Reply #28: I'm pretty sure US forces have been swarming Tora Bora for a decade...

[LooseWilly]

Moving out of the region would make tactical sense. Just saying.

Not that there isn't a chance that the "bodyscans" and "facescans" misidentified bin Laden... but really, 10 years of evading the US military and US intelligence services is a pretty good run. The attacks on the WTC showed that the US could be attacked. 10 years evading retaliation despite a global manhunt shows that the reach of the US isn't what the US would like the world to think it is. And, 10 years of war and global manhunt has bled the economy pretty brutally, combined with the proclivities of the investor class in the US to screw everyone in sight at every opportunity... it has pretty well proven the soundness of bin Laden's overall strategy.

Ironically, spikes in the cost of food (apparently largely related to the use of grains for bio-fuels) has led to revolutions and revolts throughout the middle east... but primarily in secular dictatorships supported by the US.

Wouldn't it be a cruel joke if bin Laden achieved his goal of driving the West out of the Middle East, but not (exactly) by bankrupting the US as the USSR was bankrupted... but instead by forcing the US military to use up so much of the world's remaining petroleum that price spikes would lead to increased interest in bio-fuels which would then lead to food price spikes and in turn spur revolutions throughout the Middle East undermining all the dictatorships that the US has been working so tirelessly to keep in power?

I wonder... would that qualify as a self-fulfilling prophecy on the Greek Tragedy Theater model?...