How many times in the last seven years have we heard that if we don't do one thing or the other, the terrorists will win?
Let me tell you something- they already won.
I had never thought about that before until Garry Shandling (of all people) brought it up on last night's Real Time With Bill Maher (sorry, no video) and he was absolutely right.
I was originally going to add more commentary to this, but I think the quotes below speak for themselves. I will only say this- people have lauded the Bush administration for having prevented post-9/11 terrorist attacks. As you will read below, 9/11 was the only attack they needed.
Let me give some quotes from Osama Bin Laden Ayman al-Zawahiri-
[W]ith the destruction of the Twin Towers in New York, there occurred an even bigger destruction: that of the great American Dream and legend of Democracy.
So We Are Continuing This Policy In Bleeding America To The Point Of Bankruptcy.
[F]or example, al-Qaida spent $500,000 on the event, while America, in the incident and its aftermath, lost – according to the lowest estimate – more than 500 billion dollars. Meaning that every dollar of al-Qaida defeated a million dollars by the permission of Allah, besides the loss of a huge number of jobs.
In conclusion, America is definitely a great power, with an unbelievable military strength and a vibrant economy, but all of these have been built on a very weak and hollow foundation. Therefore, it is very easy to target that flimsy base and concentrate on their weak points and even if we are able to target one tenth of these weak points, we will be able [to] crush and destroy them and remove them from ruling and conquering the World.
-- Osama Bin Laden
This is the fumbling that precedes the defeat. Bush and Blair are hiding the true disaster they are facing in Iraq and Afghanistan. They know better than others that there is no hope in victory. The Vietnam specter is closing every outlet.
-- Ayman al-Zawahiri
I got the above quotes, by the way, from the White House's own website - http://www.whitehouse.gov/...
Here are a few more from other sources-
We believe that the biggest thieves in the world are Americans and the biggest terrorists on earth are the Americans.
This resemblance became clear in the Bush the father's visits to the region.... He wound up being impressed by the royal and military regimes and envied them for staying decades in their positions and embezzling the nation's money with no supervision.
-- Osama bin Laden
So-called elected governments will protect you, you are wrong. This new crusade will end with your defeat, the killing of your sons and the destruction of your economy.
God willing, we will continue targeting the keys of the American economy.
-- Ayman al-Zawahiri
I will end this diary with what may be the most memorable quote of this century, said by Osama bin Laden:
We had patience in our fighting with the Soviet Union with simple weapons for 10 years. We exhausted their economy, so they disappeared. We will not abandon our fight until the weapons run out.
The terrorists won. They won and we lost.