Schneier on Security: Correspondent Inference Theory:
Defeating terrorism means increasing security.
Increasing security can also mean that you are allowing the terrorist to control your behavior (witness the ban on lotions of mass destruction at airport checkins). Does evaluating their stated goals and, where possible without capitulating or abandoning one’s own principles, addressing them enter into this?
from the original post @ Scheier’s, 6 of bin Laden’s policy goals :
1. End U.S. support of Israel
2. Force American troops out of the Middle East, particularly Saudi Arabia
3. End the U.S. occupation of Afghanistan and (subsequently) Iraq
4. End U.S. support of other countries’ anti-Muslim policies
5. End U.S. pressure on Arab oil companies to keep prices low
6. End U.S. support for “illegitimate” (i.e. moderate) Arab governments, like Pakistan
Other than 1, few of these are in America’s interest anyway. While we would prefer lower oil prices and moderate governments, are they worth losing the WTC and the subsequent waste of blood and treasure in Mesopotamia?
Does the US need troops in Saudi Arabia? How is our support of an undemocratic kingdom that treats women as it does reflect on our own ideals? Does the US need to appear to control puppet governments in central Asia? I think we know how well the occupations of Afghanistan and Iraq are going.
I don’t support Osama bin Forgotten but opposing him just because he attacked or refusing to examine why he and his minions were provoked enough to conceive and execute the 9/11 plot is a recipe for more of the same.