[Sonart]

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Quote by: rmnunez he terrorists in Iraq are not available for suicide missions in western capitals.

Rm, I think it should be obvious that mideast terrorism is definitely not lacking in suicide bombers. In fact, it's my understanding that, after training them in Iraq, al-Zarqawi is actually exporting terrorists into neighboring Muslim countries.

But like I said... al-Qaeda is fighting us in Iraq because that's where, in the long run, they can hurt us the most.... by exhausting our military in an never ending war, draining our economy, alienating us from the Muslim world, undermining our global leadership and sapping American confidence in their own government.

Quote by: rmnunez Moreover, terrorists are much more likely to be killed when attacking armed forces than in attacks on civilians who cannot defend themselves.

Which is exactly why they rely on roadside bombs, hide behind mosques, women and children, and melt away whenever our military mounts a major offensive. They have no intention of fighting our military straight up. That would be real suicide.

They're not out to win, just to keep us from winning until we're exhausted from trying.

Quote by: rmnunez Furthermore, the force of the united statian reaction to 911 suggests similar military reaction would follow another major terrorist attack and this would dissuade.

Is that right? Tell me, with our military forces stretched to the breaking point in Iraq, exactly what major military attack do you imagine the U.S. could mount?

Quote by: rmnunez I don't know what has helped more prevent a 911-like attack, whether it is improved monitoring of foreigners, the appeal of an opportunity to attack troops in Iraq or the killing of terrorists there. All three likely have impact though.

Simply paying attention, I suspect. Think about it... even when the last thing anyone in America expected was a massive terrorist attack, an attack that took 5 years to plan, we came heart-breakingly close to uncovering it. And as dramatic and painful as the attack on 9/11 was, in terms of bang-for-the-buck, al-Qaeda is doing far more real damage to America by keeping us bogged down in Iraq then by any dramatic but basically symbollic attacks on our own shores.

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