Now that Obama has ‘confirmed’ the link to the ‘Yemen branch of Al-Quaida” of the recent pants-bomber, we should presumably go bomb the shit out of some rocks and peasants somewhere for a couple of months. I’m sure there are some developing countries where people still aren’t afraid to throw a wedding party.
In Germany, we had an eager bunch of terrorist young guns in the day. The Red Army blew up plenty of people, kidnapped people including important figures in industry and politics, were involved in the successful abduction of a Lufthansa flight, all the while being hunted by the best intelligence services in the world.
The IRA in Ireland have a history that at least equals the RAF in capacity and exceeds it in active terror time.
Now here comes ‘Al-Quaeda’. The pants bomber made his pants catch on fire. The shoe bomber made his shoes catch on fire. The guy who tried to blow up the airport in Scotland made himself catch on fire. The ‘Islamic assassin’ who was ’sent’ (by a little voice in his head, presumably) to kill the cartoonist who drew that infamous Muhammad cartoon is in hospital after getting shot while trying to carry the deed out by… axe. Really, axe? Not poison umbrella dart? Not even grenade or sub-machine gun? Axe?
I’m not saying that there aren’t people in the world today who are capable and willing to carry out terror acts in the name of Islam. 9/11 was clearly a well-organised event (though in the end far less sophisticated than many cold-war terror actions); the Spain and London bombings were also well thought out. Indonesia’s terrorists have a history of pulling off successful attacks.
But the fact that these skills obviously possessed by a small number of terrorists are not at all being passed on to any larger group seems to indicate a marked lack of organisation. It seems to indicate that these individuals have little in common aside from their ideological bent. The fact is a well-organised and trained terrorist group can pull off a successful attack pretty much every time unless they’re actively prevented from doing so, while many of our current enemies seem to be a greater danger to themselves than to us.
I don’t think many if any of these groups or individuals rely on ‘Al-Quaeda’ for training or inspiration. What that means in the long run is that we have to quit trying to destroy terror networks by explosive force and have to start getting serious about listening to worried fathers dobbing in their sons.