[lbo-talk] Does Al Qaeda Exist?

Michael Dawson MDawson at pdx.edu
Wed Jan 12 10:25:22 PST 2005


You're right. That's a good piece. But the point it makes is mine:

"If the next major terrorist attack on the United States takes place, it will not greatly matter if the attackers turn out to have been al-Qaeda or al-Qaedaists: bin Laden survives as an inspiring folk hero. The political causes and theological justifications for jihad are as alive as ever."

This situation we're in is not caused by rotten apples usurping our otherwise lovely institutions. This is the direct and logical outcome of corporate capitalist imperialism. Our elite needs cars, which means it needs oil, which means it needs to avoid democracy, sanity, and independent states in Oil Country, which means it prefers OBLs to Nassers and Mossadeghs and Barghoutis.

If we are going to save ourselves, we need to understand the depth and complexity of the problem. Saying it doesn't exist is just evil, IMHO.


> -----Original Message-----
> From: lbo-talk-bounces at lbo-talk.org [mailto:lbo-talk-bounces at lbo-talk.org]
> On Behalf Of Doug Henwood
> Sent: Wednesday, January 12, 2005 9:57 AM
> To: lbo-talk at lbo-talk.org
> Subject: RE: [lbo-talk] Does Al Qaeda Exist?
>
> Michael Dawson wrote:
>
> >The willful thickness of you hoax fetishists is as necessary and
> predictable
> >to your hyper-liberal twaddle as it is stunning to those of us who care
> >about how power actually works.
> >
> >You and I both know what conspiracy theory you're peddling. It's the
> >pathetic one that suggests Al Qaeda doesn't exist and that Dick Cheney
> flew
> >those jets into their targets.
>
> There's an extremely sensible piece in the New York Review of Books
> <http://www.nybooks.com/articles/17676> by Jonathan Raban called "The
> Truth About Terrorism." It reviews the British TV show along with
> several books, and takes the documentary very seriously. It's worth
> reading the review before you go around kicking people in the ass.
>
> Doug
> ___________________________________
> http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/mailman/listinfo/lbo-talk



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