Bin Laden's last stand part 2

I recently posted why I thought Iraq will be bin Laden's last stand and said this:

The AP misses or more accurately over looks the point here. Bin Laden "needs" Zarqawi because of bin Laden's impotence. While bin Laden has been failing to kill Americans, the US consulate in Saudi Arabia for example, Zarqawi has been killing lots of Americans in Iraq. Zarqawi is "succeeding" where bin Laden is failing. Zarqawi releases bombs while bin Laden releases tapes.

And this.

The recent elections in Afghanistan are the beginning of the end for bin Laden. He cannot survive as the leader of Al Qaeda when Iraq holds similar elections. He will lose all credibility and be seen as the loser that he is.


Powerline has similar thoughts.

The terrorists, perhaps emboldened by their suicide bombing last week, tried to launch an actual military attack on a small American outpost in Mosul earlier today. The result was predictable: most of the terrorists, at least 25, were killed, compared to zero Americans:

[T]he troops were attacked by a coordinated force of about 50 insurgents who fired rocket-propelled grenades and semi-automatic weapons. At that point, two F-18 and two F-14 military jets swooped down on strafing runs and firing Maverick missiles, wiping out much of the insurgent force. "That's when the close-air support came in and did a job on them," [Lt. Col. Paul Hastings] said.

The Iraqi terrorists are growing increasingly desperate as next month's elections draw closer and closer. Osama bin Laden has issued a tape recording denouncing the elections and condemning any Iraqi who votes as an "infidel," which means that he or she is threatened with death. But the clock is clicking on the terrorists. They hoped to defeat the U.S. Army militarily, but failed. They hoped to defeat President Bush in last month's election, but failed. They hoped to generate enough violence to force, with the aid of their allies in the American press, postponement of the January elections, but failed. When millions of Iraqis go to the polls one month from now, it will mark the beginning of the end of the Islamofascist campaign of terror.


And earlier today I posted about the noose tightening around Zarqawi.

I think it is worth noting how these terrorists are being captured and not killed. One would think they would fight to the death. This would indicate to me that they are being surprised when captured and suggests we are getting good intelligence, most probably from local Iraqis.

I sense we are reaching critical mass soon. The Iraqi people are probably sensing it too and see America winning and, as everyone knows, that region of the world will only tolerate winners and not losers. Very soon we may see the Iraqis rise up, en masse, and turn on the terrorists full tilt. That will be the final humiliation for bin Laden.

As they say, it is not really necessary to defeat the man, you only need defeat his idea.
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