Reply #17: Bingo-- always was a loose underground of...

[TreasonousBastard]

terrorists, revolutionaries, arms dealers and other types that kind of worked together at times. The Red Brigades and IRA knew some of the same people, and there is no doubt a replacement for the old nemesis Carlos the Jackal who engineered a lot of deals between these disparate groups.

And, in the world of spies, spooks and black bags, governments always have their fingers on these groups and find them useful at times.

But, alas, our old friends the Soviets are no more, so we must find a new enemy to justify a trillion dollar military budget. Just mumbling about some raggedy, or largely local, groups ranging from Basque and Kurdish separatists to Hamas, Shining Path, the Columbian militias, Tamil Tigers, and the hundreds of others won't cut it. Nor will admitting that we supported and trained the Mujahadeen who changed names and turned on us just as they fought the Russians, and for pretty much the same reasons.

Nope, the evil and all-pervasive al-Qaeda just happens to fit the bill as the enemy we must fight forever, and, very conveniently, won't ever be beaten until the next reliable enemy shows up.