Bin Laden's Economy Threat Is Timely

[msgadget]

By DONNA BRYSON, Associated Press Writer

CAIRO, Egypt - Osama bin Laden (news - web sites)'s vow to bleed America to bankruptcy at a time when the economy is a major issue in the U.S. presidential campaign shows he's a close student of the United States, as well as a strategist bent on getting the most impact from his words as well as his attacks.



The al-Qaida leader boasted in his first appearance in more than a year that for every $1 his terrorist organization has spent on strikes, it has cost the United States $1 million in economic fallout and military spending, including emergency funding for Iraq (news - web sites) and Afghanistan (news - web sites).


"As for the size of the economic deficit, it has reached record astronomical numbers," bin Laden said, estimating the deficit at more than $1 trillion.


In reality, spending in the war against terror and other factors have resulted in an expected $377 billion shortfall for 2003 — the highest deficit since World War II when inflation is factored out. The total U.S. national debt is near the $7.4 trillion statutory limit.


Bin Laden dwelled on al-Qaida's economic strategy against the United States in portions of an 18-minute video aired Friday on the Arab television station Al-Jazeera and obtained by U.S. intelligence. Al-Jazeera aired about 14 minutes of the video.


The terror mastermind whose al-Qaida network carried out the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks credited the religiously inspired Arab volunteers that he fought with against the Soviets in Afghanistan with having "bled Russia for 10 years, until it went bankrupt and was forced to withdraw in defeat." He suggested the same strategy would work against the United States.


"So we are continuing this policy in bleeding America to the point of bankruptcy," a calm and forceful bin Laden said in the tape that appeared near the end of a U.S. campaign that has focused on the war on terror as well as the foundering U.S. economy.

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=540&u=/ap/20041101/ap_on_re_mi_ea/bin_laden_targeting_the_economy&printer=1

[msgadget]

1. Ironic

that we subsidized the terrorists in the fight against the Soviets he mentions in this article.

[bahrbearian]

4. Bin Laden had been trained for years by the CIA.

[DuctapeFatwa]

2. The producers of the tape are just testing America's Resolve

But the attempt will fail. Americans will make whatever sacrifices are necessary to Prevail and stamp out insurgencies wherever they may arise.

[lovuian]

3. Osama don't underestimate us!!! Kerry is in your A$$ is Gone!!!

Better start Praying !!!

[klook]

5. So Bush and OBL are in cahoots

They both want to bleed America dry.

[VegasWolf]

6. That's okay, bush doesn't believe in the economy.

New Information Shows Bush Indecisive, Paranoid, Delusional

[Brundle_Fly]

7. theres rumors

about the US economies.