Leaking pen wrote:
al queada, based out of afghanistan, is funded primarily by the
manufacture and sale of opium and heroin.
That's true. Good point. That is a fairly recent development.
However, the loss of oil revenue would so devastate them this could
not make up the difference.
middle east countries have many other sources of income besides oil.
Nope. Practically none. They are 280 million people with about as
much income as the 5.2 million people in Finland. Whatever other
income they have from opium, dried fish, or what-have-you would be
utterly swamped by the chaos of losing the oil income.
I am not saying this would be enjoyable or a pretty picture, and I
personally would not feel much schadenfreude. Initially, it would
result in a horrible mess for everyone, including us. It would be
awful for the Russians and Venezuelans too. They also depend upon
oil, and their societies are gradually being corrupted & destroyed by
it. But it has to be done, and the sooner the better for everyone.
They are going to run out of oil anyway. After a few years of crisis
they will either recover the way the Japanese did after World War II,
or descend into poverty and starvation.
And hows about the basque terrorists?
No threat to the U.S.
Hows about the oklahoma city bombing, was that a muslim?
I would not call that terrorism. Just one or two lunatics committing
a crime. Such things happen in every nation, in every era, albeit
seldom on such a large scale.
there are still anti government riots and terror attacks and plots
from many groups that are not muslim.
None against the U.S. as far as I know.
There are of course millions of Muslims who have nothing against the
US. I think the CIA estimated there are about 100 million people who
say they favor Al Qaeda, wear t-shirts of the twin-towers falling,
name their sons after bin Laden and so on. Wealthy supporters
contribute $2 or $3 million per day to Al Qaeda operations, so it is
a formidable operation. You can bet that 99% of the money those
wealthy supporters send comes from oil, and if the price collapses
they will not contribute zero after that. Naming babies will not pay
for a terrorist operation.
assuming otherwise becuase a single convenient scapegoat makes
you FEEL better is foolhardy.
It is not a scapegoat. I suggest you read what Al Qaeda has
published, and what they publicly declare they want to do. You should
always take such people at their word. They do not hide their agenda.
They say they plan to get Russian nuclear bombs and to destroy
several U.S. cities. Leading imams in Pakistan and elsewhere have
blessed these plans and given permission to kill up to 10 million
people. The Japanese militarists, Hitler, Stalin and Mao boldly
announced their plans and they followed through. With $3 million per
day Al Qaeda can do all of that and more, and you can be darn sure
they *will* do it, if they can. They would have blown up those 10
airplanes last week. This is a serious threat, although unfortunately
the U.S. leaders' response has been a joke and a sellout. We could
have stopped them cold three years ago but cutting off the oil money,
but we have not raised a finger to do so.
If they do hit us with a half dozen nuclear bombs, then my plan to
stop manufacturing conventional cars immediately will seem like a
very tame half-measure.
- Jed
