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[IP] more on "Trapped in the War on Terror" by Ian Lustick





Begin forwarded message:

From: Brock N Meeks <bmeeks@xxxxxxx>
Date: November 8, 2006 12:10:36 PM EST
To: dave@xxxxxxxxxx
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 <tkircher@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: November 8, 2006 10:37:53 AM EST
To: Dave Farber <dave@xxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: "Trapped in the War on Terror" by Ian Lustick
Reply-To: Ted Kircher <tkircher@xxxxxxxxxxx>

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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