[anigbrowl]

No they didn't; vrtually none of their objectives have been met, except that of getting the US to remove its military forces from Saudi Arabian soil.

I get your point, but it's a purely rhetorical one that has little to do with actual history. Al Qaeda had real objectives of their own, rather than simply existing to make us fearful.

[joelrunyon]

Bin Laden's overall strategy against much larger enemies such as the Soviet Union and United States was to lure them into a long war of attrition in Muslim countries, attracting large numbers of jihadists who would never surrender. He believed this would lead to economic collapse of the enemy nations. Al-Qaeda manuals clearly express this strategy. In a 2004 tape broadcast by al-Jazeera, bin Laden spoke of "bleeding America to the point of bankruptcy". [1]

[1]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osama_bin_Laden#Beliefs_and_ide...

[anigbrowl]

That doesn't really bear out your point.

[joelrunyon]

I wasn't the one making the point.

That said, if their goal was to bankrupt us & draw us out by a war of attrition - it's easy to say that they achieved their objective.