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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: frankw1900 who wrote (60339)	12/7/2002 10:39:59 AM
From: epicure	Respond to of 281500

Excellent post. I so enjoyed reading it. I've thought the same thing about Chomsky for years, but I would not have been able to articulate it as well as you did. Thank you.

To: frankw1900 who wrote (60339)	12/7/2002 6:23:31 PM
From: paul_philp	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

Frankw, You asked the other day about the theory of networks and Al Qaeda and Wahhabism. I just finished the book and the author addresses AQ in the last chapter. He says that AQ is an exemplar of the power laws of networks. A network map ff the roughly 34 people directly involved in the planning and execution of the 9/11 attacks shows that Mohamed Atta was indeed the central hub of the network. However, he was connected to only 16 of them people. Marwan Al-Sehhi was connected to 14 of the people. Atta was the hub but not the leader of the planning. If we had found Atta and taken him out, the network would have kept its integrity and ability to function. He argues that taking out OBL will not damage the network fatally. The network is structured it's ideas not it's hierarchy. Since it is self-organizing, the network would adapt to the death of OBL. Here is an interesting quote: "Unfamiliarity with this new order and a lack of language for formalizing our experience are perhaps our most deadly enemies." He goes on to say that OBL and AQ didn't invent the network structure but they did demonstrate it's effectiveness. He postulates that we will face many more enemies that take the network form of organization. It is an interesting point. If we don't understand how to fight an enemy that uses the advantages of the network organization, this weakness will continue to be exploited. Interesting stuff to speculate on. Paul