There was a reason Bush and Cheney did not go after Bin Laden at Tora Bora.

[kentuck]

The military had their new cold war. They were fighting a worldwide "war on terror". They were back on the gravy train. They did not want it to end so soon.

So long as they had Bin Laden free, they had a reason to continue spending trillions of dollars on new military gadgets and the defense budget. All they had to do was keep the people in fear. And they did it masterfully.

But this is not a "war on terror". This is a war on the American people at large. We are spending our national wealth on these greedy bastards, as millions and millions go unemployed and the middle class shrinks like a snail in a salt flat.

Make no mistake. This war is a continuation of the military theft of our economy. Nothng has changed.

[SpiralHawk]

1. "Smirk." - xCommander AWOL (R)

[Vincardog]

2. Thank you captain obvious. It has been said before and is worth saying again. Why do you think they

MIHOP or LIH?

[kentuck]

6. It is obvious, isn't it?

Unfortunately, I think there are many that still do not see it.

[SpiralHawk]

3. "Sneer." - xVP Dickie 'Five-Military-Deferments' Cheney (R)

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_haR0YHoRdfY/Rl50PN2eMAI/AAAAAAAAAeA/_JWpIGdbPrc/s400/Chickenhawk+Cheney.jpg

[Rabrrrrrr]

4. Absolutely! As long as Osama was alive, Shrubbie could do whatever he wanted.

He could manhandle the country to do anything, give up any right, accept any expenditure, and celebrate any soldier's death (celebrate as patriotic Jesus-lovin' sacrifice, of course) that he wanted them to, in order to boost the economic gains of his cronies.

[TwilightGardener]

5. Don't blame the military. The generals don't want to be remembered

as failures, nor do the troops who serve and fight. Blame the civilian command.

[gratuitous]

10. I suppose they could always disobey illegal orders

Or decide that their soul is worth more than their signature bonding them until death to a lying government. But that's crazy talk, that is.

[TwilightGardener]

13. Not sure they received any clearly illegal orders in Afghanistan, so

we've gone totally abstract and "what if" here...

[Mz Pip]

7. Bush and his cronies

were quite successful in doing what they set out to do - destroy our government. If they couldn't shrink it, they would bankrupt it.

The broke it intentionally. That was the goal of the neocons all along. They hate government, taxes, poor people, minorites - anything that may at some point effect their bottom line.

All the kings horses and all the kings men are going to have a very hard time putting this egg that is our government back together again.

[yurbud]

8. we have a nicer chauffeur on our drive off a cliff

[CrispyQ]

17. ...

I'd be :rofl: if that weren't so tragically true!

[LakeSamish706]

9. I don't think it was ever the intention of the Bush mis administration to capture...

(kill) bin laden! After all the Bin laden's are Bush family friends.

I guess there is one thing that we can be thankful for. Bush/Cheney basically had complete control of this country ie: Dictatorship and I think that Bush got tired of the role or could have stayed as the Dictator.

[xiamiam]

12. bin laden is dead...nt

[LakeSamish706]

15. I don't know that for fact, do you? I suspect you might be correct though! n/t

[kentuck]

16. If he is dead and there is no proof...

He is still the #1 terrorist and serves the purpose of Defense Dept just the same.

[Ghost in the Machine]

18. Fox News: "Bin Laden Already Dead"

Fox News: "Bin Laden Already Dead"

Wednesday, December 26, 2001

Usama bin Laden has died a peaceful death due to an untreated lung complication, the Pakistan Observer reported, citing a Taliban leader who allegedly attended the funeral of the Al Qaeda leader.

"The Coalition troops are engaged in a mad search operation but they would never be able to fulfill their cherished goal of getting Usama alive or dead," the source said.

Bin Laden, according to the source, was suffering from a serious lung complication and succumbed to the disease in mid-December, in the vicinity of the Tora Bora mountains. The source claimed that bin Laden was laid to rest honorably in his last abode and his grave was made as per his Wahabi belief.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,41576,00.html

----------------------------------------------------------------------

The Death of bin Ladenism
By AMIR TAHERI
Published: July 11, 2002

Osama bin Laden is dead. The news first came from sources in Afghanistan and Pakistan almost six months ago: the fugitive died in December and was buried in the mountains of southeast Afghanistan. Pakistan's president, Pervez Musharraf, echoed the information. The remnants of Osama's gang, however, have mostly stayed silent, either to keep Osama's ghost alive or because they have no means of communication.

With an ego the size of Mount Everest, Osama bin Laden would not have, could not have, remained silent for so long if he were still alive. He always liked to take credit even for things he had nothing to do with. Would he remain silent for nine months and not trumpet his own survival?

Even if he is still in the world, bin Ladenism has left for good. Mr. bin Laden was the public face of a brand of politics that committed suicide in New York and Washington on Sept. 11, 2001, killing thousands of innocent people in the process.

What were the key elements of that politics?

The first was a cynical misinterpretation of Islam that began decades ago with such anti-Western ideologues as Maulana Maudoodi of Pakistan and Sayyid Qutb of Egypt. Although Mr. Maudoodi and Mr. Qutb were not serious thinkers, they could at least offer a coherent ideology based on a narrow reading of Islamic texts. Their ideas about Western barbarism and Muslim revival, distilled down to bin Ladenism, became mere slogans designed to incite zealots to murder.

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9405EFDE1230F932A25754C0A9649C8B63

:hi:

[closeupready]

19. Benazir Bhutto did.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UnychOXj9Tg

[KansDem]

11. I've been saying this for some time...

The military had their new cold war.

After WWI we feared the "anarchist." Shadowy characters running around with bombs! Just look at how Upton Sinclair supporters were portrayed during the California gubernatorial election of 1934: the movie moguls, along with some of California's major newspapers, hated Sinclair and used their newsreels to use "man on the street" interviews in which Sinclair's "supporters" were portrayed as less than flattering. Frank Mirriam, the Republican, went on to win. I may be wrong but I think the fear of anarchy was used to thwart the rise of unions.

Then came WWII and the emergence of the "communist." Even though the Soviets were our allies during the war, they suddenly became our enemy with the start of the "cold war." When the Berlin Wall finally fell in 1989, we had no "boogyman." Remember mention of the "peace dividend? And how we could now reduce defense spending and use some of that money on domestic programs? Remember how some public figures denounced any notion of a "peace dividend?"

Then came the first WTC bombing barely 4 years later. When Clinton refused to "go after" evil-doers in the mideast, the PNACers came up with 9/11. Now we had the "terrorist" as our "boogyman."

And the MIC and their corporatists keep on raiding the US Treasury...

[slackmaster]

14. I think OBL has been dead for several years

:nuke:

[ChickMagic]

20. Plus

Bush wasn't going to let anything happen to his
business partner.

[Festivito]

21. Or, and/or, Bush admin would have executed and made him a martyr.

Dying in battle, OBL's legacy would have been to become a martyr as well.

They could have extended the "war on terror" anyway. Just changed the names of the aces. There were, after all, more than one hijacker. ...cells everywhere, ... fear, fear fear.

EDITED TO ADD: They should have retrieved OBL and put him on trial. Calm resolve is what fights extremists.

[Gregorian]

22. Of course. But it bears repeating in case some don't realize it.

44.4% of our tax money went to military related spending this year.

We are a military economy, in that sense. (I had to add that last part for the person on this forum I've been arguing with over this.)

[Vinnie From Indy]

23. It's all about branding

Kellogg's has Tony Tiger and the military/industrial complex have Osama Bin Laden and Al Queda. Now get out there and SELL!