Newly translated Al Qada letters posted on Austin Bay are very revealing.
Some choice excerpts:
On the American “Blackhawk Down” experience in Somalia:
General observations on the operation:
1. The Africa Corps did not enter the Somali arena with a clear vision,
specifically a strategic vision, either militarily or politically.
2. Likewise, Americans did not enter the Somali arena with a clear vision
of the objectives of its presence. Moreover, its vision of East Africa and
the Horn of Africa failed to crystallize. I believe that the buffoon
Clinton was motivated by election considerations and a personal
inclination toward flamboyance, as if for a fleeting moment he believed
the falsehood that he was the leader of the most powerful country in the
world.
More on Somalia:
The Somali experience confirmed the spurious nature of American
power and that it has not recovered from the Vietnam complex. It fears
getting bogged down in a real war that would reveal its psychological
collapse at the level of personnel and leadership. Since Vietnam
America has been seeking easy battles that are completely guaranteed. It
entered into a shameful series of adventures on the island of Grenada,
then Panama, then bombing Libya, and then the Gulf War farce, which
was the greatest military, political, and ideological swindle in history.
The outcomes were 100 percent guaranteed. Even so, the Americans
brought with them forces from 30 countries to take the blows on their
behalf, should events not turn out the way they were supposed to. In the
end, the Arabs, the Europeans, and Japan paid the costs of the war, plus
fees!
Thoughts on why the Soviet Empire collapsed and how to deal with America:
The Soviet empire collapsed as a direct result of the war in Afghanistan,
leaving the United States in control as the number one power overseeing
world affairs. The U.S. tries to run the world in an autocratic manner by
assigning absolute priority to its interests, followed by the interests of its
allies in the West and then its Asian satellites, Japan in particular.
The cracks in the ranks of this fragile alliance are increasing with time.
Warfare is an absolute certainty in the nature of the makeup of the
capitalistic system. It cannot be avoided. Within one or two decades the
nuclear weapon that in the past prevented a clash between the superpowers,
while proxy wars became a way acceptable to them, will be a people’s
weapon. History will take new course when that happens. One researcher
summarized the situation within the American-led alliance of the major
powers as follows: “America against everyone; and everyone against the
Muslims.†This statement is absolutely true. We have to absorb it and use
it to explain the massacres to which we are being subjected.
It would be very interesting to find the author of this and ask him what he thinks of America’s military capability and political will in the wake of Afghanistan and Iraq being liberated. I would bet he would not call Bush a “buffoon”. More likely Bush would get a rating of “Satanic” or “Devil” or some such.
Sometimes the opinion of your enemy can be as revealing as the opinion of your friend…
1 user commented in " What did Al Qada think of the US before 9/11 "
Follow-up comment rss or Leave a TrackbackThe outcomes were 100 percent guaranteed.
Well duh – you never start a war unless you’re certain you can win.
You don’t win a war by walking up the baddest dude on the block and challenging him to a duel. You win by sneaking up behind him and caving his head in with a bat. Then you whack him in the kidneys on the way down. Keep bashing until he’s stone dead.
I’d have to read the whole thing – but I think the writer is making a very basic mistake. He looks at a nation of people who eschew the term ‘warrior’, takes our profession of peace and love and ‘can’t we all just get along’ neglects to think it through.
Americans don’t think of themselves as warriors and that is generally true. Yet America is a nation that is the end result of hundreds of years of violence and ruthless warfare, and adaptation to new conflict.
We’re not warrors because we don’t have to be – the optimal solution turns out not to esatablish a society of warriors but a Jacksonian ethos of immediate and quick violence to identified threats. The militia call and musket over the fireplace – march to the colors, rally round the flag, the quickest road home leads through Berlin and let’s go _home_ we’ve settled their hash.
For people supposedly steeped in history they are remarkably .. well dumb about other cultures and their history. Ask the Indians, German, English, Spanish, Mexicans about what happens when you challenge cold-eyed Anglo-Celts (and we’re all inheritors of that tradition) on ground of our choosing.
The Commanche were the finest light cavalry in the 19th century – but less than twenty years after the government got serious about the Indian problem they were all dead or cowed onto reservations. The Mexican Army of 1836 was the finest body of soldiery in this part of the world – whipped stone dead by a thousand American riflemen at San Jacinto.
The bit about nuclear weapons being a people’s weapon worries me. Damned zealots.
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