A warning from bin Laden? Well, that should shake us up. We certainly wouldn't want to hack off bin Laden. Very important to make sure he doesn't get riled up. I mean, taking out his boys in Afghanistan was one thing. Then there's that $25 million dollar bounty on his head. I'm sure taking out his boy Zarqawi with a 500-pounder was yet another irritant. Relationships between the U.S. and al-Qaeda are certainly not what they were back in the salad days of the 1980s. Some have even described them as "strained." If we keep this up, bin Laden might start thinking of the U.S. as his enemy or something. Nope, can't have that.

Reuters has it straight from the horse's mouth: . . .

"We will fight (U.S.) soldiers on the land of Somalia ... and we reserve the right to punish it on its land and anywhere possible," said the speaker on the tape, sounding like the Saudi-born militant.

A U.S. intelligence official, declining to be named, said there was no reason to doubt it was bin Laden on the tape, which was posted on an Internet site used by Islamists.

With respect to Sudan and Somalia, I really need some help understanding the inertia. Those two hellholes are in complete chaos right now. I understand Powell's "pottery barn" theory of military intervention--i.e., "you break it, you buy it." I can see how this applies to Iran and Syria, as examples. There are evil, anti-U.S. governments in place, but there is stability. Things could be worse. In contrast, Sudan and Somalia are already broken! If you're a Sudanese or Somalian Christian lying prostrate with a jihadi knife against your throat, life really can't get much worse. So, what's the argument against rolling in, killing off the jihadi thugs and rolling out? What's the argument against giving the anti-jihadi team a fighting chance? Are we worried about irritating Osama? Are we concerned about what Kofi Annan and Jacques Chirac think? I'm really at a loss here. What's the argument for sitting by while Sudan and Somalia eliminate their Christian and secularist populations and become the new al-Qaeda strongholds? Will we continue to stand by as the African Taliban and their Janjaweed militias begin to destabilize the neighboring countries?

If you have a good explanation for our nation's current strategy here, please share.

Posted by: Ragnar at 03:44 PM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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