Max Sawicky:
> Probably, but the source is different,
> hence the political implications are too.
> OBL is trying to psyche up his audience;
> I'm suggesting the opposite. He's trying
> to provoke the U.S. to overreact, and
> he's doing a bang-up job at that. What
> is best, to the contrary, is minimization
> of our popular image of "the enemy."
> Failure to minimize it leaves our leaders
> to inflate it.
So vengeance is a dish best eaten cold -- and prepared carefully. I doubt if this sort of sophisticated approach will appeal to the American people's sense of their right to the moronic approach to politics and culture, especially their right to be free of any historical or karmic perspective. I can't stand listening to much of what's on the radio, but I gather the half-dozen or so countries that the United States has bombed in the last 20 years aren't being mentioned very much in the general rant, with the occasional exceptions of Afghanistan and Iraq. The dish you recommend might need many ingredients, but the big table is impatient and will be satisfied with a simple pizza.