Originally Posted by GUWonder
I doubt many small attacks or one, a few or many big ones would cause America to "withdraw" -- short of any near total biological or nuclear holocaust type scenario "going live" and being seen as a real possibility on a national scale. [It's just not a way people react when they believe they have military superiority and it's not a way political leaders find to be a marketable approach to the majority.] This scenario of a near-total/total national-scale holocaust is not currently realizable by non-state actors. And no state actor with such potential resources -- even 10 years from now -- is going to gamble without a belief that it can take out the other player in one quick blow with no possibility for trace back when off-shore second strike capability exists at certain levels.
OBL, according to his own sons, knows that America won't withdraw due to pressure from outside forces. OBL's only hope is that the US goes the way of the Soviet Union by following a path of imperial hubiris and overstretch that leaves it no choice but to withdraw. His sons know that he believes that to be the only way to have his objectives advanced in any realistic fashion.
I understand your points. However America has had a history of periods of isolationism even when it was one of the strongest and richest countries. I cannot see that America would ever admit to being cowed, but I can imagine that ceasless attacks of the sort that Israel has experienced might cause a reevaluation of where resources are most needed.
In the end, it is all conjecture and I hope we never find out what America's repsonse would be to more attacks.