Is al-Qaeda Winning?

[StarfarerBill]

By Marwan Bishara, Al Jazeera senior political analyst

What does it say about Washington's ''war on terror'' that dozen and a half people with paper cutters forced hundreds of thousands of Western troops into the battlefields of the "greater Middle East" region;

That 100,000 foreign soldiers are bogged down in occupied Afghanistan wondering how many dozens of al-Qaeda operatives have remained, if any;

That the most liberal democracy enacted new controversial illiberal laws and unpatriotic practices under its "Patriot Act";

That one shoe-bomber has forced millions of people to take off their shoes every time they take a flight;

That one underpants-bomber will expose every other traveler in most humiliating of ways;

That after US loss of deterrence and prestige as well as trillions of dollars of military and other expenditures, al-Qaeda's top leadership remains at large; its bases/cells proliferate globally; that volunteers continue to flock into its ranks and young supporters to its websites… !!! And above all that it continues to terrorize America and Americans.

So much that one gets the impression that America is fighting a world superpower despite the incredible disparities in capacity, numbers and support.

Is al-Qaeda winning? Has the United States lost?

More:
http://blogs.aljazeera.net/imperium/2010/01/14/al-qaeda-winning

[ixion]

1. yep, everytime we trade liberty for security, al Qaeda wins

so they've really been kicking some butt for the past 10 years. :argh:

[Ozymanithrax]

2. In any war, you only win if you know and meet you objective.

Fo Al-Qaeda to win, all they have to do is not loose. As long as there is one Al-Qaeda third in charge left standing, they have not lost. Clearly, there is no lack of people willing to be the primary target of the world.

Winning for Western powers is much trickier. Bush redfined "winning" about every week or so, and he never actaully got it right or met his criteria. Obama seems to have defined "winning" more narrowly, that being to capture or kill Bin Laden. But that is still much more dificult that Al-Qaeda's victory conditions.

[Doctor_J]

3. they already won

UBL said long ago his aim was to bankrupt the US. Mission Accomplished.

[bergie321]

4. They have held the strongest military in the world

at bay for over 8 years. That is why you don't treat criminal acts like acts of war.

[CJCRANE]

5. The "strongest military" was busy in Iraq for most of that time. nt

On edit: But I agree with your second statement.

[damntexdem]

6. No, rather the U.S. is losing.

Al Qaida had absolutely no hope of doing what the U.S. has done to itself.

[midnight]

7. The fact that we have gone in the direction of fewer freedoms-yes....

That the most liberal democracy enacted new controversial illiberal laws and unpatriotic practices under its "Patriot Act";

Remember we were told that they "the terrorist" , and other evil doers didn't like us for our freedoms..... So our govt. took our freedoms away,,,, and they should like us know but for some mysterious reason they still hate us.....

[winyanstaz]

8. Well Bush said that they were blowing themselves up...

and us as well..because they "Hate our freedoms."
I guess because we have therefore given up so many freedoms and the government is hard at work to take even more....that the cave dwellers have beaten this mighty high-tech Nation to it's knees...(With the help of Congress and our leaders.) and Al Toilet won.
I cant say I am real happy about that either...it sort of pisses me off.....a lot
We have lost thousands of troops and civilians. We have spent trillions...
How many Al Toilets have we actually caught and tried? Three?
How many have we shot? Umm not sure...just that we shot the #2 Dude about a zillion times already.
How many civilians have we killed? A hundred thousand? Two hundred thousand? A million? We don't know because their deaths mean so little we don't even bother to try to count them.
How many Al Toilets do we actually have in prisons that have never been tried? A few hundred that we have been raping and torturing daily for ages...But even that is not for sure because...they have never got a trial..so we don't really know if they are Al Toilet or Joe sheepherder and his wife and kids.
End the Wars now.

[Mithreal]

9. Zombie empire, it just doesn't know it's already dead.

[Recursion]

10. Yes, everywhere except the one theater they care about

The theater they really care about is the horn of Africa, and they're not doing well there. Not well at all (white Americans aren't the only people with a race problem, and AQ's is kind of biting them in the ass right now). But everywhere else they're doing pretty well.

Bin Ladin is 2 for 5 in his war aims. He wanted:
1. US troops out of Saudi Arabia (done)
2. Overthrow of Saddam Hussein (done)
3. Overthrow of Mubarak
4. Palestinian rule over a unified Palestine
5. Overthrow of Saudi royal family

Mubarak is next, which is why they want more presence in the horn of Africa.

[bemildred]

11. People that try to scare you are not your friends.

Fear makes you stupid.