Rather, it is often portrayed abroad as a distraction from more critical issues – as an American attempt to impose a bellicose culture, driven by the cultivation of fear, on a world still taken with the notion that the cold war’s end and technology’s advance have opened unprecedented possibilities for dialogue and peace.” — Roger Cohen (New York Times op-ed)
Nothing you didn’t already realize.
Related:
A dwarf known as al Qaeda
Yes, Al Qaeda was once centralized, structured and powerful, but that was before the U.S. pulverized its camps and leadership in Afghanistan.
In other words, this battle in the war on terror might already be over. It’s as an ex-CIA agent once said: “I quit the agency at the end of the Cold War because I was tired of politicians making me describe the Soviet Union as a 20-foot giant — when it was really only a dwarf.”” (LA Times)
I have long felt that the threat presented by al Qaeda is specious and that, moreover, the organization does not exist in any real sense except in the minds of the terror-obsessed Bush administration, which is interested in a perpetual Orwellian war against an illusory opponent. Al Qaeda is now a franchise brand name many unaffiliated or, at best, informally connected disgruntled groups or individuals use to add cachet to the threats they are interested in advertising.
