Jiu jitsu
Ezra at Pandagon makes a pretty good point:
Al-Qaeda hardened our hearts yesterday. Abu Ghraib had dealt us a severe psychic blow, destroying the faith we held in our moral righteousness. The vicious and brutal murder of Nick Berg gave us the antidote to that doubt, reasserting who the true monsters were. Given the arc of this war, Bush's inability to prosecute it, the clear damage he was suffering from the torture, and his reliance on foils of pure evil to explain his case for reelection, I fear that Al-Qaeda wasn't strategically inept but quite savvy. Every day we're in Iraq we look weaker, every month with Bush at the helm we grow more separated from our allies. Reelecting the President would look to the world like an affirmation of the unilateralism and arrogance he represents, further widening the growing divide between us and them and separating us from those who add to our strength.
When attempting to divine Al-Qaeda's motives we must keep in mind that they're not focused on this war, they're focused on our eventual downfall. They want to destroy our country, not make us vacate Iraq's premises. Yesterday they struck a blow that blunted the impact of Abu Ghraib, hardened our resolve, and proved the President's "Us vs. Evil" rhetoric. Unlike Andrew, I'm not ready to call that stupid.
The Art of War teaches one to confront a powerful enemy by fight on ground they did not prepare for. And as much as the whole Iraqi invasion fits that description there are other battlefields the Bushistas are not only unprepared for but unwilling to see as being at risk.
What would it take for the Euro to become the preferred currency for oil trading?
What would happen in the US economy if that happened?
With every other reason having proved wrong, we're back to the war for oil speculation, but let's pretend oil had nothing to do with this war.
It will, sooner or later. Because it's the only weapon they have.
