IT'S OFFICIAL: "WAR ON TERRORISM" IS UNWINNABLE
Experts say motives, not al-Qaida mastermind, link bombings

From the AP via the Houston Chronicle:

With havens in Afghanistan under pressure and their finances under scrutiny, militants may take philosophical guidance from the likes of Osama bin Laden but are largely relying on their own resources in carrying operations, experts interviewed by The Associated Press said Saturday.

"They all want to be part of this phenomenon," said Loretta Napoleoni, author of "Terror Incorporated: Tracing the Dollars Behind the Terror Networks," as she explained the terror wave. "It's not like someone is telling (the militants), `You bomb on the first of July.'"

Anger over the U.S.-led war in Iraq and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict also seems to be providing some inspiration, despite early arguments from Bush administration officials that fighting insurgents in Iraq would help prevent them from launching attacks on Western targets. The war has instead turned into a recruiting tool, experts said.

The constant images on Arab language networks of dead and dying civilians - coupled with U.S. soldiers conducting operations - has only heightened sensitivities.

"Iraq has been an absolute gift to al-Qaida," said Paul Rogers, a professor of peace studies at Bradford University in northern England. "(Al-Qaida) seems to have no difficulty in getting more and more recruits."

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This story, along with a couple of others (here and here), make it clear that the security establishment seems to finally be willing to publicly oppose the absurd notion that terrorism can somehow be eradicated by military action. Quite the reverse, waging war on Muslim populations only encourages more terrorism. Only a massive change in US foreign and economic policy, that is, holding Israel to a much higher standard in its dealings with the Palestinians, removing US troops from Muslim nations, and ending support for despotic Middle Eastern regimes such that oil profits are shared by rank and file citizens, coupled with reasonable security measures at home, good old fashioned police work, and aggressive prosecution of the terrorists themselves, have any chance of reducing global terrorism to a more manageable level. This has been pretty obvious for years now, but patriotic hysteria shepherded by evil Republican geniuses like Karl Rove has made mainstream discussion of what really needs to be done all but impossible. The tide appears to be turning.

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