What do you think Osama Bin Laden's Goal was on 9-11?

[AllentownJake]

Conspiracy theorist please don't post in this thread. Let us start off with conventional wisdom that Osama Bin Laden was responsible for the attacks on 9-11. What do you think he hoped the results would be to the United States of America and the west.

[BeFree]

1. Wisdom?

Sheer fallacy is more like it. A fallacy cooked up by the M$M and MIC.

[BeFree]

12. Furthermore

Look at the profits made by the MIC since then: follow the money.

And it propelled Bush to stardom. Gave the news something to talk about besides stolen elections, and lead to $4 a gallon gasoline, making Cheney rich.

Meanwhile some of us don't even know how our votes are counted.

All in all a huge con game. Look over there!!

[Orrex]

2. His goal was to get this thread kicked to the Dungeon.

Mission accomplished?

[yellerpup]

3. To weaken us as a country by causing a financial

debacle that would ultimately put us on the same footing as any third world country.

[AllentownJake]

4. Ding Ding Ding

[robo50]

5. I bet even Osama Bin Laden didn't have any idea how

much damage Bush would do to his own country AFTER the four airplane crashes.

I doubt Osama thought Bush was as stupid as Bush is.

[AllentownJake]

8. No, W, did things that Bin Laden was even surprised at

He wanted to weaken the US financially and hurt the view of the US in the Islamic world because he knew there would be a response from the US.

In his wildest dreams, I don't think he thought it would have been this effective.

[WCGreen]

6. I believe he did it to start a holy war....

Plain and simple...

[AllentownJake]

9. Not that simple

Other than Israel, which political entity does he hate more than the United States.

[Cirque du So-What]

14. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

OBL hates the House of Saud even more than he hates the USA. However, he can't attack them directly because the US military would intervene directly if the Saudi oilfields were threatened. Besides, an attack on some Saudi installations would just drive the price of oil sky-high, and the House of Saud would benefit.

OBL attacks on the periphery, avoiding a full-frontal attack that he would lose. The 9/11 attacks had a psychological effect far larger than the actual damage done, resulting in a weaker defender of the despised House of Saud.

I find his strategy flawed, however. Even a weakened USA would still fight ferociously to defend the oilfields of Saudi Arabia. A weakened USA may be even more dangerous to OBL and his henchmen than a strong USA.

[WCGreen]

19. Since the US represents or did the West in all it's secular glory, we are the

prime target...

[AllentownJake]

21. No

The people he despises more than anyone else are the rulers of Saudi Arabia.

[WCGreen]

43. Of course, but he would not gain the sympathy he garnered had he attacked

SA as he did the US...

and it could very well be he saw a Jihad against the US would help bring down the Saudi Government, such as it is...

So perhaps your cock sureness of an answer could better have been maybe...

Unless, of course, you truly are a high level CIA analyst or hold down some key post in the State Department...

If not, conjecture is all either of us have so such an emphatic "no" is unwarrented...

[AllentownJake]

46. I apologize

I'll say I disagree next time.

[QC]

7. To make the U.S. panic, overreact, and get bogged down in wars in the Muslim World

that would provoke a backlash against us.

Looks like he got it. And on such a low budget, too.

[Forkboy]

30. That was my answer.

[QC]

34. That's what most of us around here believed just a few short months ago.

Funny how a change in administration can change everything.

[Forkboy]

35. Saw that coming a million miles away though.

I learned a lot about Dems back in the 90's and how they would suddenly stop caring about issues that bothered them when the previous Administration did them. There was no doubt in my mind that war, wiretapping, the Patriot Act and lack of equal rights for fellow Americans would all be accepted once there was a D in office. I'd say at least half of the Democrats I've seen, here and elsewhere, online and off, care about winning more than what they're going to do once they get that win. It's about getting power and then consolidating that power, and if pesky things like anti-war people and gay rights gets in the way, then under the bus they go.

Hell, I've watched as you guys get used and abused in every election, then once your votes are cast you're left to wither on the vine. When a Repub does it many so-called liberals will denounce them, but when a Dem does it those very same people will bend over backwards making excuses as to why it's really ok.

I've been a Dem all my life, but I can honestly say that the party as a whole leaves me highly unimpressed, and many of it's members are just flat out cowards. The Repubs break our legs and half the party will thank them when they hand us crutches.

[QC]

38. I have to admit, I am a little disappointed to see how many people around here

are willing to embrace every sort of ugliness that they opposed not even a year ago if their fantasy boyfriend says to.

I had thought that people on my side might be at least somewhat more principled than freepers.

Silly of me, eh?

[Forkboy]

40. I expected the same thing in the 90's.

This time I was ready for it.

People say I'm too cynical but then they keep proving my cynicism correct.

[QC]

41. It's hard to be too cynical. n/t

[baldguy]

10. His primary objective was to get the US to pull its troops out of Saudi Arabia.

Which Bush dutifully acquiesced to a year and a half later.

[hobbit709]

11. That's it in a nutshell.

Bin Laden got what he wanted. We got none of our stated and unstated objectives.

[tabatha]

13. And so few people know that.

[baldguy]

17. When Republicans are in charge, terrorism works.

[Clio the Leo]

15. as described in "Jihad Against Jews and Crusaders" NT

[Hippo_Tron]

45. Yep that's the reason for all of the "they hate us for our freedoms" bullshit

If people believed that 9/11 was about our troops in Saudi Arabia then Bush would've looked like a coward who caved into their demands.

[Warren Stupidity]

16. To completely disrupt our society and goad us into military adventures in asia.

The attack on 9-11 has been a complete success.

[bigjohn16]

18. To drain us of blood and treasure.

On Tuesday the process will be continued.

[Sebastian Doyle]

20. Recover from kidney disease, most likely

Haven't you heard? He didn't have anything to do with 9-11. It was all Khalid Sheik Ron Jeremy, who confessed to everything after being tortured 183 times.

[willing dwarf]

22. The question itself points to our biggest problem

Because we have id'd Bin Laden et al as terrorists, and we "don't talk with terrorists," we don't know what his goal was. Obviously anyone who is itching for a fight wants an enemy rather than a peace partner, and to make war, you need to get your enemy villefy himself.

I think Bin Lan was baiting the trap of showing the west as having a culture of death letting us create radical Islamic martyrs thus provoking more war.

In the most general sense, I think he wanted to provoke violence and bloodshed rather than encourage progressive change or dialogue. Ultimately, I think he wanted to become really recognized as the leader of radicalized Islam. It's too bad, and too bad we walked right in and played the part he wanted us to play.

[glowing]

23. At this point, its a stretch to think Bin Laden was responsible for anything other

than being the fall guy. He was CIA for many years... So, perhaps if he had anything to do with the attacks, he was just following orders.

Most of the 9/11 hyjackers were from Saudi Arabia.. yet we didn't attack that country.. as I remember, Bushie opened air space for the Bin Laden family only to get out of town, while Americans were stuck in random cities- grounded for days. AND I do remember Bushie at the ranch kissy facing with the Prince... 9/11 was the "pearl harbor" event outlined in PNAC that allowed the US to rush into two wars.

[slackmaster]

24. Kill as many non-Muslims as possible

And get on TV.

[CJCRANE]

25. His goal was

the same as the neocons: "shock and awe" and bankrupt the U.S. Treasury.

[treestar]

26. He thought he could cut the country off at the head

And didn't realize it is too big. He went for the military, the Pentagon, the financial center, Wall Street and the other plane was likely headed for the Capitol or the WH, political.

Though maybe he is not that dumb, and it was just to show us it could be done, and to get us to react just as we did.

[Avalux]

27. To scare us and spend all of our money and resources on preventing another attack.

Of course, there were those in this country who saw the attack as an opportunity to make money and gain power. Did he know that would occur? Yep. (I won't take the conspiracy theory leap here.....)

[polichick]

28. I think it was a symbolic gesture, a statement about U.S. interference...

...and continuing presence in the Middle East.

[RaleighNCDUer]

29. Obviously, he was out to conquer America and make us all worship

his god.

Didn't you get the memo?

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

31. To set two cultures against each other. (And self-aggrandizement, of course.)

Given the results it's hard not to view 9/11 as the most efficient geo-strategic action ever... or at least since the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand.

[mikekohr]

32. In his words he hoped to make us spend a million for every dollar they spend.

Bin Laden noted this was how the muhajadeen defeated the Soviets. Bush played into Bin Laden's hand when he let Bin Laden escape in Tora Bora and then embarked on his most excellant adventure in Iraq.

mike kohr

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

33. To impress Jodie Foster

(joke)

[SKKY]

36. To get us out of the Middle East was the manifest function...

...economic strain/disaster was latent.

[Jennicut]

37. To make us fearful enough to never set foot in the middle east again.

Had the opposite effect.

[Unvanguard]

39. To provoke a foolish US response that he could exploit to weaken the country.

Which is what happened.

[agentS]

48. Yup. I figured as much on Sept 12th

I always knew it was a trap. Surely he knew we would come after him, on his own turf and get clogged up in muddy Afghan politics like the Soviets had.
After Tora Bora, I knew the whole thing was just a card-and-pony game or whatever it is y'all call it.

Without hearing serious evidence, I don't believe the CIA ordered Bin Forgotten to attack the US. Although, there seems to be a LOT of evidence that the Bush Admin milked it for everything they wanted (Iraq, etc) by letting Bin Forgotten escape to Pakistan. With him on the loose they can justify all measure of crap. And it looks like whomever would have taken the presidency in 08 would have to deal with this labyrinth in the way Darth Cheney aligned it. With more reports from Scahill and Hirsh, it looks like this whole thing is rigged and has always been rigged from the start.

So, it looks like we'll be in Af-Pak till at least 2015. Not exactly the 'change we wanted' but until everybody realizes this is really about Central Asian Oil pipelines then Obama won't be able to pull all troops out until then.

[applegrove]

42. That America would demean itself and act out of fear rather than greatness.

Obama is acting out of greatness. Bush acted out of fear.

[Oregone]

44. To strike at something he hated

And I will not guess at the reason for the hate. Nor will I guess at what he thought the reactions may be, if any. A man in another world, so insiginificant, may of thought nothing large would of come out of it besides the standard cruise missle strike. In the end, he may merely of wanted to take a swing at the entity he feels he is at war with.

Too many people give too much credit and read far too much into his motivations and grand plan.

[Ter]

47. To get the US to stop favoring Israel

3,000 dead later, we still bow to them.

[HughMoran]

49. To get the exact reaction that the idiot moron "W" gave him

Nothing like having a dupe for a President to help the terrorists make their point in spades.

[old mark]

50. OBL was the latest in the series of attacks on the US by radical muslims

that began in the 1970's. The purpost of the Twin Towers attack was to gain publicity for the international anti US campaign, to gain worldwide support for the radical muslim cause of establishing one large muslim nation from Europe to China controlled by a single caliph.
OBL thought the US would be panic stricken by the attack and that there would be anti US uprisings as a result, weakening the US government and pushing Europe into muslim control.

Bush fought the wrong war in Iraq, and wasted 8 years dithering in Afghanistan with no idea of what he was doing there. There were opportunities to kill bin Laden in 2001, but troops were pulled back by Bush.

mark