Internal al-Qaeda documents generally suggest they want the Republicans to remain in power. The war in Iraq has been good P.R. (and has provided a massive recruiting windfall) for al-Qaeda. You may well think this is a crazy statement, and I wouldn't really blame you for thinking that, but I found it reliably supported in an article in the New York Review of Books a few years ago, and I believe it (I don't think the article is available online). The point, though, is that al-Qaeda's primary purpose has always been to lure the U.S. into an unwinnable and long-lasting war against guerrilla fighters in a Muslim country, which would inflame worldwide Islamic sentiment against Americans. Simple-...

Internal al-Qaeda documents generally suggest they want the Republicans to remain in power. The war in Iraq has been good P.R. (and has provided a massive recruiting windfall) for al-Qaeda. You may well think this is a crazy statement, and I wouldn't really blame you for thinking that, but I found it reliably supported in an article in the New York Review of Books a few years ago, and I believe it (I don't think the article is available online). The point, though, is that al-Qaeda's primary purpose has always been to lure the U.S. into an unwinnable and long-lasting war against guerrilla fighters in a Muslim country, which would inflame worldwide Islamic sentiment against Americans. Simple-minded Insistence on being "tough" with "the terrorists" (as if there were only one group of them), or on "fighting them over there so we don't have to fight them here" (which sounds good, but ... what the hell does it actually mean?) basically plays into the hands of al-Qaeda's propagandists. I wish I could document this better, but here is a short list of links to get you started. Sorry it's so incomplete. This is an important issue, though, and it deserves real thought, not just slogans.

See Lawrence Wright's New Yorker article for some basic inforamtion on this (link).

Check out the latest threat...They're giving us a month to get out. Will the US be as the Soviet Union in Afghanistan? Will we leave them all (Afgan. and Iraq) high and dry with our reputation in tatters? (Don't give me that stuff about it already being in tatters.) The line has been drawn in the sand (hmmm...was that the Alamo?) and the US needs to decide very quickly whether to cut and run or stand firm and get the Iraqi government free from the fear of Al Qaeda, and if necessary, Iran. If we leave now, we will be a thousand times worse off than before and the other Middle Eastern countries will fall to the domination of the likes of Hezbollah, Hamas, Al-Qaeda, Al-Aksa (sp) Brigade, e...

Check out the latest threat...They're giving us a month to get out. Will the US be as the Soviet Union in Afghanistan? Will we leave them all (Afgan. and Iraq) high and dry with our reputation in tatters? (Don't give me that stuff about it already being in tatters.) The line has been drawn in the sand (hmmm...was that the Alamo?) and the US needs to decide very quickly whether to cut and run or stand firm and get the Iraqi government free from the fear of Al Qaeda, and if necessary, Iran. If we leave now, we will be a thousand times worse off than before and the other Middle Eastern countries will fall to the domination of the likes of Hezbollah, Hamas, Al-Qaeda, Al-Aksa (sp) Brigade, etc. The entire Middle East will look like Somalia and Lebanon.

As far as al-Qaeda goes, I'm no expert, but my sense is that they're concerned mainly with their public image in the Muslim world. If we stay in Iraq, it's good for them -- they want to convince the Muslim world that we are interested in dominating the region for its oil and for Israel's benefit. If we stay there and the chaos and violence continue to get worse as they have been, that's also good for al-Qaeda, because it makes it easier to blame Iraq's situation on the U.S. and to sell their picture of an America that hates Muslims and has no qualms about destroying Islamic life and society. On the other hand, if we leave, they can claim they defeated us. Personally, I don't see any g...

As far as al-Qaeda goes, I'm no expert, but my sense is that they're concerned mainly with their public image in the Muslim world. If we stay in Iraq, it's good for them -- they want to convince the Muslim world that we are interested in dominating the region for its oil and for Israel's benefit. If we stay there and the chaos and violence continue to get worse as they have been, that's also good for al-Qaeda, because it makes it easier to blame Iraq's situation on the U.S. and to sell their picture of an America that hates Muslims and has no qualms about destroying Islamic life and society. On the other hand, if we leave, they can claim they defeated us. Personally, I don't see any good options when it comes to dealing with al-Qaeda.

Before the war, many analysts predicted that an invasion of Iraq would ultimately lead to a strengthening of al-Qaeda's hand, and it appears to be coming true.

@enbar - I disagree with your sentiment regarding lack of results using weapons. It's not that it doesn't work - we're NOT fighting is where the problem is. If anyone should take credit for the Democrats win - it should be the mass media... al qaeda's comments are pretty much wishful thinking, nothing more. In Spain - clearly they used terrorism to augment election situation... but if they tried the same in the US - it'd only backfire, since most US public would take a totally opposite response to a terrorist attack and they know it.

We're not making headway in Iraq for fairly obvious by now reasons, same exact problem in Afghanistan. bin laden may have had self-grandizing thoughts abo...

@enbar - I disagree with your sentiment regarding lack of results using weapons. It's not that it doesn't work - we're NOT fighting is where the problem is. If anyone should take credit for the Democrats win - it should be the mass media... al qaeda's comments are pretty much wishful thinking, nothing more. In Spain - clearly they used terrorism to augment election situation... but if they tried the same in the US - it'd only backfire, since most US public would take a totally opposite response to a terrorist attack and they know it.

We're not making headway in Iraq for fairly obvious by now reasons, same exact problem in Afghanistan. bin laden may have had self-grandizing thoughts about beating the Russians, but if US didn't help them in that war, I doubt very much Afghans would've been able to win the war (although having a rather lackluster army on the part of the Russians didn't hurt either). This isn't the same scenario in our war here.

The way I see it is that we're trying to fight a war without fighting it and that doesn't work. We're trying to use weapons and not kill people and that doesn't work either. Nobody seems to appreciate what our intentions are, yet we stubbornly seem to care about what other think about us, which is also a dysfunctional approach. Wars have been around since the beginning of time, at least human time, on this planet and have always been won or lost with specific and determinate actions on the part of the fighting nations. We're dancing around and have people who think that Ann Coulter is some sort of threat to anyone (have to agree with GD, it's most humorous to bring her up as part of this topic). You don't win wars with these sorts of sentiments internally by some.

The only hope is that common sense will prevail in the end... just too bad it has to be after many more will die to then actually fight the war and win it, only that time it'll be like all wars, with people dying... unfortunately.

Disclaimer: This is just my rather uneducated opinion.

First, as to Congress, I'm pretty sure they're -all- corrupt, be it Republican or Democrat, "conservative" or "liberal." My vote would be to kick them -all- out right now, and start over new, with no one allowed to be voted in who's ever been a part of Congress before, and who has no serious marks on their record.

Second, as to Iraq. Now, Ive only been here for a year, and only in my little corner of Iraq. However, I have the unique point of view of being here for half of one division's deployment, and half of a new division's deployment. It seems to -me- that one reason nothing significant has been accomplished in Iraq is the way troo...

Disclaimer: This is just my rather uneducated opinion.

First, as to Congress, I'm pretty sure they're -all- corrupt, be it Republican or Democrat, "conservative" or "liberal." My vote would be to kick them -all- out right now, and start over new, with no one allowed to be voted in who's ever been a part of Congress before, and who has no serious marks on their record.

Second, as to Iraq. Now, Ive only been here for a year, and only in my little corner of Iraq. However, I have the unique point of view of being here for half of one division's deployment, and half of a new division's deployment. It seems to -me- that one reason nothing significant has been accomplished in Iraq is the way troops are replaced. One division starts off thinking as a conventional division -does-: "find the enemy, kill/capture him, end of conflict." Then as time passes, they come to realize, you have to build relationships with the key leaders in the area, help reconstruct infrastructure (power, roads, schools), etc. before you can see any change. If you prove to the people that you actually -are- interested in their well-being, it matters.

The problem is that by the time they realize this and start implementing these types of changes, it's near the end of the year and they have to leave. A new division comes in and everything starts all over again.

I think we should be here. I think we should help rebuild and create and make peace. However, if the people who are in positions to make Strategic level changes aren't willing to set aside their pride and -make- changes, then we -should- just get out.

They say "We're not winning, and we're not losing" well, if that's the case, then why are we still here with troops dying, and -you're- not making any changes? "More Troops" is not the answer. You need to change how the entire thing is being ran if you actually want to see improvement. This is not a conventional war, you're not going to succeed doing -anything- if you keep thinking it is.