jathor, cuddly Canadian etc, I think the reason to get the words right which describe the hijackers is not to somehow vindicate them. It is to understand just what makes them tick. As people seem to like to quote some ancient Chinese military strategist, it is good to have a better understanding of the opposition than the opposition has of themselves. It is also good to have a very insightful understanding of oneself.
A coward will be cowed by a little bit of opposition. I think it's important to understand that the hijackers and those up the line are not cowards [for the most part] because misunderstanding will lead to ineffective methods of defeating them.
It's not a matter of finding a suitable label to show maximum contempt for them. It's a matter of understanding them. To find their weak points. For example, the boozing and extra-marital carrying on of these allegedly pure Islamic heroes is a weak point. Their internecine conflict which apparently irritates Osama is a weak point. Another weak point is the skull in the front of their brains where a bullet can enter.
Those who want to give peace a chance, reach out and blah blah blah should understand that some people simply like power and the only solution is to confront them with more power than they can bring to bear. They use Aryan purity or Islamic purity or whatever they need to rally the troops, but it's about them getting power, the money and the girls. They are thinking the same of us!
They do not see life as a voluntary, creative, interactive, harmonious, integrating process. They are direct descendants of chimpanzee alpha male syndrome [which predates male answer syndrome by eons]. [Yes, evolutionary purists, I know that humans didn't descend directly from modern chimps - it's a figure of speech]. They operate on confiscation, domination, territoriality.
Cuddly Canadian disagreed that they are faceless. I have seen a lot of faces lately and Osama bin Laden's is becoming the most well-known face in the world. I think it's fair to say he is not faceless. It is absurd to call him cowardly given his actions of the past 20 years which seems to have involved successful conflict with the USSR and USA and a lot more besides.
Neither can he be called senseless. Far from it. He seems highly attuned to the world and I would say is on a par with those arrayed against him in the USA government. Thinking him senseless, stupid, or otherwise mindless is likely to result in blunders. The hijackers seemed to have their wits about them too. Certainly not senseless. They planned for a long, long time in some detail.
I don't buy the fears about Afghanistan being a trap from which body bags will be sent out with no victory achievable. The backing for the Taleban seems minor. It would take little for them to collapse [probably already have, other than the shouting]. They'll run like Saddam's conscripts in Kuwait. The Afghans will be pleased to have their country back and will support the foreigners being ousted from their midsts. They will be glad of peace returning.
Sure they have a lot of tunnels. The first Taleban guerilla to poke his head out is going to be spotted via night vision or day vision and killed from a great distance. They can't stay underground forever and the hills get cold in winter - cold and hungry. They might be able to last a couple of winters with supplies, but the lice will annoy them. They won't use radios [a signal will call in a strike to that GPS location].
Afghanistan is not Vietnam, covered in jungle with supplies from China, Russia and the communist controlled north. This isn't the 19th century with British troops marching around a landscape with bayonets fixed against swarms of locals. The Russians were up against a large population, well armed by Saudi Arabia, USA and other Muslim supporters. The Russians didn't have their hearts in it and there was not really anything for them to gain. The dream of access to the Persian Gulf and Arabian Sea became irrelevant once Gorby was in charge. Extrication and management of their home front was all they could cope with. It is not at all surprising that bin Laden "beat" the USSR. He didn't. If he thinks he can repeat the feat against what's coming, he's got another think coming.
Israel, Palestine, Pakistan and a lot more besides know that there is serious action coming. They do not what to be petulant in front of George W just now. George W will cut off all aid to Israel if they give him problems - he has enough to do right now. Arafat will be thrown to the lions if he doesn't give support to solutions. The Taleban will be digging holes to hide in and will quickly crumble as the Northerners come racing through [not quite as fast as a fleet of Hitler's Panzers in a blitzkrieg but pretty quickly all the same].
The myth of Afghanistan's victory over all foreigners will be shown as silly. For a start, they can't even get rid of Osama bin Laden and his foreign acolytes and Taleban. If they were so tough, that would have been a doddle even before the USA, Britain and probably a few others showed up.
The Taleban will be melting away into the sea of refugees. Their Islamic Fundamentalist Revolution in tatters, with no support from the majority of Moslems around the world who recognize bad stuff when they see it. The main battle will be a psychological one, fought in the USA, across the Islamic world, around the OECD and finally in the minds of the Taleban and local populations of Afghanistan. Osama will be very, very disappointed if there is not a vast, stupendously huge attack across the Moslem world. His worst outcome is what seems to be brewing. Saddam will have preferred a vast conflict and Islamic revolutionary insurrection too - he surely sees some writing on the wall that things are NOT going according to plan.
Meanwhile, there still has not been a financial collapse in 2001. It is nearly October. The techwreck is almost complete [95% of market capitalisation adjustments have been made - and more in the case of companies such as Globalstar and the dot.bombs]. The Dow correction has been significant and it's nearly 4 years that the Dow has been at this level and above.
If Uncle Green$pan had not put the kibosh on the markets over a year ago, they might have been just at some stupid peak just before the attack. That would have caused a total implosion of the whole world's financial system with no time for any adjustments to take place. There have been 18 months of adjustments now since the peak. If those adjustments had tried to happen over the space of a week after the attack, the world would be looking like a global disaster.
He has been hacking interest rates for months and the world's economy was already on a retrenchment programme with the wealth effect and resultant waste a dim memory. Inventory reduction and layoffs have been made for a year. The attack was a huge shock, but with luck, many of the desks in the WTC were empty due to the huge layoffs and reduction in the financial mania of early Y2K.
I say Uncle Al saved the world!
All power to USS Enterprise. Helengrad [NZ's Prime Minister and government] offered faint support. QUALCOMM is bringing in $$billions from around the world and paying taxes to support USS Enterprise. I'm pleased to have my taxes paying for that. I prefer to invest in USS Enterprise than Helengrad.
I took one of our daughters to see New York in 1999 on the way to Telecom99 in Geneva, including of course the WTC. I loved the World Trade Center and what it stood for [and have since first visiting in 1975]. It is shameful to me that between the adults of the world we not been able to bring civilisation to the world and my daughter now has memories which nobody should have. Not only that, it is actually a worse place for daily life.
In the early 1970s, her best friend's parents drove in a Mini Minor from Britain, all the way across Europe and Asia to Singapore on their way home [I think they still have the Mini, a much-loved souvenir ]. It was a common trip for Kiwis to make on their way home from their Big OE [overseas experience] in their late teens or early twenties. It is decades since that trip could be made safely or at all. Maybe one day, it will be possible to travel like that again and meet new friends along the way.
Mqurice
PS: Edit...from previous post; speak of the devil <As Kurds get reports from compatriots in Baghdad that Saddam's security services are hastily moving out of their offices, anticipating an allied strike, Barzani and Talabani are identifying and isolating Saddam's fifth columnists. The Kurds await word from Washington about when to move on Afghan terrorists in their midst, and eagerly look forward to joining an allied assault on Baghdad.
That brings us to the strategic decision now being debated in President Bush's war council...>
Talabani He had better be careful when he introduces himself to American soldiers with "Hello, I'm Talabani". Some will not be up on the nuances of the middle east and the Arabian Nights and could mistake him for Taleban. |
