*** Everyone should Engage in Serious Damage Control to Point Out the OBL Distraction ***

[Sentient Void]

Okay, ladies - we have to put in a lot of effort to engage in anti-propaganda propaganda damage control to unspin the government and media machine that is trying to pump the rah-rah American jingoism as a distraction from the real issues, and that nothing has really changed.

The wars will continue, the government will continue to spend endlessly worsening the bankruptcy situation, we will continue pushing other countries around resulting in more blowback and unintended consequences which led to the creation of people like Bin laden in the first place, prices are rising all around us through increasing inflation - it goes on, and on, and on.

We all know the election is only a year or so away.

I'm as happy as anyone that Osama Bin Laden is dead - but we can't let it distract from the real issues, and let this irrelevant bullshit assist in getting the same bastards re-elected, whether it's Obama or some other Republican establishment scoundrel.

[Sentient Void]

Cost of hunting down Bin Laden? We're bankrupt. That was his stated goal. In death, he is still victorious.

You know he was once hired by the CIA to lure an indestructible military superpower into an unwinnable war that would destroy it economically.

We taught him how to do that.

[heavenlyboy34]

I've already been at it. Folks I know in the UK and Europe are more open to this than yankees, in my experience so far.

[Kylie]

Cost of hunting down Bin Laden? We're bankrupt. That was his stated goal. In death, he is still victorious.

You know he was once hired by the CIA to lure an indestructible military superpower into an unwinnable war that would destroy it economically.

We taught him how to do that.


Is there any citation to this?

I want to make sure everyone knows. I've told them, but sure would like to be able to back it up!

[Wren]

Cost of hunting down Bin Laden? We're bankrupt. That was his stated goal. In death, he is still victorious.
[/U]

Great one liner that RP could use during the debates.

[Sentient Void]

Is there any citation to this?

I want to make sure everyone knows. I've told them, but sure would like to be able to back it up!

We, via the CIA, trained and armed the Mujahideen (Osama Bin Laden was part of them) how to attack and engage in guerilla tactics against the Soviet Union during their invasion of Afghanistan. Al Qaeda is the result of that training - and the Al Qaeda bases you've seen on TV with everyone training on them were actually built by our government.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CIA-Osama_bin_Laden_controversy

Also, did you know that Ronald Reagan called the Mujahideen (and thus by extension, Osama Bin Laden), 'Freedom Fighters'?

Yeah, it's all pretty fucked up. Blowback FTL.

[TheTyke]

Great one liner that RP could use during the debates.

Doubt if that would really win over most Republicans... :\

[ARealConservative]

timing is everything. I recommend letting this story have a couple days to wind its course so as not to run the risk of appearing displeased with getting a known terrorist.

[Wren]

Doubt if that would really win over most Republicans... :\

No, I mean in the general election if the topic of bin laden is brought up

[Sentient Void]

As per the standard neoconservative doctrine - an 'ever-present threat or a perpetual enemy is the 'social glue' to fuel patriotic or nationalist sentiments' in order to drive populist backing of policy.

'Never let a crisis go to waste'. For a while it was the Soviet Union. After 9/11 it was Osama Bin Laden and terrorism. After OBL, it will probably at least continue to be driven home that terrorism is the perpetual threat - it is an anthropomorphized threat that can never really be destroyed, since it is a tactic, a concept - not a real enemy or country that you can legitimately 'declare war' on.

"Whether it's a democracy or a fascist dictatorship or a Parliament or a Communist dictatorship... voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. [Just] tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism, and exposing the country to greater danger. It works the same way in any country." - Nazi Reichmarshall Hermann Goering (Nuremberg Diaries & Interviews)