{"id":4158,"date":"2011-05-02T12:13:01","date_gmt":"2011-05-02T18:13:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jasonapollovoss.local\/?p=4158"},"modified":"2018-09-21T02:06:53","modified_gmt":"2018-09-21T06:06:53","slug":"osama-bin-ladens-death-changes-little-but-maybe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jasonapollovoss.com\/web\/2011\/05\/02\/osama-bin-ladens-death-changes-little-but-maybe\/","title":{"rendered":"Osama bin Laden’s Death Changes Little, But Maybe…"},"content":{"rendered":"

While psychologically important, Osama bin Laden’s death in an Islamabad, Pakistan suburb early Sunday morning changes little.\u00a0 But perhaps there is a window of opportunity now for the United States to re-prioritize.\u00a0 Our efforts to negate the importance of al Qaeda were important, but, in my opinion, are beyond overwrought.<\/span><\/p>\n

Frankly, the intelligence organizations of Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama have so effectively negated al Qaeda that bin Laden had become irrelevant except as a symbol.\u00a0 Want proof?<\/span><\/p>\n

Name the most recent successful terrorist attack carried out by al Qaeda in the United States since September 11, 2001.\u00a0 There hasn’t been one.\u00a0 Yes, there have been attacks in Spain and England, but not in the United States.\u00a0 Al Qaeda has remained a force only in the Middle East – especially in Iraq and Yemen.\u00a0 Everywhere else they have been rooted out and negated.<\/span><\/p>\n

In fact, what is left of al Qaeda is largely symbolic and rhetorical.\u00a0 That is, their potency remains in their ability to inspire lone wolf jihadists who are of a more amateur caliber than al Qaeda back in its heyday.\u00a0 Think: the bungled explosives attack of Times Square’s would-be bomber.<\/span><\/p>\n

That said, it is possible that the American public will now be able to “let go” of some of the pain and suffering of September 11, 2001 and will be open to U.S. troops exiting Afghanistan.\u00a0 In my opinion, the “war” in Afghanistan is not winnable using conventional weapons.\u00a0 Why?<\/span><\/p>\n

Tough terrain.\u00a0 Tribal culture.\u00a0 A culture that has honed its resistance tactics over multiple generations.\u00a0 A strategically unimportant location – a landlocked Central Asian country that connects to nothing of true importance for the United States.\u00a0 An exhausted-by-war American public.\u00a0 A motivated Afghan people.\u00a0 And so forth.<\/span><\/p>\n

My hope is that Osama bin Laden’s death allows our fellow citizenry to relax, breathe out a sigh of relief, and to let go of an expensive, dead end operation.\u00a0 President Barack Obama promised to find and bring to justice Osama bin Laden and now he has.\u00a0 Now the capital invested can be released.\u00a0 That capital has not just been money and lives, it has been psychological intensity.\u00a0 Whew!<\/span><\/p>\n

Yet, because the United States must continue to rely upon the oil of the Middle East, we will continue to be politically and militarily interested in the region.\u00a0 Consequently, there will always be those who want the United States and Western Europe out of their homeland and their Holy Land.\u00a0 So Osama bin Laden’s death changes little tactically.<\/span><\/p>\n

That the United States allowed for Osama bin Laden and his supporters to distract our entire foreign policy, military efforts and trillions of dollars for half a generation was unnecessary.\u00a0 It is now time to shift our gaze to the entire geopolitical spectrum, not just laser focused on one region.<\/span><\/p>\n

While we have been obsessed several countries have been growing their power with little U.S. intervention.<\/span><\/p>\n

First, Russia has rebuilt itself and become emboldened enough to invade a country on its periphery that was a U.S. ally; not Afghanistan, but Georgia.\u00a0 In 1980 that drew an appropriate response from the U.S. – not a full on land war, but a covert war.\u00a0 The response in Georgia was a verbal lashing.\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 Not because of a lack of military will, but because of a lack of military resources.<\/span><\/p>\n

Second, Iran has become the dominant power in the Middle East.\u00a0 How?\u00a0 Using covert tactics to dominate Iraq, Lebanon, Yemen, and Bahrain.\u00a0 Thus, it has encircled Sunni Saudi Arabia.\u00a0 Largely this was made possible because the U.S. military has been engaged in two theaters of operations and unable to check Iran’s (literally) millenniums-old territorial ambitions.\u00a0 In the long-run this means oil prices sensitive to the whims of the Iranians.<\/span><\/p>\n

Third, China has taken advantage of the U.S. resource suck of two wars to grow its economy.\u00a0 Meanwhile, it has helped to underwrite our foreign wars by buying our government issued bonds.\u00a0 How does that make you feel?<\/span><\/p>\n

Fourth, and closer to home, is Venezuela.\u00a0 Hugo Chavez is mostly incompetent.\u00a0 However, his regime has led to increased radicalism on the South American continent.\u00a0 This wouldn’t be a big deal if Venezuela was a banana republic, but it isn’t.\u00a0 Instead, Venezuela is an important oil producer.\u00a0 Because of the short distance to the United States, transportation costs for Venezuelan oil are cheaper, therefore oil from there helps to mitigate the resource suck of oil importation.<\/span><\/p>\n

Fifth, and right next door, Mexico is increasingly a failed state dominated by its murderous drug cartels.\u00a0 In a time when the United States is not distracted, it is highly unlikely that one of our neighbors would be so destabilized.<\/span><\/p>\n

Sixth, and most importantly, the U.S. economy is in critical need of the resources drained off to continue to fight two dead end wars.\u00a0 I am not arguing for more government spending.\u00a0 Quite the opposite.\u00a0 If the U.S. is not shelling out tax payer money for Iraq and Afghanistan it can begin to pay down its debts.<\/span><\/p>\n

My point?\u00a0 Osama bin Laden’s death has changed little, but maybe the United States can at last re-prioritize itself and its needs and not let one man and his ambitions dominate U.S. foreign policy, military and trillions of dollars of resources.\u00a0 It’s time to move on.<\/span><\/p>\n

Jason<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

While psychologically important, Osama bin Laden’s death in an Islamabad, Pakistan suburb early Sunday morning changes little.\u00a0 But perhaps there is a window of opportunity now for the United States to re-prioritize.\u00a0 Our efforts to negate the importance of al Qaeda were important, but, in my opinion, are beyond overwrought. Frankly, the intelligence organizations of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4158","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-blog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jasonapollovoss.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4158","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jasonapollovoss.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jasonapollovoss.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jasonapollovoss.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jasonapollovoss.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4158"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/jasonapollovoss.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4158\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jasonapollovoss.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4158"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jasonapollovoss.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4158"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jasonapollovoss.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4158"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}