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Jihadiots
I was reading Ex's link to Chris Fair and Daniel Byman's piece about idiotic jihadis and thought some thoughts that I thought were probably fairly relevant. But more importantly, I saw a golden opportunity to link to a clip I've been wanting to share for ages (more on that in a bit).
So, are jihadis cunning, resourceful, steel eyed shadow warriors, or are they a bunch of bumbling fools? Chris and Daniel make a great case for the idiot argument with tales of would-be suicide bombers hugging their comrades one last time and accidentally vapourising everyone, Talibs engaging in frolics with farmyard animals and - my personal favourite - the weed smoking Miami wannabe jihadis.
I've been drawn to the bumbling-fools line of argument since the time I attended a rally organised by al Muhajiroon in London. On the shared bus from the mosque to the site, I was stifling laughter when the teenage demonstrators started cracking open the neatly packed lunches their mothers had prepared thinking their sons were off on training courses. Followed by the full-on jihadi fashionista behind-the-catwalk bitch-fest when it came time to fix on the face-covering Palestinian scarves.
The point was only enhanced for me a few months later when I saw the video testaments of the failed airline bomb plotters...I mean seriously, I'm pretty sure at least two of them couldn't read the script.
At about the same time, I interviewed a 15-year old in London who told me, "Amil, the war is coming. I'm a soldier. But, bruvver, you gotta pick your side." He then got stoned, tried to rap for me, forgot the words and asked to borrow money for the bus ride home."
This might all sound fairly reassuring, but I think the ineptitude is just one side of a wider trend. Keeping the argument to Britain for now; before 9/11, to become an extremist, you had to be fairly committed. There was none of the reflected glamour of being associated with people capable of scaring polite society. In those days, extremists were overzealous, a bit nerdy, waay too into religion and generally uncool. As Chris and Daniel's example of 9/11 lead attacker Mohammed Atta suggests, in such an environment, a potential recruit is more likely to possess a certain awareness, commitment and focus. Of course, there are examples of pre 9/11 Jihadiots, but in general terms, the cause was as cool as chess club and membership reflected that.
Now that the cause is much more glamorous, many more people want some of the action. So the fact that there are numerous instances of idiocy means that extremists have been able to lots of idiots. And, just one idiot who manages to press the right button at the right time is a huge problem.
But more than that, if you are going to get lots of recruits, most will be idiots but you are also going to get a larger proportion of useful people. i bet something similar happens in conventional fighting forces like the British army. Thinking of which, I'm reminded of an occurrence related to me by an army guy I was hanging around with who told me of a young recruit from the north of England who after a session of learning about grenades put a live one in the pocket of his camo jacket and blew himself up. So, for every few dozen Sargodha type recruits you get someone who can devise complex strategies, hack computer systems or influence millions. In Pakistan, these types of recruits have been busy running double agents, expertly executing raids on Pakistani army installations and running circles around everyone else's communication efforts.
There are further differences amongst extremists than just their level of competence. Britain, for example, and Afghanistan are two totally different environments. The threat coming from them does not manifest itself in the same way. However, the general principle probably still holds; if porn-loving young Afghans have signed up to the Taliban, it suggests that the group is growing in popularity and attracting followers because it is successful and not because of whatever it is seen to stand for.
Daniel and Chris mention the importance of denying extremists havens to limit their capacity to train followers, and I'd totally agree. I'd also add if we accept that extremists can gather more recruits than before 9/11, and that some of these people have to be competent, that means that more safe havens will result in many, many more potentially lethal extremists.
So, should we laugh at the Jihadiots? Absolutely! I mean, sometimes, it's really hard not to. Check out this trailer for a recently released British film to see what I mean:
The trailer claims it's
The trailer claims it's "laugh out loud funny from start to finish". For whom? Families, friends and loved ones of terror victims? Fuck you Londonistani. Fuck you again and once more for good measure.
I am family and friend of
I am family and friend of "terror victims", and presumably was a loved one by at least a couple. I am a "victim of terror" myself. The trailer is pretty hilarious. I laughed when the guy with the sheep blew up, thus, "laugh out loud" is a fair characterization. Why the hate bro?
I've been thru MEPS (US
I've been thru MEPS (US military processing center for new/prospective recruits) twice. I thought we were doomed based on the kids there. I could have then wrote an equivalent of the Byman/Fair piece for a snarky lefty/Euro or Middle Eastern publication laughing at the stupid loud-mouth kids from the hills and ghettos with their pot-bellies, misplaced bravado, moral waivers and exasperated recruiters. But that would have to ignore the small number of guys that kicked ass on their ASVAB and passed the Ranger physical.
The Byman/Fair piece is unfair. I agree with Londonstani, but I would give the article a much harsher appraisal. Easy to laugh at zoophiliac Talibs, but not so funny when they kill a dozen coalition troops in a single day. If they are donkey-molesters, then we're people who are losing to "donkey-molesters."
http://tribune.com.pk/story/2
http://tribune.com.pk/story/21003/bus-crash-leaves-15-tourists-dead-in-p...
MANILA: At least 15 tourists were killed in a bus crash in Philippines on Sunday.
The tourists, including Iranians and Pakistanis, were killed when their bus fell into a ravine in the Philippines stated police sources.
The accident occurred when a bus carrying 70 tourists and local guides fell into a deep ravine on the central island of Cebu, police reported that 15 bodies had been pulled from the wreckage, including the bus driver and two foreign children.
Most of the fatalities being reported are said to be from Iran or Pakistan and no breakdown of nationalities is available as yet.
As a fledgling jihadi, I too
As a fledgling jihadi, I too am offended, so Fuck You too, Londonstani!
Comment by Visitor on June
Comment by Visitor on June 13, 2010 - 9:50pm
If they are donkey-molesters, then we're people who are losing to "donkey-molesters."
That would make for an even funnier movie.
"The Men that Stare at Goat
"The Men that Stare at Goat Molesters"?
But more than that, if you
But more than that, if you are going to get lots of recruits, most will be idiots but you are also going to get a larger proportion of useful people. i bet something similar happens in conventional fighting forces like the British army.
This is true - but I think there's a key difference. If the British army gets a lot of idiots wanting to join, the only problem is the higher administrative load of having to process them all in and then kick them off Phase 1 training three weeks later. As long as you don't drop your standards, and as long as you're getting the same number of good recruits (ie they aren't being displaced or discouraged by the Wave of Clots), the efficiency of the army is unimpaired.
The same doesn't apply to AQ, and certainly not in the UK. If an idiot joins an otherwise competent cell, he's endangering that cell from day one through poor opsec. There's no real training phase for AQ cells in the sense of a period in which error does not carry consequence.
Unless, of course, you have a safe haven area to train in.
Wrong, wrong,
Wrong, wrong, wrong!
Terrorists are the modern version of the Soviet menace: well-funded, diabolical, and, plausibly, access to nuclear and biological weaponry. That's the image we need to create, anyway, even if it's mostly bull - oops, I left out the terrorist capabilities with respect to military and financial cybernetworks - what if?
Justifying bloated U.S. military budgets in the post-Cold War era is no easy task, you know, and portraying "the great enemy" as a bunch of sheep-loving uneducated farmers is not helping matters very much.
The whole things a mess... despite spending $50 billion on biowarfare defense since 2001, the only credible threats in that arena are large state actors - not even Saddam could make bioweapons. Mobile biowarfare laboratories -what a joke. Does Iran have those too? Let's ask the new DNI nominee, Clapper - were they all moved into Syria? Of course they were! That was reliable, sound intelligence - oh yeah.
It was sure a lot easier to deploy military forces to secure oil and other natural resources when we could claim to be fighting communism and heading off the Red Menace - this terrorist shit just doesn't sell as well, especially when it comes to the big-ticket Cold War contracts... what a bummer, huh?
Now, if you'll excuse me, I've gotta go convince a bunch of Congressional skeptics that some raggedly Taliban outfit in Pakistan could easily hack into the U.S. financial networks and bring the world to its knees - wish me luck, I'm gonna need it.
"it suggests that the group
"it suggests that the group is growing in popularity and attracting followers because it is successful..."
What's gotten into you? That sounds like....I can't even say it.
So perhaps the need to defeat just to defeat justifies US post 9/11 actions, or at least makes them more understandable to some? The one definite achievement in Iraq besides Saddam is no longer a problem was the defeat of AQ in Iraq.
The rest will be judged by history.
You are betraying some attitudes about the British Army I think, but I'll leave it to the Squaddies...
I've been through MEPS as well, I probably didn't look that impressive, it's how you look after basic that's different. And how you perform. If you get farther than MEPS. Ahem. Ah-hehh- hem.
I'll take Hillbilly or ghetto bravado (scared kids really) over our all omni-impotent omni-nonscient government in DC any day, whether or not they passed the Ranger F**ing physical. The Rangers are 3 Battalions. And yes there's the school for turning out hard headed know it all Officers who can't beat donkey shaggers. Probably would lose to the Girl Scouts, perhaps someday we'll find out.
Not for the first time, can we switch leaders with the enemy? I know some people want KSM and crowd out. Fine. He can replace John Brennan. If I can practice the same Sharia KSM did, I'm cool with it.
Meet the new boss, definitely would be an improvement on the current boss. Boss, you can shag all the donkey's you want.
Discredit and make then look
Discredit and make then look so idiotic that no one will follow them. Just like the Nazis? Very Terentinoesque...
FYI if we have won the war aginst AQ in Iraq why do we still have tens of thousands of us army, security contractors and well guarded diplomats in Baghdad? Me thinks you are full of $hit.
AQ is alive and strong....otherwise companies like SAIC would let go over half their contractors and employees and they would have to find real jobs, with skills they don't have. Is there a need to hunt hvt high value targets in the real world? is Coffer Black working for AOL or for a non-for-profit, perhaps he's donating his free time in retirement to helping orphans in war torn Iraq?
the war thing is getting a little old... Why don't you solve a worthy problem like capping our oil leak in the gulf.
Why do we allow these low IQ
Why do we allow these low IQ and highly violent people to emigrate to the West in the first place?
Diversity + proximity = war.
It's a very real part of the
It's a very real part of the world and all of human history, and will continue to be...the war thing was "getting old" for the Greeks about 300 BC...this part of who we are doesn't change. If it's not your "real world" that's because someone's standing in for you. Having been one I really don't know why we bother, people like you could really benefit from meeting the competition. Hearing the carping because your fantasy alternative reality can't come true is really, really, old. Also totally full of shit, as you will discover about 7 seconds after the defenders tire of it and walk away.
Interesting that you wrote
Interesting that you wrote about this...I started research a while ago on "jihadi magazines" like Muaskar al-Battar and etc., trying to see if there was any validity to the "terrorists getting their training from the internet" argument. What I found before I laughed it off was as follows:
*The magazines feature such useful skills as how to build a lean-to in a forest
*Each issue features a few pages of stirring testimony to Jihad/religious advice
*Beyond that it is mostly useless. Advice for planning an operation includes the following tips:
-be sure to rent a reliable car, you don't want it breaking down on you in an operation!
-don't use your real name (really?)
-do not leave operational papers lying around in plain sight in your home.
I felt pretty sure that if this was the sort of thing you had to train people on...
In any event, the person that made the point about the Army Rangers has it right - out of many recruits, one or two will get lucky which, unfortunately, is all it takes.
Yup. They are funny, and
Yup. They are funny, and stupid, and credulous, and dumb. They can schedule their suicide bombing on Monday, because on Tuesday they have an important exam (true story). But those are the only kind of people you can convince to don the explosive belt in the first place. So you laugh once, twice, and than you have 20 children blown to bits in a disco, and you suddenly get what it is all about - a germ, that must be eradicated.
Vous avez de bons points il,
Vous avez de bons points il, c'est pourquoi j'aime toujours verifier votre blog, Il semble que vous etes un expert dans ce domaine. maintenir le bon travail, Mon ami recommander votre blog.
Mon francais n'est pas tres bon, je suis de l'Allemagne.
Mon blog:
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