Al-Qaida is bleeding US to bankruptcy, Bin Laden claims

[CottonBear]

Brian Whitaker and agencies
Wednesday November 3, 2004
The Guardian

Al-Qaida is "bleeding America to the point of bankruptcy", Osama bin Laden claims, in a section of his latest videotape which has just come to light.

Delivering a financial report on the "war on terror", he says that every dollar spent by al-Qaida in attacking the US has cost Washington $1m (£545,000) in economic fallout and military spending.

The remarks appear in a full transcript of the 18-minute tape posted on the website of al-Jazeera. They were omitted last Friday when the TV station broadcast extracts.

Referring to Afghanistan, Bin Laden says: "We, alongside the mujahideen, bled Russia for 10 years, until it went bankrupt and was forced to withdraw in defeat ... So we are continuing this policy in bleeding America to the point of bankruptcy."

<http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,1342095,00.html>

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He seems to have made a good start on the bleeding what with the record US deficit courtesy of *.

[rooboy]

1. Didn't Krugman say that in about 3-4 years...

the US interest payments on the debt will be $500 billion a year? Sounds like Mr bin Laden is right to me.

But hey, just be afraid and keep shopping.

[HannibalBarca]

3. Indeed

It's a good tactic but unfortunately the US is significantly wealthier than Russia ever was and if it took 10 years in Afghanistan then by that logic Mr Bin Laden will be pushing up daisies by time he sees any "return".

[davhill]

8. We also expend resources

At a far greater rate than the Soviet Union ever did. A good comparison would be 16th century Spain which was by far the wealthiest nation in the world after conquering the new world but squandered everything away until it became one of the poorest.

[CottonBear]

4. Bush/Halliburton is good for al-Qaida: Bin Laden says so.

...Bin Laden continues: "When one scrutinises the results, one cannot say that al-Qaida is the sole factor in achieving those spectacular gains. Rather, the policy of the White House that demands the opening of war fronts to keep busy their various corporations - whether they be working in the field of arms or oil or reconstruction - has helped al-Qaida to achieve these enormous results."

He added that some on the US side had gained while the losers were "the American people and their economy".

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<http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,1342095,00.html>

My god. Perpetual war is here. Be afraid.

[Inland]

2. OBL can't take credit for what Bush is doing, Bush's tax cuts, Bush's

deficits, and Bush's war. Alqaeda and 9/11 are farts to the American economy, and Bush's policies are sledgehammers, and Bush decided to do those things all on his own.

[CottonBear]

5. How much more can the deficit grow?

Isn't there some sort of limit?

[Inland]

6. Yep.

Economically, there is a limit. But nobody knows where the debt causes a crisis in the value of the currency, ie, when foreigners decided that they don't need or want to lend the US any more money. Even without a crisis, the interest payments are crippling the budget. Interest on the debt is the third largest item in the budget, after defense and Social Security.

[davhill]

9. Until the Rapture

which should come any day now. Then all the fundamentalists will be scooped up to Heaven leaving Treasury investors holding the bag. Bush really believes that none of the money he borrows will ever have to be paid back.

[0007]

7. I think there is something to what they're saying.

China has our paper.

[wysiwyg]

10. Osama wants the same thing as Grover Norquist?

[tom_paine]

11. Ironic, isn't it? Yes both groups wish to bankrupt the Amerikan Imperial

Treasury.

Tiberius Bunypants* wishes to steal it.

I don't think Osama cares where it goes, as long as it goes.

[spotbird]

12. He ain't seen nothing yet.

Wait until the war with Iran gets going.

[ProfessorGAC]

13. He Can Say That. But, He'd Be Wrong

The economy and the government are too monolithic to go broke. EVen though we've spent a ridiculous amount of money on this stupid adventure, it's still just a drop in the bucket in a country where >$60 billion changes hands every day.

This is a pipedream on OBL's part.
The Professor

[Moderator]

14. Duplicate topic

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=950834