Re: [Fwd: Great article about afghanistan/taliban/bin laden]

[David Charlap <David.Charlap () marconi com>]

> > That's why he did this.  Read his speeches and statements. It's
> > all right there.  He really believes Islam would beat the west. It
> > might seem ridiculous, but he figures if he can polarize the world
> > into Islam and the West, he's got a billion soldiers.  If the west
> > wreaks a holocaust in those lands, that's a billion people with
> > nothing left to lose, that's even better from Bin Laden's point of
> > view.  He's probably wrong, in the end the west would win, whatever
> > that would mean, but the war would last for years and millions
> > would die, not just theirs but ours. Who has the belly for that?
> > Bin Laden does. Anyone else?

The real problem is that this war is going to happen sooner or later,
whether we want it or not.

If we don't act now, he'll do something else in a few years which will
make Tuesday's incident look like nothing.  He is not going to someday
wake up and say "this isn't going to work, let's stop now."  He will
escalate the attacks exponentially until we give him his war, or until
the west is so decimated that it doesn't matter anymore.

The question isn't whether we go to war.  It's whether we want it now or
later.  And how many more terrorist acts we will be willing to put up
with in the meantime.

-- David