The Plan All Along

Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula has boldly announced its plan for a campaign of small scale attacks on America and its economy. They proudly celebrate the the simplicity and low cost of their toner cartridge bomb and its assembly. Cheaper bombs means more bombs they warn, and even unsuccessful attempts will disrupt international air freight. Their tone is almost mocking.

But this should be no surprise to anyone who listened to Osama bin Ladin six years ago:

All that we have to do is to send two mujahedeen to the furthest point East to raise a piece of cloth on which is written al-Qaeda, in order to make the generals race there to cause America to suffer human, economic, and political losses without their achieving for it anything of note other than some benefits for their private companies. (emphasis added)

Bin Laden was mocking us then. He's still mocking us.

This latest boast is a reminder that the Bad Guys are still out there and their plans need to be foiled. But it should also remind us that these are small scale threats. Compared to the economy, climate change and the decay of our national infrastructure, $4,200 cartridge bombs don't amount to much of a threat. They are criminal acts to be prevented by intelligent, knowledgeable police and intelligence work in America and other nations. We don't need the 101st Airborne in Afghanistan to stop bombs on airplanes coming out of Yemen.

But we do need people who know what's going in and out of Yeman and other places where al-Qaeda has affiliates. Or maybe we no longer accept packages from those places or at least pay much closer attention to those packages. Any combination of the above would make America safer than bringing tanks to Afghanistan. Or extending the war to 2014.

For Osama bin Laden and his spawn it's all good. The plan worked. America took the bait and remains firmly hooked.

Without achieving for it anything of note.