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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Nadine Carroll who wrote (146827)	11/13/2005 9:58:17 AM
From: Hoa Hao	Respond to of 793931

"Somebody in the Mossad is chuckling over the irony of the Al Qaeda blowing up a Palestinian wedding party and killing the PA head of secret police." It may be what al Q wanted/was aiming at; the PA may not be radical enough for them.

To: Nadine Carroll who wrote (146827)	11/13/2005 10:16:19 AM
From: carranza2	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 793931

After a certain amount of time, even Al Jazeerah notices that Al Qaeda is killing mostly Muslims, not infidels. Furthermore, terrorism depends on shock value to succeed. After a while, the shock value of suicide bombings starts to decline. Without the shock value, they are just limited attacks against targets of little military significance. I agree, but unfortunately the dynamic you mention also is a terrific argument in favor of a radical change in the Islamists' tactics. It points out AQ's need for more and more 9/11-style spectacular attacks on Western targets, especially American. They'll figure this out sooner or later.

To: Nadine Carroll who wrote (146827)	11/13/2005 11:31:04 AM
From: Mary Cluney	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 793931

On the minus side, their ideology is basically a fantasy, and doesn't stand up to reality checks very well. I agree with you totally on this point. That is why I am totally against using evil tactics to fight this. Evil will destroy itself. That is inevitable. Their underlying strategy is really to do enough so that we will use evil tactics on a more massive scale that they can not achieve themselves. They send a few suicide bombers or people with box cutters and we spend $billions and $billions shooting flies with cannons killing a lot of innocent people (and perhaps along with some flies). If they have a strategy that is half way intelligent - that would be it.

To: Nadine Carroll who wrote (146827)	11/13/2005 5:02:14 PM
From: Maurice Winn	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 793931

Nadine, I wouldn't say that: <On the minus side, their ideology is basically a fantasy, and doesn't stand up to reality checks very well. What country that has tried Islamism for any length of time is still in favor of it? Iran? Afghanistan? > As they say in the markets, markets can stay irrational a lot longer than a speculator can stay solvent. Islam has had a 1000 year reality check and it's still going. Religions are all based on fantasy. Look at Jews with their "chosen people" and "promised land" fantasies. There isn't really any supernatural deity who has laid down those edicts. Religions are ipso facto irrational because they all start with some bloke making up a supernatural, superstitious, set of explanations for "Why?" The explanations usually include them getting to be the boss, telling other people what the rules and beliefs are, and they get to have the money and the girls too. I agree that in the long run, the reality checks will whittle superstitions and irrational beliefs away, but these things take time. Especially when the beliefs are actually serving an evolutionary function such as keeping the credulous in servitude so the bosses can go ahead and run the show. Aztec human sacrifice no doubt included getting rid of those who were not net contributors to the success of the system. Baying to the gods and hacking out hearts would keep the rest in line and the gene pool clean, albeit dishonestly, but dishonesty is par for the course in politics. Look at WMDs for example. Mqurice