Osama brought us all together, but can he do it again?

[mopaul]

(extreme sarcasm mode)

[MariaS]

1. Not unless he gets Georgie's approval

AGAIN

[rzemanfl]

2. Imagine OBL succeeds in detonating a dirty bomb in a U.S. city

and the government says it is safe to return. Who's going to believe them after the lies they told about the WTC?

[Selatius]

9. How 'bout the folks who never learned the gov't lied?

Plenty of folks rely solely on the corporate news media.

[rzemanfl]

17. Let them go back, they're brain dead anyway. n/t

[applegrove]

3. There was a documentary by the BBC called Nightmares or something.

It went in to how weak bin Laden really is. They show a video tape of bin Laden walking in Afghanistan as he is surrounded by military guards. It turns out they were all hired for the day to participate in the video.

95 % of the kids who volunteered to go to Afghanistan and train went home and got jobs and didn't end up joining the Al Qaeda.

It was like a pilgrimage and was free so many went. Few stayed.

Nobody thinks bin Laden is really as strong as he has been painted. He is just a sociopathic money man who tries to gain power by giving money to disparate cells who then try and plan something.

He is a monster and a threat. Islamists are not as powerful as they have been made out to be. They just got lucky. They went after the USA because bombing their own people in their own countries didn't garner them a following. The group in Algeria were hated by the people who said the French never were that bad in terms of murdering innocents. The group of Islamists in Algeria ended up deciding that the twelve of them were the only twelve Algerians who had a right to live. And that everyone else in Algeria should be killed.

The Islamist lost popularity in the Middle East. This war in Iraq is encouraging some crazies .. but let's be real. Iraq has the second largest kitty of oil in the world. Many of those crazies are after the Billions in Iraq if they get power and probably use religion as a tool to motivate their followers.

Why the hell bin Laden has not been caught I do not know.

[Henny Penny]

4. Why the hell bin Laden has not been caught I do not know.

You might have gotten an inkling if you watched David Ray Griffen on CSPan yesterday.

[applegrove]

5. What did he say? Let me guess. That the WH still needs him as a

boogeyman?

Stranger things have happened. Just the fact that the USA sent in 'locals' to trap bin Laden shows a lack of something.

[Henny Penny]

6. I'm afraid it was a lot worse than that.

We had a lot of hot threads going on the subject yesterday, but they've all been pulled.

If you have an open mind and Quick Time player, you can check out this link.

http://piratevideo.tv/MP3/DavidRayGriffin_050418_56K.mp3

(There might be a proper link on cspan by now...)

This is him giving a similar talk to the one he gave cspan. He has written a critical analysis of the 9/11 commission, and he seems pretty credible (to me), not least because he is a retired theology professor!

[applegrove]

7. I'm not sure that I buy it. I doubt that anyone who witnessed those

two buildings going down could so much as let bin Laden walk. Not the generals, not the soldiers, not the CIA.

Remember unlike the rest of us bin Laden knew what would happen that day and likely had sever escape plans. And we know bin Laden wanted a war to start so he of course had to stay in Afghanistan for a bit. At least until the Americans invaded.

I just don't believe that even if a machiavelli ordered it that bin Laden would be given a pass by any red blooded American serviceman.

[Henny Penny]

8. Give this guy a chance, and watch his speech...

I think its about 40mins.

I agree with you re any red blooded American, military or civilian, wouldn't let that guy go free.

I doubt that anyone who witnessed those" two buildings going down could so much as let bin Laden walk. Not the generals, not the soldiers, not the CIA. - my addition... NOT ANYBODY!

However if you question you basic assumptions... a more logical set of possibilities may open up.

If you don't have Quick Time, you can download it here for free.
http://www.apple.com/quicktime/download/win.html

I think he (David Ray Griffin)is taking a very big risk and the least we can do is give him a chance.

[applegrove]

10. Sorry. I try to be discerning about the information I take in. Gotta

follow my own rules here.

[Henny Penny]

12. No problem,

you are your own person, but the trick is to take stuff in and then be discerning.
;-)

:pals:

[applegrove]

13. I don't often read op-ed pages either. I am pretty confident in my

ability to pick and choose. I think we all are on the board.

[Henny Penny]

14. I've stopped reading a lot

of op-eds myself. However I am drawn to anything analytical.

In op-eds the writer tends to write... "Here's what I believe on subject x,y and z". So if you don't agree with the writer from the off, you just get bored, or annoyed.

At least if someone says... "Here's what I think about subject x and here are some facts to support my case.." then you have something to chew on.

[applegrove]

16. I actually meant op-ed in the newspapers because I am loath to

come across anything right wing and my newspapers are filled with that.

As to opinion pieces.. I'll read them at the DU about a topic that interests me. That i would like to know more about. And then I'll get some facts from that. But I tend not to allow myself to read opinion pieces by right wingers or people who I do not know or trust. I try to stay away from internet sites and the opinions of people I do not know, or who are reporting facts that have not be first wetting by a credible news source. If I start to read a book and it looks goofy & convoluted, I'll skip it.

I think we all have to be smart these days.

I don't like bad information. Why should I?

[Henny Penny]

20. you are right.

We all need to be thinking when reading or watching reports. I do differ from you slightly in that I think with the number of credible mainstream sources so small, that it is important to be open to new sources.

Yes a lot of people out there are nuts, but there are also a lot of good people who have been forced onto the web because they have been shut out by the MSM, because they do not support the govt's line. I think it is very easy to check someone out yourself, and decide whether to trust them or not.

[babylonsister]

15. Here's yesterday's link for you (now in 9/11 forum):

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=125&topic_id=38055&mesg_id=38055

[blondeatlast]

11. Interesting. I believe there is now enough suspicion that it

might be a concerted struggle.

Bunnypants has to contend with the fact that more people voted for his opponent than any presidential candidate in history, save for the one who took office this year.

That's a considerable amount of lingering doubt to contend with...

[understandinglife]

18. When are we going to stop giving Osama credit for all that Condi did....

....please, a little justice here.

www.missionnotaccomplished.us -- May 2 2005 is just THE BEGINNING OF MNA

[understandinglife]

19. Hijacking Catastrophe -- time to view it again.

Hijacking Catastrophe

9/11, Fear, and the Selling of American Empire.

Hijacking Catastrophe is powerful, understated, straightforward and educational. In a single meticulously organized hour of evidence and analysis, viewers are treated to a thoughtful explanation of modern American empire, neo-conservatism as a driving force for the current Bush administration.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article6895.htm

www.missionnotaccomplished.us - May 2 2005 is just THE BEGINNING OF MNA

[bklyncowgirl]

21. I'm afraid of that, frankly.

With Chimp's approval ratings in free fall, a terror attack could be just over the horizon.

[radfringe]

22. and it can't just be in the form of an "alert"

bush* has played that card too many times -- won't do much for his numbers

his numbers are in the toilet and he's dragging down the numbers for GOPers who are up for re-Selection in 2006

there are two options that could "save" bush* and GOPers:

1. another terror attack on US soil -- a terra-ttack would "rally" the nation for a time. It could also backfire because we're suppose to be "safer" with bush*

2. Invading another country on the pretext they have nukes (iran) -- the WMD booga-booga won't work this time -- it's going to have to be a threat of a mushroom cloud.

in either case - support probably won't be as strong or as long-lived as it was after 9-11 and Iraq invasion -- but it probably will be strong enough to keep the GOPers in power.

I know that Scott Ritter and others have said an Iran invasion would occur this year (May-June). The only way I can see such an invasion occuring this year is if a terra-attack occurs first.

Timing is everything -- to invade now is premature, public support would peter out. the bushies will push for an invasion next year - prior to the mid-term campaigning so it can be used and exploited in their stump speeches.

None of this is about spreading democracy or making america safer -- it's about power.