what the calculator shows. However, Obama's new 1040EZ allows people to get credit for some itemizations without having to fill out the long form and schedules.)

    http://taxcut.barackobama.com/

    You can get even more information on Obama's economic policies from the Blueprint for Change.

    http://www.barackobama.com/issues/

  • Posted By: FATJOEY @ 10/28/2008 10:09:51 AM

    DON'T WORRY...OBAMA PLANS TO "REASON" WITH THE MUSLIMS ....HELLO?....WAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

  • Posted By: FATJOEY @ 10/28/2008 10:08:33 AM

    SAUDI ARABIA IS THE TRUE PROBLEM YET BECAUSE OF OIL WE PRETEND IT ISN'T? IT'S THE WAHABI'S!!! ........AGAIN?,HOW MANY OF THE 911 ATTACKERS WERE SAUDI ARABIAN?

  • Posted By: Tunji @ 10/28/2008 9:34:02 AM

    Perhaps W should invite OBL to the summit next month, seeing as how OBL's so prescient.

  • Posted By: doktor @ 10/28/2008 9:24:59 AM

    The myth of "al Qaida" is built on an expansive foundation of many half-truths and hidden facts.

    http://www.rense.com/general80/unrav.htm

  • Posted By: RO in Reno @ 10/28/2008 4:00:01 AM

    Interesting Mr. Riedel sees education and the basics of modern society as the tools for dealing with Al Qaeda, Clearly the kind of guy who needs to be paid attention too.
    It is a shame Bush/Cheney/McCain had to drag this country into the war in Iraq and in all reality fail at both the war in Iraq and the war on Al Qaeda in Afghanistan leaving it for the next President.
    Hopefully we see the kind of approach Mr. Reidel suggests very soon.

  • Posted By: Shyam @ 10/27/2008 12:48:48 PM

    We fought Al qaida the most effective way. If we did not fight them they way we did, they will be all over. We defeated them fairly and squarely in Iraq and forced them to retreat in mountain caves in Pakistan. It will take some more time to destroy them that took decades to build under the watch or President Bill Clinton. They tested Clinton in So

    I do not believe we could have been more effective by taling Gandhian Strategymalia and his retreat with humiliation was a signal to Al qaida which told them that USA could be beaten to submission. Gandhian strategy of non-cooperation and submission will work with Al qaida who gauge out eyes of their own countrymen for a simple violation or kill their daughter for a simple perceived violation.

    • Posted By: bobhonea @ 10/27/2008 3:35:47 PM

      Military defeat is meaningless unless it is so ruthless that none dare rise up again. The indoctrination pervasive within Al Queda is too resistant for even this technique, and Western Democracies have no stomache, and, thankfully, more scruples than to engage in a schorched-earth, "kill them all and let Allah sort them out" slaughter. The solution to all problems is Love and Respect, and beyond that Integrity. No matter how benevolent and earnest the Western Approach to the Islamic Cultural Sphere is, it will not garner any responsive cooperation from the Islamic Moderates unless we are behaving with Integrity in all our actions. If we don't show overall integrity, they will rightly assume that we are bargaining for their blood and cooperation, and not really strong or committed or respectful enough to make common cause with them.

      • Posted By: spuddude @ 10/27/2008 7:10:11 PM

        Read the Koran. Islam is not satisfied until everyone is Muslin or dead, and maybe not even in that order. The only peace in Islam comes when the whole world has been conquered for Allah. That is a Muslim's duty. Read the books that fuel Al Qaeda. No amount of infidel 'integrity' will impress them. Only your death will. Remember the captured alien's response to the president in the motion picture "Independence Day"? The President asked, "What do you want us to do?" The response was that same as the Islamic response to infidels today: "Die." That is all we can do to satisfy them. Read John Adams' assessment of Islam. It's about 200 years old, but it's the same thing we're experiencing today. We've been lulled to sleep by our own apathy and 'enlightenment.' We're going to get what we deserve.

        • Posted By: donknudson @ 10/27/2008 10:26:18 PM

          Read the Christian Bible. Christians will not be satisfied until everyone is Christian or destroyed by God's vengence. Every religion that believes it's world view of universal wants to impose its views on others. We go to war believing we can impose "democracy"on others. That is our part of the cycle of violence that underlies competing cultures.

          • Posted By: OldPhart @ 10/28/2008 2:28:22 AM

            I'm quite content to allow you to be damned as a whatever you profess to be without requiring your immediate death.

      • Posted By: spuddude @ 10/27/2008 7:12:40 PM

        Islamic Moderates are jackals lying in wait. There is no moderation in Islam, or it ceases to be Islam, and becomes just another hollowed-out, ineffective religion, much like Christianity in America.

        • Posted By: OldPhart @ 10/28/2008 2:24:06 AM

          http://www.prophetofdoom.net/chapter.aspx?g=401&i=41003

  • Posted By: Shyam @ 10/27/2008 4:37:49 PM

    No one extolling the virtues of killing or invading other countries. In the history human civilization, the survival of a society did not depend on the quality of the civilization but it always depends on the military strength and ability to defend the society. United States is one of the richest and powerful countries in the world. Large number of countries want to see this country weakened militarily and financially and it is natural. US must defends itself militarily.

    Al qaida and Muslims in general consider US as an infidel country and the prime enemy. Al qaida and Muslims all over rthe world dream to bring to unite the world under Islam and US is one of the biggest obstacle.

    • Posted By: OldPhart @ 10/28/2008 2:10:13 AM

      Bush acquired the powers you cite from a blanket resolution approved unaniomously by congress (I was even in the gallery when it was voted on).

      I agree that the Iraq war was entered into with falsty (but not false) intelligency and would have personally preferred the concentration to have remained on the true enemy, Al Quada, Alas, that war was also approved by Congress.

      The financial meltdown was the direct result of congressional democrats in their efforts to socialize the finanicial sector with the Community Redevelopment Act passed as far back as 1977 (or thereabouts, under Jimmy Carter). Under Clinton there was the push to eliminate what was termed "red-lining" by banks when loans were submitted by those with less than ideal credit. The policies essentially forced lenders to make loans that were guaranteed to fail.

      To counter this pressure, bankers pushed the risk out to the market via Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac,, government entitites that subscribed the the democrat socialist policies, and provided direct funds to the democrats.

      Why this isn't the biggest headline in all the news is a complete mystery because, of course, the media isn't biased and any decent, respectable reporter would be digging into it with all the indignant fury displayed during the Watergate scandal.

      You and your ilk are ignorant and take some strange pride in not knowing what you don't know. It's too bad conservatives can't make the stupid listen to REAL facts.

      • Posted By: OldPhart @ 10/28/2008 2:17:06 AM

        Somehow I replied to the wrong comment, this reply is meant for Rube.

    • Posted By: theonetruedoug @ 10/27/2008 4:48:05 PM

      Please refer to reason #1

  • Posted By: deafdogsdontbark @ 10/27/2008 11:03:04 PM

    Another reason NOT to trust CIA ........... full of half truths!! .... go back to work and gives us better intel

  • Posted By: haynessemperfi @ 10/27/2008 10:53:02 PM

    C-SPAN THIRD PARTY DEBATE

    http://www.c-spanarchives.org/library/includes/templates/library/flash_popup.php?pID=281952-1&clipStart=&clipStop=

    C-SPAN THIRD PARTY VP DEBATED NOVEMBER 2

  • Posted By: Thevail @ 10/27/2008 12:31:32 PM

    I am so glad to finally hear a main stream media outlet say this. It has been pretty obvious for a while now.

    Al Quaeda attacked this country brutally on 9-11, and they also dropped the bridge in Minnesota, they are destroying the Alaskan Way viaduct in Seattle Washington as we speak.

    If all of America's money goes into bombs and bullets...we have nothing left to fix roads, bridges, dams, the education system, the healthcare system, etc. etc.

    Al Quaeda has found a way to "bomb" our education system,thus stunting the educational system in America....driving most of an entire generation into poverty FOR LIFE. At the same time Al Quaeda has managed to raise the deficit (seriously..war spending) so that that same future generation with its decreased earning power (relative to the global market) will be landed with almost unbearable tax burdens.

    You think we've got it bad...Al Quaeda has tricked America into "bombing" its own future.

    It is unfortunate that America has had to face a very clever enemy under the leadership of a very stupid President.

    • Posted By: Vypurr @ 10/27/2008 9:38:03 PM

      Well, I guess we could do it your way and live with a 9/11 every six months or so!

      Problem solved!

    • Posted By: spuddude @ 10/27/2008 7:14:35 PM

      So what's your solution? Or do you just exhale like so many others?

    • Posted By: TheVigil @ 10/27/2008 1:56:39 PM

      yessir

    • Posted By: Redburn @ 10/27/2008 1:18:59 PM

      Right on target Thevail

  • Posted By: tentrillion @ 10/27/2008 9:35:35 PM

    Shyam--- Have you considered going out back and playing with your dinosaur's I hear they are vegetarians.

  • Posted By: Nins @ 10/27/2008 9:21:47 PM

    Obama has 63 Nobel Laureates working on his policy team. They are developing a plan to push America back to the top. Who is responsible for McCain's planning? Americans would be shocked to find that Douglas Holtz-Eakin is the sole person responsible for planning McCain's policy for America's future. Holtz-Eakin is also McCain's economic advisor, filling two full time positions on McCain's team. How can one single man (an economist) be responsible for developing a viable technology plan for our future? Obama has an enormous pool of the most intelligent, talented men and women in America working for him. Soon, they will be working for US.

    And let's not forget that the McCain campaign spent more on Palin's makeup artist than it did on it's foreign policy advisor. When you pay your makeup artist DOUBLE what you pay your foreign policy advisor, it is time to start examining your priorities.

    You look just fine without makeup, John. And Sarah is young enough not to need any. So cut the crap, and start paying some good ECONOMIC ADVISORS so you can have a fiscal plan to present to America. We're in the middle of a huge global financial meltdown, and you are worried about hair and makeup? PLEASE start worrying about the middle class, John. Please.

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