Amos, YOU once wrote in 2001,

"We will not tire. We will not falter. And we will not fail.
Wish I knew that guy's speechwriter. Good line. What if it is true? Whoa! For wanting to put an end to terrorism, I am sure we are stirring up a good dose of stark terror.

But even so, it is plain that there are even some Afghans who think the arrival of the Mellicans just might improve life in general for them, since it can't get much worse. Others, contrariwise.

The religous ideology which admits of violence against innocents, women and children is not mainstream Islam, and was only articulated for use against (I believe) Nasser, in the 20th century. The version that Ladenites and their ilk assert is a cruel distortion of mainstream Islamic teachings, and is motivated not by religous belief but by the desire for power, money, control, and other pleasures of the not-quite-bright.

Maybe the whole thing was a trick to get us to waste our treasure bombing the deserts? Naaah -- it couldn't be!!

The big risk in all this would be a complete failure of Bush's cabinet to understand the bazaar mentality and the cultural mandates the people they are opposing live under. What is required is a massively skillful PR campaign of the sort that is hardly ever accomplished--lots of intell, deep understanding of buttons, a mastery of humor and deft deflection, surehanded reversals of rhetorical postures on their part, etc. Black PR where needed. Massive amounts of it.

For example, the forces on the other side have already started a wide-spread rumor circulating among Muslims in both India and Pakistan with great certainty that the whole 9-11 caper was a scam perpetrated by the Israelis, to stir up hatred of Arabs and Muslims. Not hard to deflect if you catch it early or can manage the exposure correctly, because it is so ridiculous (I think). But its a masterful rumour to spread amongst the uncritical crowds.

You can't fight that brand of insanity with just Big Iron. It takes intell, and craft in psychological operations.

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Now that we have tired, faltered and failed, where is that intel and psy-ops?

The latest confirmed by Sy Hirsh of the NYT is that the White House approved of a plan to stage a war with US troops dressed as Iranian regulars and suffer actual deaths of other US troops unaware of the deception.