In 1998 Osama bin Laden complained that Americans have stolen $36 trillion from Muslims because they purchased oil from Muslim nations at low prices. Interestingly, he said that oil should cost $144 a barrel, which is just what it costs now.

So what did bin Laden have to do to get the price of oil to increase 13 times in the last 10 years? One month after 9/11, the New York Times wrote about nightmare scenarios that would do this, and one of them included the US attacking Iraq.

Also contributing to the high price of oil is the collapsing of the value of the US dollar, encouraged by the economic policies of the Bush administration.

In testimony to Congress a month ago, the co-director of the Institute for the Analysis of Global Security put it this way:

I would like to impress upon this Committee that $144 a barrel oil will be perceived as a victory for the Jihadist movement and a reaffirmation that the economic warfare component of its campaign against the West is a resounding success. There is no need to elaborate on the implications of such a victory in terms of loss of U.S. prestige and our ability to prevail in the Long War of the 21st century.

Or, to put it in far blunter terms, Osama bin Laden can now say “Mission Accomplished”.

http://thinkprogress.org/2008/07/05/bin-laden-144-oil/