Politics for Pros- moderated Message Board

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated

Public Reply Prvt Reply Mark as Last Read File

Previous 10 Next 10 Previous Next

To: Nadine Carroll who wrote (99451)	2/9/2005 1:41:16 PM
From: carranza2	of 793895

This article should be mandatory reading for all those moonbats who think terror comes from "despair." I read Marc Sageman's book on terror networks recently. It is the only study I have seen in which some attempt is made to statistically quantify the terrorists' motivations. As you noted, despair simply does not fit into the picture. Sageman's book is limited by the limited amount of information available on the background of terrorists, but in my estimation his work is generally valid. amazon.com The book is indispensable reading for those who wish to understand why terrorists become terrorists and how it is that they operate. The folklore about the lack of economic opportunities, poverty, and despair is simply wrong as the bulk of most terrorists generally come from privileged or at least comfortable backgrounds. Repression in their own countries, however, seems to play a part in their transformation. Most terrorists according to Sageman seem to go through a religious transformation at a militant mosque. This transformation is reinforced when the budding terrorists join social groups of like-minded believers which become more and more fanatical as they discuss and study militant Islam. Sageman finds analogies to the Moonies and to the Red Army Faction in which nodes of members under the influence of a local leader reinforce their insanity. In the case of Islamist terrorists, they make contact with leaders who are further up the chain of command that link them to a central control. This is exactly how the 9/11 operatives in Hamburg became linked to OBL and Zawahiri. Sageman suggests that finding and eliminating the leaders of these local nodes will go a long ways towards disrupting terror attacks. They are devilishly difficult to infiltrate because the social links between the members of the nodes are created by long-standing family relationships. Consequently, new members are rigorously vetted.

Report TOU Violation

Share This Post

Public Reply Prvt Reply Mark as Last Read File

Previous 10 Next 10 Previous Next