more on "Trapped in the War on Terror" by Ian Lustick

Begin forwarded message:

From: Brock N Meeks <[email protected]>
Date: November 8, 2006 12:10:36 PM EST
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: [IP] "Trapped in the War on Terror" by Ian Lustick

With the proviso that I have not yet  read the article mentioned  
below, I am astounded by the very first quote.  Having covered many  
Islamic warlords and spent a fair amount of time in the Muslim world,  
I have never, ever, heard one utter such perfectly phrased American  
cliches.

I find it specious that an "al Quaeda security chief" would use the  
term "took the bait" and "fell into our trap."  I wonder if this is  
an extremely loose translation... or simply a convenient invention.




On Nov 8, 2006, at 11:00 AM, David Farber wrote:

>
>
> Begin forwarded message:
>
> From: Ted Kircher <[email protected]>
> Date: November 8, 2006 10:37:53 AM EST
> To: Dave Farber <[email protected]>
> Subject: "Trapped in the War on Terror" by Ian Lustick
> Reply-To: Ted Kircher <[email protected]>
>
> Dave, for IP if you wish.
>
> An excellent review of Ian Lustick's book can be read on page 12 of  
> the PDF of the
> Arts & Science magazine of the University of Pennsylvania at
> <http://www.sas.upenn.edu/home/news/SAS_Sum06.pdf>.
>
> The first sentence of the review is: "The Americans took the bait  
> and fell into our trap"
> crowed al Quaeda security chief, Seif al-Adl.  The overwhelming  
> U.S. reaction to 9/11,
> in particular the unjustified preemptive war with Iraq, has allowed  
> al Quaeda to grow
> dramatically.  It was also an act costing al Quaeda less than $200K  
> that will wind up
> costing the U.S. $1T - an amplifying effect of 5 million  
> (5,000,000)! - in addition to
> both increasing our threat of terrorism and reducing our individual  
> freedoms.
>
> I think the U.S. needs to realize that our primary threat is  
> economic - and in particular
> from China which does NOT have to be very concerned about terrorism  
> including
> the tremendeous expense of trying to prevent it.
>
> The focus of our capital, to remain highly competitive globally,  
> needs to be on educating
> all of our citizens (think of them as employees of our company, the  
> U.S., who can't be
> fired) and funding new ventures to create attractive (price as well  
> as function) products
> for the rapidly expanding global marketplace.
>
> Ted
>
>
>
>
>
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