Article

2004-11-02 Terror Networks & Islam

Osama bin Laden: It's the economy stupid!

Archived material is restricted to Rantburg regulars and members. If you need access email fred.pruitt=at=gmail.com with your nick to be added to the members list. There is no charge to join Rantburg as a member.

Posted by tipper 2004-11-02 9:25:45 AM|| || Front Page|| [11137 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 Bankrupt the U.S.???? The man is an ignorant fool. Not just because of the size of the economy in question, or that it is the most active in the world these days. But because of the freedom to create, which means that the people who proviously developed Ginsu knives and fantastic bagless vacuum cleaners have now turned their attention to inventing tiny tracers, chemical/biological detectors, anti-IED armor, and even more esoteric toys. And shortly, each one of those is going to be the seed of a new industry, as once the computer and the internet were.

I apologise to fellow pedants for the run-on sentence, but even I , in my abysmal ignorance of all things economic, know this much. If Bin Laden thinks to open a second front against the U.S. in this manner, he's already lost -- as badly as Hitler when he started toward the Russian border. And unlike the Russians, the Yanks will enjoy this particular battle.

Posted by trailing wife 2004-11-02 9:48:06 AM|| 2004-11-02 9:48:06 AM|| Front Page Top

#2 TW,

No need for an apology. All of your points are exactly right.

The only way we lose this fight is if we don't show up for it.

Posted by Dreadnought 2004-11-02 4:39:11 PM|| 2004-11-02 4:39:11 PM|| Front Page Top

#3 The video's bogus. Osama's famous for eloquent rhetoric and fluid, classical arab prose. This tape's jokey, adolescent, rambling, irrelevant. When exactly did these diehard warriors suddenly develop such a strong interest in economics? He's never said a word about any economic program or theory, let alone a strategy for economic warfare.

And then you have the script's syntax and banal, leaden style. It reads like your average editorial from Cincinatti or San Diego. That is, when it's not stealing lines from Mikey Boy, Rock the Vote, and The Beverly Hillbillies ("black gold" - ha!).

My money's on some lefty hack from Britain, perhaps an Arab who lived in the US for a few years. Regardless we can be 99% certain that this did not come from Osama's hand.

Posted by lex 2004-11-02 5:30:29 PM|| 2004-11-02 5:30:29 PM|| Front Page Top

#4 Lex/NSA spook. A lot of what you say makes sense. Alot of sense. But the CIA gave it a probably rating. Don't they do a voice print on the audio to confirm it isn't an imposter?

Posted by Mrs. Davis 2004-11-02 5:42:50 PM|| 2004-11-02 5:42:50 PM|| Front Page Top

#5 No NSA spook, just a former English major (also History) who knows sh*tty prose when he sees it. This is not the work of an eloquent, confident, visionary warrior. It is a hack job by someone who'd trying to rip off anti-Bush memes from MTV, Mikey and the OpEd pages.

I mean, really, when did Osama start reading Krugman? He may be nutty but he's not stupid.

Posted by lex 2004-11-02 5:52:05 PM|| 2004-11-02 5:52:05 PM|| Front Page Top

23:44 Jabba the Nutt
23:40 Cyber Sarge
23:20 Phil Fraering
23:12 RWV
23:08 Carl in N.H.
22:54 djh_usmc
22:42 Darth VAda
22:25 Grunter
22:24 Don
22:18 Mark Espinola
21:49 trailing wife
21:40 Bulldog
21:24 anymouse
21:11 Asedwich
21:06 Asedwich
20:45 Tom
20:39 4 more years! of kerry!
20:36 Chris W.
20:33 Shipman
20:31 4 more years! of kerry!
20:29 mhw
20:23 Seafarious
20:17 muck4doo
20:15 muck4doo