Opinion Bin Laden smiles

Osama bin Laden started the war of terrorism. With our country's response and given the events that have occurred since September 11, 2001, I believe that while we may be winning a military battle in Iraq, he is winning the war.

Bin Laden is playing us like a Stradivarius.

Bin Laden hates the U.S.; he hates our freedom, ideals and values and loves our blinding arrogance. He thrives on fear and that is his primary weapon against us:

Count on a Violent Response -- Fear loves violence; violence is the food and sustenance of fear. Bin Laden loves the never-ending Israeli/Palestinian cycle of violence. Suicide bombers killing the Zionists, Israeli military killing Palestinian martyrs, the cycle continues. Fear is sustained. Bin Laden smiles.

A World Divided -- Bin Laden's biggest threat is the world united.

After 9-11 the world embraced us; it was united against terrorism. Now, after 18 months, the world is more divided than ever. This divide will assure a supply of suicidal terrorists. The strategy: Count on our fear of what could possibly happen (Saddam's threat), watch as we escalate the cycle of violence and start the "Crusade," spread fear through the Muslim world, deepen the divide. Bin Laden smiles.

Using Our Fears Against Us -- All bin Laden has to do is initiate a threat of a possible terror attack and we scuttle in fear. Immediate disruption, spend millions in security responses, watch us attack the heart of our ideals and values weakening our freedom, our Bill of Rights. He accomplishes all of this for a pittance without so much as a military brigade. Bin Laden smiles.

Economic Neutralization -- Bin Laden understands how capitalism is functioning, he is a beneficiary of it: a free market without a moral framework. He loves our arrogant, one-dimensional militaristic response to his threat, spending billions while he in comparison spends pennies.

He delights as we bleed ourselves with unprecedented military/deficit spending and war profiteering at the expense of his real threats: education, health care, the environment, eliminating poverty, hunger and disease, developing sustainable energy (his big economic threat) and the well being of our future generations.

Bin Laden smiles.

Democracy/ Hypocrisy -- Our government has given bin Laden the perfect model for proving how democracy has become a myth. The vast majority of the world is against the war, yet we are at war.

He must love the hatred we are showing to our allies for being democratic and reflecting the will of their people. Bin Laden can fuel his propaganda by showing how democracy can be bought and sold. He can point out the hypocrisy of our democracy and show how it is really based on a few men with vast wealth and power, beholden only to their aristocracy of supporters, controlling the world primarily for profit.

This seizure of democracy has shifted its fundamental principle of by the people for the people to by the money for the money.

Bin Laden smiles.

Religion -- Religion is responsible for more wars and death than any other institution. Now we have Christianity, Islam and Judaism all converging in conflict in the Holy Land. This is exactly what bin Laden wanted. He laid the bait and we bit. Smile bin Laden smile.

9-11 in all its horror presented a great opportunity for our nation to lead the world into the new millennium united. Our response can still be driven by our true ideals setting a positive course for our planet's future.

The lives lost on 9-11 don't have to be meaningless or responded to with more innocent deaths. We could put our great resources behind the United Nations and create a future that honors diversity and that recognizes that ultimately humanity is indivisible. For a fraction of our defense budget we could fund the most powerful weapon against terrorism: feeding and educating the world's oppressed.

Our scientific and technical know-how can be directed towards converting Weaponry to Livingry. Imagine what we can do if we put our great resources into saving our planet instead of destroying it. This visionary response would inspire the world. This is possible and we can start winning the war and make bin Laden cry.