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Don't Be Surprised If Terrorists Stage A Tet Offensive
Houston Chronicle ^ | Dec 31, 2007 | Austin Bay

Posted on 12/31/2007 5:34:36 AM PST by RDTF

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To: jwparkerjr
Thanks for the post. I hope you're right--

My guess is the cells spend their time living a comfortable life at someone else’s expense and talking about ‘that day’ when they will attack the satan that is the US. All the while hoping and praying the orders never come!

21 posted on 12/31/2007 6:43:12 AM PST by Max in Utah (A nation can survive its fools, and even the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason from within.)
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To: RDTF
What the NVA and VC did in the Tet Offensive was get their asses handed to them. It was the end of the VC and a huge defeat to the NVA.
22 posted on 12/31/2007 6:47:50 AM PST by ASA Vet
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To: ishabibble
You got that right! Tet was a terrible defeat for the VC and NVA. If the media had not supported the communist north, South Vietnam would be a thriving nation similar to South Korea. How much human misery is the liberal American media responsible for? The real blood is on liberal hands.
23 posted on 12/31/2007 6:50:20 AM PST by 2001convSVT ("People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence")
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To: Max in Utah
Me too! I just know human nature and once they’ve tasted of the good life, and have the praise of their fellow travelers for being on the team, they probably don’t check their voice mail or email hoping to find the final orders!

I am more confident though that their leadership realizes there are plenty of fish to fry around the world in furthering their cause and they really don’t gain anything by poking us in the eye here in our homeland.

Every day, week, month, year that goes without a significant attack against us here at home more Americans drift back to sleep.

Remember, one of the would-be 9/11 attackers backed out before the operation, walked into an FBI office and spilled the beans about the whole plan. His intelligence never went any farther than that office. Had it been passed up the ladder there’s a chance it would have gotten attached of the seemingly unrelated intelligence about people taking flying lessons all over the US but not wanting to learn how to take off or land, just navigate.

24 posted on 12/31/2007 6:55:59 AM PST by jwparkerjr (Sigh . . .)
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To: RDTF
"This spring marks the 40th anniversary of Hanoi's offensive (yes, 40 years, two generations)."

Thanks,
I really needed that reminder.

25 posted on 12/31/2007 7:01:05 AM PST by norton (deep down inside you know that Fred is your second choice)
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To: RDTF
The msm transformed the vc tet defeat into a political victory with their whining {sound familiar?}

The ballless bastards of the msm made sure that the US would withdraw from vietnam and the demonRATs left our allies without funds so that they would be slaughtered in record numbers.

Just demonRATs being demonRATs.

26 posted on 12/31/2007 7:01:26 AM PST by USS Alaska (Nuke the terrorist savages - In Honor of Standing Wolf)
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To: RDTF

They’ll need nukes or some heavy duty bio/chem weapons.

Worse, they will take out thousands of their fellow muzzies, and earn the permanent enmity of the people they say they want to free.

I think this is wishful thinking by the boomers running the Chronicle, and a hope shared by journalists the world over.


27 posted on 12/31/2007 7:04:08 AM PST by RinaseaofDs
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To: tje
"The question is “Will the media stage a Tet offensive?” I suspect they will."

Of course they will, just like the Gore Offensive and then the Kerry Offensive. Fortunately, we fought back and won.

28 posted on 12/31/2007 7:19:03 AM PST by blam (Secure the border and enforce the law)
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To: AuntB
[Duncan Hunter]...You know I think we have liberals that die of old age waiting for our next Vietnam....

LOL, I love that quote.

29 posted on 12/31/2007 7:23:28 AM PST by Calpernia (Hunters Rangers - Raising the Bar of Integrity http://www.barofintegrity.us)
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To: jwparkerjr
I suspect there are many ‘cells’ in the US. But I also think they are not the least bit capable of doing anything that would require large-scale planning and detailed, coordinated performance. I think they exist only for the mental pleasure of those who support them and belong to them. They have learned first-hand, despite the best effort of the Lefties/MSM to prevent the lesson, that poking the US is not a good idea. My guess is that the majority of the members of these ‘cells’ have become accustomed to the good like in the US and have little real desire to trade that for their 72 virgins.

I agree with you completely.

Wars are fought on both strategic and psychological battlefields, and I believe the latter has been secured for our side. Notice that in Iraq, the number of suicide attacks dwindled while the number of remote detonations increased, an indication that the Arab Street had begun to see Iraq as a lost cause some time ago. The attack in Pakistan on Bhutto is instructive. It appears as if the jihad has to sit back and decide how to do the most damage with ONE suicide bomber, because willing martyrs are difficult to find now.

There has been no attack on US soil for five years now, not because we have somehow interdicted the enemy's capabilities, but because the last attack ended up blowing up in their face; there is a lack of will to strike now in the enemy camp, IMHO, because of the consequences since 9-11 that have accrued to the entire Middle East.

We should be vigilant, as you say, but this war will not end with any formal treaty or surrender, we must thus recognize what we are doing right. I see no Tet, I'm watching now for signs that our enemy is capitulating.

30 posted on 12/31/2007 7:25:34 AM PST by wayoverontheright
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To: Calpernia

Good one!


31 posted on 12/31/2007 7:31:25 AM PST by AuntB (" It takes more than walking across the border to be an American." Duncan Hunter)
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To: ASA Vet
It was the end of the VC and a huge defeat to the NVA.

And if Walter Cronkite and his fellow news mongers had acted like loyal Americans at that point, the communists would never have taken South Vietnam.

32 posted on 12/31/2007 7:35:00 AM PST by Max in Utah (A nation can survive its fools, and even the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason from within.)
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To: RDTF

“The purpose of the (Tet) operations, which were unprecedented in their magnitude and ferocity, was to strike military and civilian command and control centers throughout the Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam) and to spark a general uprising among the population that would then topple the Saigon government, thus ending the war in a single blow.”

The only two places where there is any chance of a Muslim popular uprising are in the tiny enclaves of Pakistan where they already rule. Such uprisings would be against the central government and the military and are already happening to some extent.

The other place would be Egypt, where the Muslim Brotherhood might attempt another coup against the government.

However, if you lose the Tet analogy, there are still many major attacks al-Qaeda could carry out. But they would be self limiting.

Their biggest chance for success are with bombings. Even a small functional terrorist cell could on its own carry out a large single, or multiple bombings. Bombings also have the least risk among terrorist actions.

Second are targeted assassinations of leaders. Again, this limits the exposure of the organization to just the assassin and his handler.

Third is industrial sabotage resulting in disaster. This is very effective, but less appealing to terrorists unless an explosion is involved. Technical expertise is required, but may not have to be in the same country.

But none of this is likely to cause a popular uprising, the changing of a government, or even the loss of command and control.


33 posted on 12/31/2007 7:39:37 AM PST by yefragetuwrabrumuy
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To: jwparkerjr

OBL is dead. Confirmed by Bhutto in an interview with David Frost.


34 posted on 12/31/2007 7:41:03 AM PST by mad_as_he$$ ("Has there been a code nine? Have you heard from the Doctor?")
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To: mad_as_he$$

35 posted on 12/31/2007 7:44:23 AM PST by ASA Vet (Over six years now.)
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To: RinaseaofDs
I think the next attack will be shopping centers en mass. There have been several trial runs Baltimore, SLC. It would only take a dozen or so on one day to shut the retail world down. Along with some spectacular incident like say a large truck bomb at the Lincoln Memorial to cause complete panic. They are called sheeple for a reason.

Such attacks are relatively easy to coordinate and pull off.

On the other hand they want a Dem for President so they may well hold off until after the elections. Why waste assets when the citizens are doing the job for you?

36 posted on 12/31/2007 7:47:13 AM PST by mad_as_he$$ ("Has there been a code nine? Have you heard from the Doctor?")
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To: RDTF
One has to ask, however, if an attack on America right before an election will make Hillary or Obama look strong, or whatever Repub comes out on top. I kinda think it would backfire on AQ and get a Repub elected for sure. We don't work the same as Spain. Pelosi and Reid may even be out of power if that were to happen. If AQ wants to stay alive, then they should just stay in the background until after the Dems take everything. Then if we are hit, they will say Bush got us into this mess. They can then fall to their knees, like Carter did, and kiss Allah's ass.

Wasn't it a proud day in US history when the hostages were taken and the peanut man did nothing for 400 days? Instead of carpet bombing the bastids, we get dead Delta forces burning in the desert? Maybe Murtha could get Sec of Defense.

37 posted on 12/31/2007 7:48:54 AM PST by chuckles
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To: ishabibble
In Gen. Giap’s autobiography, he talks about preparing for surrender after Tet, until he Ceard that Walter Cronkite told all Americans that the VC had won it.

With all due respect, I've tried many times to track this down with factual certainty, but to no avail.

Giap has written many books (aka, tracts), but I've yet to find this "autobiography". No one telling the above story has ever included the actual title of the book where the assertion is made. The assertion is never put forward in actual quotations from the "autobiography", but as a summary of his comments.

The best I've ever found is that the story actually comes from Col. Bui Tinh, a top officer from the NVA who is actually much more colorful than Giap. Long-expatriated to France, he is said to have told the story in question while being interviewed on French radio or TV. Col. Bui DOES have an autobiography of sorts, but the story isn't there either (I've read the book).

Not trying to dispute the story itself, but to get the facts of the attribution. There's nothing factual tying this statement to Giap, more pointing to Bui, but (so far as I've found) nothing that proves it with 100 percent certainty. It's a bit of an urban myth.

38 posted on 12/31/2007 7:57:38 AM PST by angkor ("We are not very many mistakes away from a second Holocaust." Newt Gingrich, Nov 15 2007)
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To: wayoverontheright
Remember the MSM promised us a Tet-like offensive when the report on the The Surge was due for delivery to Congress. They were just sure the enemy would do everything in its power to make it look bad for The Surge and thereby weaken its chances in Congress. Make no mistake, the enemy pays as much, probably more, attention to the political climate here in the US as we do. The fact they failed, whether unwilling or unable, to mount an offensive to try to influence Congress tells us a lot.

I have bookmarked a site that tracks the American casualties in Iraq on a month to month basis and separates deaths from hostile and non-hostile causes.

http://icasualties.org/oif/

This is a very informative site! I have watched its reports for over two years now. The figures for December ‘07 are wonderful! Granted, the death of even a single fighting person is too much and to be greatly mourned, the total for Dec. has been 21, or an average of .71 per day. This daily average compares to 4.23 per day in May of ‘07. It’s the first time it’s ever been less than one a day. Of the 21, eight were listed as non-hostile!

My Mom used to say “Nothing succeeds like success!” and I believe that’s going to be doubly true in Iraq. These people have NEVER had the opportunity for anything that approaches a normal like as we know it. The more they settle down and get to know life as it should be the less inclined I think they will be to turn back the progress. It’s like the old western movies where the town had been run by the bad guy so long that no one remembered what life was like before that. Then one good guy rides in, helps kick out the bad guy and then the town is ready to stand on its own again. Iraq is much more complicated than that, but the principle is the same.

God bless America and our fighting men and women!

39 posted on 12/31/2007 7:59:52 AM PST by jwparkerjr (Sigh . . .)
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To: angkor
I read the book years ago, in fact, it’s one of the main reasons I veered to a more conservative way of thinking. I have always thought that it was an autobiography, but it had a tone more like the interview posted below:

http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/cold.war/episodes/11/interviews/giap/

In the book that I read, Gen. Giap was much more definite about the role of the American MSM than he is in this piece. I will continue to search.

40 posted on 12/31/2007 8:07:28 AM PST by ishabibble (ALL-AMERICAN INFIDEL)
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