[Undertoad]

Originally Posted by Undertoad

In Iraq most attacks are on other Arab Muslims, so who is being recruited for what now?

No answer HM?

It's important for us to get the narrative right. We aren't getting it from anywhere else so we have to depend on each other. This morning Belmont Club looks at Michael Yon's latest dispatch and points out bin Laden's response to Somalia. What gave him strength was American withdrawl:

But your most disgraceful case was in Somalia; where -- after vigorous propaganda about the power of the USA and its post cold war leadership of the new world order -- you moved tens of thousands of international force, including twenty eight thousands American solders into Somalia. However, when tens of your solders were killed in minor battles and one American Pilot was dragged in the streets of Mogadishu you left the area carrying disappointment, humiliation, defeat and your dead with you. Clinton appeared in front of the whole world threatening and promising revenge , but these threats were merely a preparation for withdrawal. You have been disgraced by Allah and you withdrew; the extent of your impotence and weaknesses became very clear. It was a pleasure for the "heart" of every Muslim and a remedy to the "chests" of believing nations to see you defeated in the three Islamic cities of Beirut , Aden and Mogadishu.

Yon's latest also includes the point that one of the terrorists that the soldiers are fighting was previously captured, spent time at Abu Ghraib, was released against protest and returned to fight. He didn't have to be recruited. He was a bad guy and remained a bad guy after thinking about it in prison.

Regular Yon readers will know... Abu Ghraib is like a vacation, six months in air conditioning with three squares. It's important for us to get the narrative right. We aren't getting it from anywhere else.