We've elevated the terrorists by declaring "war" on them.

[Martin Eden]

To be "at war" with a superpower -- and for that "war" to be widely recognized as a life-and-death struggle that could last for generations -- is to elevate the status of the terrorists far beyond their numbers and their actual ability to inflict damage on us.

When a foolish and incompetent 22-year-old sets his undies on fire in a botched attack and the superpower goes into hysterics with partisan political warfare and the 22-year-old's jihadi supervisor has his smiling face flashed around the world and "al Qaeda of the Arabian Peninsula" in 5th-rate little Yemen becomes the latest and greatest threat to the safety of 300 million Americans ...

... then we have sent a very convincing message to millions of would-be jihadis among the masses of angry disaffected Islamic youth. The message doesn't tell them to be safe law-abiding citizens. It tells them that the superpower can be defeated and that the surest path to glory is to join the jihadi cause and to blow themselves up to heaven if called upon.

Of course, this relative handful of militants cannot bring down the United States of America. Only the United States of America has the power to do that. Unfortunately, we are headed down that path. We've given the Osama bin Ladens of the world what they needed most -- an elevated status and a superpower bogged down in misguided quagmires on Islamic soil, draining its resources and winning new converts to jihad with every Muslim added to the pile of "collateral damage" from our high-tech drones that can't see into the heart of a human being let alone their gender and age.

We have seen our greatest enemy, and it is us.

[sui generis]

1. I agree.

Realistically, al qaeda cannot "win". They can annoy, disrupt, terrify, and generally be a nuisance, but America is an idea AND a connected country. What impacts America impacts the world and it's essentially the developed world vs. ignorance and violence who are the contestants.

Al Qaeda? Like most cults, it is a business run by old men, at the expense of the lives of other men's children.

[Martin Eden]

6. "developed world vs. ignorance and violence"

We've got plenty of that right here. Our military commits violence in our name because too many Americans are ignorant of the world and the impact of our militaristic policies.

The jihadi leadership has some concrete goals -- their primary ambition being the overthrow of governments in the Middle East and replacing them with theocratic totalitarian states. We are very useful in that endeavor because we provide them with an enemy against which to rally support. And when the government they want to overthrow accepts our "help" (military advisors, strikes from predator drones, etc) that country's government becomes the enemy as well.

[htuttle]

2. Yup. I've been saying that since late 2001

I doubt anyone sold 'Osama bin Laden' T-Shirts before we invaded Afghanistan.

[Xenotime]

3. Exactly. These isolated events are no need for a "national panic" like the right wants..

us to believe.

[StarfarerBill]

4. Indeed: we are our own worst enemy. K&R

[FiveGoodMen]

5. Absolutely right!