Terror

[poliphilo]

We've been sold a lie.

There is no Al Quaida.

I mean, if there was a big, scary, SPECTRE-like, terrorist organisation lurking in the shadows waiting to get us, it would have managed another hit against the US mainland in the years since 9/11.

There are terrorists, sure- but they're not centrally organised or well-armed or particularly smart. They're capable of one-off attacks on soft targets- as in Madrid and London.

Consider that last- aborted- attack on the London underground. One of the guys- the one the Italians are holding- has said the bombs were never meant to go off. I don't know whether he's lying or telling the truth, but either way his gang were a Mickey Mouse outfit.

I don't want to down-play the danger. There have been bombs and there will be more bombs, but this isn't World War III. We're not up against a Big Enemy, we're up against a scattered bunch of stupid, idealistic young men, all fired up by the same stupid, fascistic ideology.

It's one for the police, not the military.

But the lie about Al Quaida, complicated by further lies about WMDs and the politics of the Middle East, has landed us in an illegal and unwinnable war that is simply stengthening the stupid, fascistic ideology that inspires the stupid, idealistic young men.

Comments

[pickwick.livejournal.com]

Mmm. The other thing is, there WASN'T an Al-Quaida, but now there is, because lots of different, fragmentary, psycho little groups of people have got a banner to rally under. We may have created our own enemy.

[lblanchard.livejournal.com]

The big hit against the U.S. mainland was a one-off. I think everyone recognizes that fact. The next wave of would-be hijackers was subdued in short order -- by the passengers in the neighboring seats.

We agreed about the "police, not the military" approach after the first attack on the World Trade Center, in 1993. Our reward for this reasonable approach was September 11 -- brought to us by the same group of barking moonbats that tried it the first time.

[karenkay.livejournal.com]

There are terrorists, sure- but they're not centrally organised or well-armed or particularly smart. They're capable of one-off attacks on soft targets- as in Madrid and London.

It's not World War III, it's another Vietnam. How many one-off attacks like the WTC does it take to make a national leader Very Very Nervous. I'm pretty sure the answer is one. And when national leaders are Very Very Nervous, they go to war, even against a phantom, because their inventory of options is limited. For me, that's much more a problem than the attacks.

[halfmoon-mollie.livejournal.com]

I think I've asked you this before.

Have you ever read The Seven Pillars of Wisdom by TE (Lawrence of Arabia) Lawrence? He was a very vain man, but a lot of what he said I recognize in the attitude of the people of the Middle East. What he said, in a nutshell, is that the attitude toward death is different there. Death is not ...I can't say important, but it's like...there are so many people. There always have been. It may have something to do with dying for the Glory of One's God (whomever that may be).

It's a long book, but there are some beautiful passages in it. And I think it better explains a lot...