The Hamburg Cell

[poliphilo]

Young men are very suggestible. They're fragile and they have a great need to belong. And so they're very easily roped into wars, sects, jihads and the like. If the war, sect or jihad is something that pisses Daddy off then so much the better.

I was watching Channel 4's drama about the 9/11 hijackers last night. They were rootless rich boys, most of them, adrift in a society that didn't give them enough respect. Al Quaeda offered them brotherhood, charismatic father figures, dogmatic certainty, a strong sense of purpose. As one of them said as he made his commitment to the Hamburg cell- "I want my life to count."

They weren't demons. At least, they weren't demons to begin with. At some point or other they crossed the line. And the scary thing is it was impossible to say exactly when that happened. When did imagination fail? When did they stop asking questions? We watched as noble idealists morphed into murderous fanatics and it was a smooth, unbroken process.

War on Terror? Bush was right the first time; it's unwinnable. Why? Because it's a war on human nature. So long as there are needy young men there will be recruits for Al Quaeda and the like.

Comments

[glitzfrau.livejournal.com]

You formulated vague and rambling thoughts I've had on the issue for ages. Thank you.

(Though: do you really believe there is such a thing as "human nature", entirely independent of social circumstances? Surely, in a different society, needy young men might turn to other - less or more destructive - means to boost their pride? For example, and this isn't intended personally, but they might seek power in a religious rather than a religio-military hierarchy?)

[catvalente.livejournal.com]

And what about the old men who recruit them?

[jackiejj.livejournal.com]

I heard there was some controversy about this documentary's "humanizing" the 9/11 killers, but at some point we need to see them as people in order to understand what happened.

So long as there are needy young men there will be recruits for Al Quaeda and the like.

This was interesting. Thanks.

humanized

[manfalling.livejournal.com]

yeah i watched that too. funny to see them as handsome. these good-looking blokes (yeah it's just actors but of course the real dudes might have been too) being nice and saying thankyou very much to the airline people, then going on to do what the TV didn't show but what we knew happened next.

the choice not to show hostage situations in the planes. that was interesting. part of me was afraid they would show it- cos after seeing them be kind of normal but for their sentiments up to that point- we'd have to watch them put other people, and themselves, through some really bad shit. they were doing some wussy self-defense training in a hotel room. then they have to start sticking knives in people who they know are innocent. big diference. probably quite hard to maintain your 'idealism' in that situation.

the will to make something like that happen, to make people do these things, is awe-inspiring. hitler had it too i guess. cult leaders.

fight club is a great movie cos it shows us this from beginning to end. just wanting to belong. to do something important. all the things you said. and at the end we want to cheer the destruction of buildings. which is an act of terrorism. weird.

[morrison-maiden.livejournal.com]

Very interesting thoughts. I've compared these men and some women to the Nazi youth; looking to fit into society, choosing anything and anyone that will in effect, adopt them. At least, that's my take on all of it...

[archyena.livejournal.com]

They're like overgrown youth gangs. My suspiscion is that if they had fully socialized in the West they'd probably have not gone back to the Middle East at all and Mohammed Atta would be just another engineer originally from Egypt or wherever. To a degree, the people of the West (not "The West" or even it's philosophical underpinnnings) are to blame in part for these specific hijackers. If they had been reached out to enough, pried out of the international student ghetto, brought into the real West and taught the defining value of modern Western culture--screw what everyone thinks about it--they might have broken that link and stopped letting their religion make them feel worthless and alone. I think that's where it lies in the end, they don't belong because they don't think they should and live a life of self-flagellation and self-fulfilling prophecy.