Comments on: We cannot stop at Osama bin Laden

By: coyotle

coyotle — Mon, 23 May 2011 15:13:43 +0000

Mr. Morgenthau seems to equate assassination with law enforcement. An interesting position for a former prosecutor. Shoot first and ask questions later.

By: jerryku

jerryku — Sat, 14 May 2011 00:06:47 +0000

The irony is that the US is now allied with Al Qaeda in Libya.

Also, Morgenthau should read up on the US’s Flying Tigers group. They were ordered to attack Japanese forces in China, by President FDR, BEFORE Pearl Harbor. Get the history straight!

By: Acetracy

Acetracy — Thu, 05 May 2011 11:03:37 +0000

Morgenthau easily skips the main issue that feeds terrorism in the MidEast: the US and Israeli political position of suppressing Palestinians (both Muslim and Christian) to create a greater Israel through settlements on annexed land.

The US foreign policy in the 70s and 80s created Islamic fundamentalism to fight the supposed threat of communism in the Mideast, and increased this effort when the USSR invaded Afghanistan in 1980.

So Morgenthau should be talking about how US foreign policy should change to stop the rise of terrorism. No technology, no multi-billion defense budget, and no navy seal operation has shown to be effective so far. Just look at the hundreds of dead each month in Iraq and Afghanistan where US presence has now been for almost ten years!!! That is longer than WWII and the occupation of Germany combined!!

By: PCScipio

PCScipio — Thu, 05 May 2011 05:29:51 +0000

The Bin Laden hit is how we should have been dealing with al-Qaeda all along; drones and special ops (though more discrete spec ops) vice invasions of countries. Let’s hope we’ve begun on a new path.

By: readyforthenet

readyforthenet — Wed, 04 May 2011 19:52:27 +0000

Over the past 10 years, al Qaeda has become more than an organization led by one person. It is a viral culture and as such is more powerful and ubiquitous than what most people realize. The death of Bin Laden is purely symbolic. Remember that al Qaeda is very tech savvy and has the ability to harness the power of the Internet to keep itself in tact without a symbolic leader.

Bin Laden’s death needs to be viewed as a turning point in the struggle to win back the hearts and minds of a generation of people who have felt disenfranchised with the west.

I believe the most important trend is the continued uprisings in the Arab world by average people seeking democracy and human rights. This ideologically shift represents the most dangerous weapons against those who look to suppress freedom.

These uprisings have the potential for disruptive change that not only has could dismantle al Qaeda, but also create an environment that could fuel the repatriation of those who are ideologically aligned with al Qaeda back into a society that looks to compete with the west on a political and economic playing field, not a battlefield.