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thoughts on terrorism; current events and past history
Topic Started: Sep 7 2007, 05:50 PM (71 Views)
Dominic Guglieme
the human MICROscope!!



As we stumble towards the 6th anniversary of the greatest disaster in the history of this country, I cannot help but reflect on where we stand now.

In Germany this past week, the authorities broke up a home-grown terror plot. (And, as the UK learned in '05, home-grown terrorists are as dangerous as foreign interlopers.) Of course, the terrorists being German and having been caught in Germany should give us no comfort. The attacks they were planning were focused on Americans, and American interests. So, why was it the Germans of "Old Europe" who caught these guys? Are we still incapable of watching ourselves. (Germany is not even an especially good ally to us.)

In Australia, a band of hooligans tried to crash an international summit. One of them was disguised as UBL, just for laughs you see. This is being chuckled at in the media. What this says about the collective maturity of the West is truly distressing. Laughing at an existential threat is not a sign of sophistication or maturity. In fact, I would say it is quite the opposite.

Say what one will about out Salafists foes (wha? "Salafist?" I thought they wuz Muslems or wahabas or somthing.), but they are not only being more grown up about this, but they "get it". If anything, they may be over-estimating us. Totally puttiing aside out ineptitude these last 6 years, UBL and co (or "Holy War Inc" as Peter Bergen calls them) are actually doing pretty well for themselves.

They want to build a caliphate, and they are objectively doing a pretty good job. Granted, I cannot pick up a Foder's Guide and see a clearly marked area from Southern Europe, to North Africa, stretching into Asia. But, national borders have never mattered much to UBL. This caliphate may not be a formally recognized country, but nationhood is not as much a requirement for diplomatic recognition as one might expece. (Look as the FARC in Columbia, or most any of the major Palestinian terrorist organizations. They enjoy diplomatic niceties.)

UBL's caliphate may not be a nation in the geographic sense. But, it is unified in the psychological sense. Be they in London(istan), Hamburg, Chicago, Karachi, or a cave in the Hindu Kush, our enemies are unified and focuses. Call it a "Clash of Civilizations", a jihad, an epic struggle against "evil", or whatever you prefer, they take it seriously. UBl is functionally their sheik, and they are loyal.

Much of this unity is due to modern technology. Air-craft allow for mobility, while computers and the like minimize the need for that mobility. Some triumphalists (such as Ralph Peters) may crow that our enemies need to use out modern era technology to advance their Dark Age goals. They call this a triumph for the west.

Maybe I could agree if our enemies were not making such a good showing. Contrary to the dogma of the 70s, the medium is not the message. Technology lets you get a message out there, but it does not sell the message. (Were that the case, we would have won the "Hearts and Minds" battle in Iraq, and wherever else we so chose.)

UBL sitting in front of a video camera is not a demonstration of western cultural superiority. It is a demonstration of UBL being smart enough to use the tools he has available. Somehow, I doubt that computers and other communication tech would see much substantive use were UBL's caliphate to expand. There would be PDFs of the Koran, and some related poetry. There may even be, on more sophisticated pages, theological discussion incorporating the Bible and Torah. But, I doubt there would even be that kind of sop for Hindus and others.

Moving beyond theology, I see little advantage for medical research and general intellectual discussion. So, no, I really do not see any reason to call Salafists using modern tech a win, at least not for us.

They have not been lax these last few years. Meanwhile, many of us are probably still trying to sort out who is a Sunni, who is a Shiite, and what that all means.

Dom-wishes the triumphalists were right.

Keep it local.


The healthiest leper in the colony is still very very sick.

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