Pretty good work for Al Qaeda amateurs

According to the Christian Science Monitor, the bombs from Yemen indicate that the bomb makers are amateurs and may be trying in a "foolhardy" way to create fear. Looks to me like they're generally succeeding.

Recall the claims that Ronald Reagan broke the Soviet Union by forcing them to engage in an arms race they couldn't afford. Maybe, maybe not, but if Al Qaeda's objective is to break the United States financially, they're doing pretty well. We're spending hundreds of billions of dollars annually in the War on Terror, in two military campaigns and a worldwide $80 billion effort at "intelligence" which can't have any other target than them. They don't need to successfully deliver bombs. They just need us to shut down the world's air transport system from time to time because we're worried. And tie us down in God-forsaken places while we try futilely to suppress terror and build democracy at the same time.

The world is moving past us. Other countries build high speed rail systems, effective nuclear power plants, spectacular bridges and tunnels. We spend trillions on defense and cower in fear. This isn't going to be the American Century redux. Probably not even a good American Decade.