An Important Explanation Of The Thinking Behind 9-11

We are approaching the ten year anniversary of 9-11.

Ten years is a long time.

As memories fade, it is important for those of us that cannot forget that awful day to remind those that have of what happened - and even more importantly, "why" it happened.

The "Why" of it all has been the subject of much debate and argument over the last ten years. Lee Harris' Al Qaeda's Fantasy Ideology, written in the summer of 2002, offers an explanation that is worth thinking about.

See: Al Qaeda's Fantasy Ideology

"KNOW YOUR ENEMY” is a well-known maxim, but one that is difficult to observe in practice. Nor is the reason for this hard to fathom: If you are my enemy, it is unlikely that I will go very much out of my way to learn to see things from your point of view. And if this is true even in those cases where the conflict is between groups that share a common culture, how much more true will it be when there is a profound cultural and psychological chasm between the antagonists?

That is just the first paragraph.

Read the whole thing.

Why the sudden downturn in the Oil Markets?

Shortly after the Seals capped Osama's ass, the Oil Markets crashed.

Was there a connection?

Maybe not.

From: SPECIAL REPORT - What really triggered oil's greatest rout

A range of factors, both economic and political, were also at play. The recent rise in raw goods has been fueled in part by the U.S. Fed pumping cash into the markets by purchasing $600 billion in bonds. This program has pushed interest rates extraordinarily low, making borrowing essentially free once adjusted for inflation. Investors have been using the super-cheap money to buy into commodity markets. But the Fed's program is slated to end on June 30.

"Funds were likely to take profits before June when the direct (Fed) bond purchases stop. All were eyeballing each other to see who would take profits first," said a London-based oil trader.

It was a government made Oil bubble.

"Spike the Ball" Mr. President. It is important.

From: Obama: I won't release bin Laden death photos

In explaining his choice not to release the photo, Mr. Obama said that "we don't need to spike the football." He said that "given the graphic nature of these photos it would create a national security risk."

Uhm. . . yes you do Mr. President.

You need to show "the enemy" that you have contempt for him.

You need to show the world that we are not afraid of "the enemy."

You don't have to let "Islam" be the issue in this case. Osama was "the face" of Al Qaeda. Showing "the face" of Al Qaeda blasted half away with American bullets is a message that needs to be shown to the enemy and to the world.

Spike the damn ball!

Obama's Unbounce in the Polls

I think it is a problem of the messenger. Obama is just not credible as a hard-nosed warrior. We are now able to see in the Rasmussen polling data that Obama is not getting much if any kind of a boost from the news about the killing of Bin Laden.

From the Daily Presidential Tracking Poll done by Rasmussen.

Overall, 48% of voters say they at least somewhat approve of the president's performance. Fifty-one percent (51%) disapprove. Data collected following the news concerning bin Laden shows no significant change in the president’s overall approval rating. The president’s job approval ratings have been remarkably stable over the past year-and-a-half when viewed on a month-by-month basis.

I think that this post explains pretty well the weak (possibly non-existent) bump in the polls.

See: OBL's Death a Victory for the Adults

Because when you drill down, the death of bin Laden has nothing to do with the core beliefs of this President or the entire liberal movement.

Then there was the devastating revelation that it took Obama 16 hours to green-light the operation to kill Osama.

See: Obama took SIXTEEN HOURS to make up his mind about Bin Laden mission

The headline alone is enough. (The rest of the article should still be read.)
Sixteen hours? Obama had to have known that there was a very high probability that one day, the CIA was going to come to him with "Sir, We have Bin Laden in our gun-sights. What are your orders?"

That moment came. He was unprepared - as if he did not know what the right thing to do was.

That is not good. It reinforces the suspicion expressed in the post from the American Thinker.

Obama has come out of this looking like he was unprepared to give the go order but once having been brought around to do that, decided to turn the affair into a campaign event.

Osama Gives No Bump To Obama

See: Bin Laden Death Will Not Boost Obama: Expert

“The immediate reaction in the US notwithstanding, 'normal business' will soon be resumed in US politics. There will be no change on the fiscal/debt polarization and contrary to some commentators' reaction, definitely no election boost for Obama,” said Newton in an interview with CNBC on Tuesday.

Barbara Walters and many others in the media may think that the killing of Osama will boost Obama's re-election chances. There hopes are only a reflection of their fears. Obama is in so much trouble that they are desperate to grasp at anything.

There will be no lasting boost for Obama*. By election day, Osama will be all but forgotten.

The Democrats own the economy. The voters will be thinking about the lack of work and the rising price of gas and food when they think about Obama from now till election day. Osama will be an afterthought at most.

Obama, it's the economy, stupid.

~~~

* You can watch the Rasmussen Daily Presidential Tracking Poll as the numbers begin to show peoples opinion of the president in the days after the Osama killing. I expect a small bump, but one that is so small and temporary that it could easily be confused with noise. A week from now, Obama's numbers will be as bad as they are today, if not worse.

From the May 3rd Report

Daily updates are based upon nightly telephone interviews and reported on a three-day rolling average basis. As a result, two-thirds of the interviews for today’s update were conducted before news was released about the death of Osama bin Laden. Thursday will be the first update based entirely upon interviews conducted after that event. Results from the single night of data collected on Monday shows a modest improvement in the president’s Approval Index rating. However, there was no improvement in the president’s overall approval rating. Caution should always be used when interpreting a single night sample from a tracking poll.

"We initially laughed when he told us that he wanted to kill Osama bin Laden, . . . "

See: American on mission to kill bin Laden arrested

PESHAWAR, Pakistan — An American armed with a pistol and a 40-inch sword was detained in northern Pakistan and told investigators he was on a solo mission to kill Osama bin Laden, a police officer said Tuesday.

The man was identified as 52-year-old Californian construction worker Gary Brooks Faulkner, said officer Mumtaz Ahmad Khan.

He was picked up in a forest in the Chitral region late on Sunday, he said.

"We initially laughed when he told us that he wanted to kill Osama bin Laden," said Khan. But he said when officers seized the pistol, the sword and night-vision equipment, "our suspicion grew."

Not sure what to say about this.

I wonder if his world has a sound track playing in the back ground of his mind.

HT: Render at Correspondence Committee