"The point is that numerous people from Hussein to the Taliban have threatened to bring the west to it's knees."

Ed, you seem to be thinking linearly and narrowly, no offence. Neither that real-dead mf nor the Taliban said that. What they did say is that the west would 'be brought to its knees'. Neither said by whose hands. So far, the west is doing a good job bringing ITself to its knees.

"To regard the fundamental as the essence, to regard things as coarse, to regard accumulation as deficiency, and to dwell quietly alone with the spiritual and the intelligent -- herein lie the techniques of Tao of the ancients."

One man in a shit hole of a house tied up American intelligence for ten effin years. Yippee, he's dead, and yea for SEAL Team Six. So, what was the cost? One hundred million in direct costs and another thousand millions in ancilliary costs and another ten times that in real cash? Fuckin' spare me. Could have been taken care of with $50,000 years back--2000-2004.

Ain't my money, so really I don't give a shit, and it wasn't yours either, but the game goes on, doesn't it?