Word: ladens
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...failing to accurately assess Osama bin Laden’s motives in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks, the Bush administration committed the U.S. to a foreign policy in the Middle East that plays into bin Laden’s nefarious interests. Bin Laden was not simply a religious fanatic dedicated to the destruction of pluralistic and democratic Western society, even though it may have been politically expedient and emotionally cathartic to characterize him that way. Instead, bin Laden endeavored to stir up turmoil in the Middle East that would lead to the establishment of additional Islamic theocracies...
...than two weeks after the attacks, President Bush argued that the U.S. was locked in bitter combat with an enemy bent on nothing less than “remaking the world—and imposing its radical beliefs on people everywhere.” Because Bush assumed that bin Laden was motivated purely by his hatred of “America and other free nations,” his administration crafted a foreign policy based on aggressive, preemptive action. No longer would the United States merely defend itself from imminent threats, as we rightfully did in Afghanistan. Our leadership wanted...
...first clues that bin Laden had much more focused goals were apparent within hours of the Sept. 11 attacks. By all accounts, al Qaeda was a vast and powerful organization, benefiting from sophisticated command structures and substantial financial resources. Despite these capabilities, however, al Qaeda did not press the offensive—a strategic decision, not a tactical blunder. The Sept. 11 attacks were not intended to be an opening salvo in a sustained campaign against the U.S. homeland. They were intended to elicit a military-political response from the United States that would be perceived by the moderate peoples...
...indicates that bin Laden’s organization maintained clandestine operatives in the country after the Sept. 11 attacks. Furthermore, the Associated Press reported that the interrogation of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed—an important al Qaeda operational planner captured in March—produced evidence that bin Laden himself was responsible for managing the tactical scale of the attacks. Taken together, this information suggests that al Qaeda had the operational sophistication, the opportunity and the in-place assets to plan and execute broader strikes against domestic targets in late 2001, but chose...
While bin Laden may dream of the destruction of the U.S., evidence suggests that he is too smart, too well-educated and too strategically sophisticated to believe that it is a rational possibility. It is likely, instead, that bin Laden and the al Qaeda network are working towards the more limited goal of Islamic revolution in the Gulf States and the eventual establishment of autocratic Islamic theocracies. Of all things, bin Laden despises the United States for the presence of its military forces in Saudi Arabia. His motives for the strategic attacks against the United States, therefore, were the same...