Pretty good summary. Scenario 3 is clearly ludicrous (unless you like totally inconsistent logic and a complete absence of evidence). Beyond that I tend to favor the Occam’s Razor solution, which is number 1. I could be wrong, of course, but a plan to have the world’s mightiest armed forces hunting you down, killing your followers and forcing you to live in caves hardly seems like one that would have survived the Al Qaeda brainstorming session.
I also have a hypothesis why scenario 1 is never mentioned—and which is consistent with the responses on this board. It would require giving credit to the administration, the most appalling scenario of all!
JT,
Pretty good summary. Scenario 3 is clearly ludicrous (unless you like totally inconsistent logic and a complete absence of evidence). Beyond that I tend to favor the Occam’s Razor solution, which is number 1. I could be wrong, of course, but a plan to have the world’s mightiest armed forces hunting you down, killing your followers and forcing you to live in caves hardly seems like one that would have survived the Al Qaeda brainstorming session.
I also have a hypothesis why scenario 1 is never mentioned—and which is consistent with the responses on this board. It would require giving credit to the administration, the most appalling scenario of all!