nice read, tom. Dunno about your stance on the war in Iraq (I was dead against it from the start, but now that we've started it, we need to finish the job; can't just go and leave a tree half-chopped), but I especially liked this paragraph, and find it very fitting:
Quote:
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The losses in Iraq since 2006 are a particular setback for the movement. Bin Laden made Iraq a poster child of jihad and for years delighted in bleeding the United States as his movement there became more powerful. In the last two years, however, U.S. forces and their Iraqi allies have dealt a series of hard, perhaps even mortal, blows to al-Qaida of Iraq. Its fighters are wiped out or dispirited, and its desire to use Iraq as a base for expanding influence elsewhere in the region, a nightmare that appeared to be beginning when Iraq-based operatives carried out devastating 2005 hotel bombings in Jordan, appears unlikely to materialize anytime soon.
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Also, the increasing frequency of female suicide bombers is something I've been keeping an eye on and wondering 'why?'. I don't know that it has any qualitative analysis on the state of the jihadists, but IMO, once you dip into using women as suicide bombers, that means you are running out of able-bodied men that are disposable.
Again, just my nickel's worth.
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