Because really, as president, can you afford to make mistakes like starting a war based on misinformation of his own intelligence apparatus (supposing that was the real reason)?

Look at the results:

Between 15.000 and 100.000 Iraqi civilians dead. (How many died on 9/11? Not implying that there was any link between that horror and the reasons for starting this war).

A lot more Arabs with a reason to be pissed of with the western world (unless losing family, jobs and/or house is not a valid reason to be pissed off). Europe is already feeling the pain.

Alienation of most US friendly nations in the world (Bush: "If you're not with us you are against us.") By the way from what I understood between 75 and 80% of US citizens living abroad voted Kerry. Going native you say ... why would they do that?

A large hit to the value and credibility of the UN. Still the only place to find some consensus on global issues.

The "free" press losing credibility by trying to stay in the middle of a conflict while being coerced and limited in their fact finding by the US government.

How many billions were spent on this war? Probably enough to put a tropical paradise for the Palistinian people in the Sinai solve the longest lasting conflict in the middle east once and for all and taking a lot of wind out of the sails for the arab terrorist cause. I am not talking about PLO but about those large majority of people who just want a job, home, marriage, children and some fun. Maybe an idea for another thread; what could have been done with all that money?

And still he did not get punished by the voters. Because of what ... ?

Looking from the losers' side generally never gives a good impression why the winners chose that course of action and not another.

Dead iraqis? It dont see why democratic us should be bothered by that. They have killed much more and each time live better.
They lost a few and those few were allowed to lead individual experiences (torture, rape, murder...) totally legally and even being rewarded for. In their country they would have punished for that. Hence an increase of liberties for those who risk their lifes in iraq.

Angered arabs? They have no control on the democratic us political system and they dont vote.Actually they might well serve as dead meat to increase the liberties range of the democratic us people.

How many billions harvested? 5,000 billions of oil stock in a critical situation (easy to collect oil becoming less frequent)
and so on...

The president did a good job.

So how many barrels of oil per dead does make a good president?

Some pissed of Arabs are actually very very rich, even by US standards, and getting richer. By the way, has anyone actually noticed oil prices dropping (apart from a misterious dip around election time)? Seems to me some select few are milking the situation for what it's worth. Who? Well what individuals actually control the oil? Part of those are Sheiks, mmmm, so what if they are actually ... so who else wins from that ...

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Anyone else who though that the last message before the election from Bin Laden was actually intended to help Bush win?

Yea, Kerry.

Can you explain how bin Laden's message helped Bush, please?

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In this country, we don't need reasons to make things legal; we need reasons to make things illegal. - Startup

Didn't I explain that already?

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Simple trick; voters thinking: the enemy of my enemy is my friend.

Better question: Why did Bin Laden intend Bush to be re-elected?

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So...
Osama threatens to attack any state that votes for Bush, and we're supposed to think that since he's threatening anyone who votes for Bush that he must not like Bush, when in all actuality he likes Bush.

Since bin Laden wants us to think that he doesn't like Bush, we're supposed to think that he must not like Bush and would therefore vote for Bush just to spite bin Laden?

That's so crazy, and yet it worked! We fell right into his dastardly plot! That tricky, tricky, bastard! Why, I have a half a mind to call for another election!

But it does answer the question of why AQ attacked the WTC and the Pentagon. Answer: Because NY and the county where the Pentagon lies voted Democrat.

I wonder, is everything else BL has told us contrary to his real goals or does he only whip out his secret weapon in national elections? Did Spain go against BL's wishes when she pulled her troops out of Iraq? When BL offered a truce with Europe, did he actually just want continued hostilities, which really aren't his goal? Are the "blue states" in America safe now because we did what BL actually wanted us to do?

BTW, I wonder, since you're so convinced that bin Laden and al Queda have this reverse psychology thing so down pat, was that missive from Zarqawi last week just another ploy? Was he telling the Muslim clerics that he was angry at them for not calling more Muslims to die? Or, was he just saying that so that they wouldn't and he really wants to give up?
Better question still: How many Fruit-Loops box tops do you have to collect before you get your free issue of "Conspiracy Quarterly"?

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In this country, we don't need reasons to make things legal; we need reasons to make things illegal. - Startup

So are you suggesting that Bin Laden is not evil, smart and manipulative? ;)

Exactly, they could expect it to work with some people. The election was going to be close anyway.

No it is not the conspiracy thing. Bin Laden wants power not money, money he has already. He wants to be the saviour of the arab world or even the whole third world. In my opinion what he has been trying to do from the start is to polarize between the westen world and the third world. He wants an uprising of the third world against it's supposed oppressors. Directly after 9/11 he even said as much in his video message. From his point of view 9/11 was perfect, he showed the whole world that the western world en specifically the US is not untouchable by striking at it's heart (from his perspective) and he gave the western world and specifically the US ample excuse and opportunity to further polarize the world, which it promptly did. It was like he knew "If you're not with us, you are against us" Bush who promptly invades an Arab country.

The only thing he probably didn't bargain for was Europe's reluctance to join the fight and partly therefore the same reluctance within the third world. But he saw the split between Europe and the US and jumped to proclaim that his fight was only with the US. Divide and conquer.

Now to get to the point: Why did Bin Laden want Bush to be re-elected?

Because if Kerry would have been elected he loses his symbol for the evil western world. Kerry would say the invasion of Iraq was a mistake and probably start to withdraw. He might even start to put more money in the rebuilding of Iraq. Kerry would make friends with Europe again. With this Bin Laden would have lost a lot of the momentum he still had. He would have had a whole new enemy, one which is a whole lot harder to get to.


PS: The Zarqawi thing I will look up tomorrow. It's kinda late now. Good night. :sleepy:

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I think someone said this before but

When you are the president, you are not expected not to make mistakes because If people knew you would make mistakes then they wouldnt elect you in the first place. That is where GB screwed up alot. There is a certain honor and standard to being the president of the united states, and you have to be qualified and all that stuff. You have to be in politics all your life, and there is an age limit ofcourse. So there should be no reason for a president to make so many BIG and HUGE mistakes in only 4 years.