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Generational Dynamics Web Log for 8-Jan-2010
8-Jan-10 News - Obama: "We are at war with al-Qaeda."

Web Log - January, 2010

8-Jan-10 News - Obama: "We are at war with al-Qaeda."

Al-Qaeda is jubilant, while Jordan is embarassed.

Today we focus on the repercussions of al-Qaeda's recent terrorist acts, as we come closer to world war.

Barack Obama: "We are at war with al-Qaeda."

Announcing the results of an investigation of the intelligence community's failure to stop the "underwear bomber" from taking a plane to Detroit on Christmas day, President Barack Obama said:

"We are at war. We are at war against al Qaeda, a far-reaching network of violence and hatred that attacked us on 9/11, that killed nearly 3,000 innocent people, and that is plotting to strike us again. And we will do whatever it takes to defeat them."

Germany's left-wing Die Tageszeitung newspaper asks 'How much Bush is there in Obama?' <font size=-2>(Source: Spiegel)</font>

Germany's left-wing Die Tageszeitung newspaper asks 'How much Bush is there in Obama?' (Source: Spiegel)

As we've said several times last year, Obama is increasingly adopting President Bush's foreign affairs policies, abandoning his own blundering, dithering, befuddled, unfocused approach to terrorism. This reflects the increasing fear and anxiety of the American people.

Der Spiegel says that the European left is getting worried. They're asking, "How much Bush is there in Obama?"

It took President Bush only one day after 9/11 to say we're at war. Obama has taken quite a bit longer. Just imagine what Obama would be saying today if the Christmas day attack HADN'T failed.

From the point of view of Generational Dynamics, such an event would be a "regeneracy" event, the kind of event that, during a Crisis era, regenerates civic unity for the first time since the end of the last crisis war (WW II), and often leads to full-scale war.

(For information about the term "regeneracy" and about generational eras, see "Basics of Generational Dynamics.")

Al-Qaeda claims double victory -- in Afghanistan and Yemen

You'd think that the failed Christmas day attack would be considered an al-Qaeda failure, but leaders of Al-Qaeda on the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), headquartered in Yemen, are apparently very proud that they got a bomb into a jetliner over Detroit.

"With Allah's grace, the hero mujahid martyrdom-seeker, brother Omar Al-Farooq, carried out a quality operation on an American plane that took off from the Dutch city of Amsterdam to the American city of Detroit, while they were celebrating the Christmas holiday on Friday December 25, 2009, [an operation] which broke through all modern advanced technological equipment and security barriers in world airports, ... rubbing their noses in the dust [in humiliation], and making all they have spent upon security technologies a waste for them," according to a MEMRI translation of AQAP statements posted on web sites.

According to the statements, the attack was revenge for "the savage bombing using cluster bombs and cruise missiles that was launched from American ships that occupy the Gulf of Aden."

The leader of Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan is taking pride in the suicide bomber who killed seven CIA operatives in Kabul last week. The NY Times quotes him as saying, "He detonated his fine, astonishing and well-designed explosive device, which was unseen by the eyes of those who do not believe in the hereafter."

Just as Obama's rhetoric is increasingly talking about war, al-Qaeda is becoming energized by these two events.

Jordan expresses embarassment over the CIA killings

The suicide bomber that killed the CIA operatives was a Jordanian al-Qaeda terrorist whom Jordan had "turned" to be opposed to al-Qaeda. He was sent to Afghanistan to serve as a double agent -- working for al-Qaeda, but reporting what he learned to the CIA. But what the CIA didn't know was that he was a triple agent -- working for al-Qaeda, spying on the CIA. He was so well trusted that he wasn't searched when he came to the CIA compound, allowing him to explode his bomb.

Jordan is greatly embarassed by the CIA link, according to a detailed analysis in The Guardian. Jordan is America's strongest Muslim ally in the Mideast, but has kept the alliance as quiet as possible. Now that the CIA link has been exposed in the worst possible way, it could have political implications for Jordan's government.

(8-Jan-2010) Permanent Link
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Generational Dynamics Web Log for 8-Jan-2010 8-Jan-10 News - Obama: "We are at war with al-Qaeda."

Barack Obama: "We are at war with al-Qaeda."

Al-Qaeda claims double victory -- in Afghanistan and Yemen

Jordan expresses embarassment over the CIA killings

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Generational Dynamics Web Log for 8-Jan-2010
8-Jan-10 News - Obama: "We are at war with al-Qaeda."