Why al-Qaeda is winning (Asia Times)

[Minstrel Boy]

Why al-Qaeda is winning
by Pepe Escobar
Asia Times, Sept 11

Three years after September 11, President George W Bush's crusade is a failure. "War on terror" is a meaningless myth: you can't combat a supple attack machine like al-Qaeda with shock and awe. What should have been a long, meticulous police operation was turned by Bush - instigated by his foreign policy adviser, God - into an illegal, preemptive attack on a nation that had nothing to do with terror.

...

Like a multinational product, "al-Qaeda" suits everybody. For President Vladimir Putin in Russia, Islam Karimov in Uzbekistan, even President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in the Philippines, "al-Qaeda" is the ideal excuse for any repressive or inept regime presenting its credentials as a full-fledged member of the "war on terror". For al-Qaeda's purposes, bin Laden remaining the supreme evil is an invaluable propaganda coup. And for al-Qaeda franchises - free to pursue their own initiatives - using the brand means guaranteed media impact.

"Al-Qaeda" the brand has now embarked on an inexorable logic of expansion - in flagrant contradiction to Bush's assertion that the world is safer. Al-Qaeda will keep deepening its alliances with ethnic and nationalist movements - with Shamil Basayev, the emir of the mujahideen in Chechnya and trainer of the Black Widow squadrons of female suicide bombers, or with sectors of the Iraqi resistance in the Sunni triangle. "Global" al-Qaeda in all these cases works and will continue to work as a sort of "Foreign Legion", as French scholar Olivier Roy puts it, a capable military vanguard that is useful for local purposes for a determined period of time.

...

As nihilistic as it may be, al-Qaeda, from a business point of view, is a major success: three years after September 11, it is a global brand and a global movement. The Middle East, in this scenario, is just a regional base station. This global brand does not have much to do with Islam. But it has everything to do with the globalization of anti-imperialism. And the empire, whatever its definition, has its center in Washington. Bin Laden is laughing: Bush's crusade has legitimized an obscure sect as a worldwide symbol of political revolt. How could bin Laden not vote for Bush?
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/FI11Ak03.html

[soleft]

1. This article makes me wonder if the reason Bush is still viable

is because ignorant, nationalistic, bigoted Americans simply view Islam as the enemy, and whether they share his beliefs or not - they feel the best leader to deal with that is a born again Christian who will not be influenced by secular reason.

[Inland]

2. Its true--Alqaeda has global name recognition, claims global leadership,

has the ability to move nations just by watching Bush twitch and twist at the very mention of its name.

Bush is such a crap president, we are losing a PR and marketing war to a homicidal maniacal group of terrorists.

Now, if we were winning the WAR war on alqaeda, the part where war is not merely an analogy and enemies are being killed, I would feel this is okay. But since the fall of the Taliban, we haven't accomplished shit in that direction.