Friday, May 16, 2008

THE ART OF WAR ... "IF I WAS A TERRORIST"

Over five years ago I wrote this article.

In the article I suggest we should consider that Osama bin Laden might NOT be some deranged lunatic, or an out of control fanatic. I ask, What if he believes destabilizing America only requires pushing the United States into a sustained wartime economic binge? Further, what if he understood that goading the United States into massive budget deficits, which shove trillions of dollars into the global economy, would eventually undermine the value of the U.S. dollar and threaten our economic stability?

This kind of thinking would impress Sun Tzu, author of The Art of War. In the book Sun Tzu argued true mastery of war involves "deception" and the capacity to break the enemy without seeking military battle.

Specifically, Sun Tzu wrote the "skillful leader subdues the enemy's troops without any fighting; he captures their cities without laying siege to them; he overthrows their kingdom without lengthy operations in the field."

If this was Osama bin Laden’s thinking, the events of 9/11 were a big score. Today we have record debt, the dollar is in free fall mode, inflation is a coming reality, and inattention to the nation’s economy because of President Bush’s Blundering Wars Project. This has to be pleasing to Osama bin Laden.

All of this helps make this clip – “If I was a Terrorist” – so interesting.



If 9/11 was designed to be the catalyst for a series of responses and events (which President Bush clearly fell into), Osama bin Laden might prove himself to be a Master Student of yet another Sun Tzu maxim: "The opportunity of defeating the enemy is provided by the enemy himself."

- Mark

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