Just thought I'd share a little paranoia. Here's a link that shows how Bin Laden/Al Queda is not as far as we think from gaining access to a nuclear arsenal (Pakistan) and abundant oil reserves (Saudi Arabia), i.e. he's just biding his time: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ideas_opinions/story/152060p-133950c.html Osama's shell game Are Al Qaeda's threats a diversion from its real targets? Here's a hypothetical: What if all the recent terror chatter turned out to be idle? What if Al Qaeda's perceived threats to strike at America during the Code Orange Christmas season turned out to have been a grand diversion? New Year's Eve in Times Square went off without a hiccup. After all the hand-wringing over threats to international flights, no incidents. The roulette wheels still spin in Vegas. This isn't to suggest for a nanosecond that we should let down our guard. But think about this: Either intelligence agencies have done a masterly job of disrupting the terrorist plots or the plots were mere fabrications (recall last week's search for shady characters carrying dog-eared almanacs), something to distract the intelligence community. Half a world away, in Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, mayhem rules. In the past month, Al Qaeda-linked operatives nearly twice have liquidated Pakistan's pro-American leader,, President Pervez Musharraf. Simultaneously, Osama Bin Laden's assassins have attempted to bump off a few top Saudi security officials. Should this political terrorism succeed, the consequences would be devastating. Were the radical Islamists - aided and abetted by Al Qaeda - to grab power in Pakistan, they would have control of that nation's nuclear arsenal. If the same were to happen in the Saudi kingdom, the fanatics would command the world's biggest oil reserves. And there would sit Bin Laden, a doomsday bomb in one hand, a barrel of oil in the other. Pakistan, which Bin Laden now calls home, is brewing with dysfunction. Musharraf, who's looking puppy-weak, agreed in late December to step down as army chief in exchange for support from a group of extremist religious parties. Two suicide bombers tried to annihilate him the very next day. The sad reality is that the general may be a dead man walking. Al Qaeda has a nasty habit of relentlessly pursuing its prey. Many Pakistani scientists already lean Bin Laden's way. Some, according to The New York Times, are believed to have been merchandising nuclear secrets to rogue states such as North Korea for years. Others may have actually offered to help Al Qaeda obtain nuclear technology or enriched uranium. Abdul Qadeer Khan, father of Pakistan's nuclear program, has been quoted as saying, "All Western countries are not only the enemies of Pakistan but, in fact, of Islam." Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia, with its corrupt and decrepit royal family, long has been ripe for a coup. Which Bin Laden, a Saudi native, wants to make happen. Should these rickety regimes fall, the world order could come undone. Bin Ladenism would be ascendant, instead of on the run. The terrorists, with just a few targeted executions, could take over two key nations. If that happens, Code Orange would be a good day. Code Red would reign.
This didn't help my paranoia any! Seriously, I don't think anyone would use, or could use for that matter, Bin Laden as an election tool. The guy is simply too independent and too dangerous. He has already partially destabilized Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. The good news is that our top leadership wants 1) a nice steady oil flow coming out of the middle east and 2) an economy that is not coming out of a nuclear winter (not to mention a non-vaporized Israel). So I can't imagine anyone messing with this guy. I still think they want him dead but can't do it. He's just waiting though to see if he can destabilize the region - maybe that's why he is not messing with America that much lately...
"The Little Rascals" will be a nuclear threat when ya start seeing idiots dying of radiation poisoning. Its kind of hard to smuggle lead cases around.
Paranoia? Hardly any.. do a quick search on Gulf of Tonkin insident, President LBJohnson, Macamara, Vietnam War, Pentagon papers............