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Originally posted by jaguar
As I’ve said before its things like that that show that his apparent motives are far more global than such incidents. General dislike of the US for other far bigger reasons shines though. I’m starting to think it’s more cultural than economic. Islam fears being eroded by an apparently unstoppable wave of western culture which is causing them o go more extreme in an effort to protect their own culture. Thoughts? From another perspective I doubt it would do his Muslim popularity rating much good if he starting bombing Arabs in Iraq. Although Sadam himself I thought would have been a popular target.
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You keep trying to find a reason to pin responsibility on the US and the first world. It isn't there. Islam in general is not responsible for this attack; neither bin Laden nor the Taliban represents Islam in general, and _both_ have been denounced (the Taliban even BEFORE Sept 19th) by Islamic countries and Islamic religious leaders. Osama Bin Laden is even alienated from his own family -- his nephew was in the US, studying at a university, on September 11th. Further, Afghanistan is completely unthreatened by any wave of western culture, as they have successfully managed to isolate themselves from the rest of the world.
In Afghanistan, the US didn't leave anyone to get slaughtered once we pulled out. The US were never there in force; it provided weapons and who knows what else, but it wasn't like Desert Storm. Furthermore, the US backed side _won_. The Soviets pulled out in 1989. Then the anti-Soviet alliance fell apart and civil war ensued. This, too, is not the fault of the US (nor even the Soviets, who had sufficient problems of their own). The Taliban wasn't even formed until well after that.
As for Iraq, the US had no obligation to ensure the victory of the anti-Saddam forces. Desert Storm gave them an opportunity, but they weren't able to take advantage of it.