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If you only listen to five counter-terrorism analysts...
If you watch U.S. cable news in the aftermath of today's attacks in Norway -- and really, why are you watching U.S. cable news? -- you are likely to see various "terrorism" "experts" talking about what happened. If you are lucky, you'll see someone like Peter Bergen who has written extensively and well on various jihadi groups, but beyond that, the quality can go downhill pretty quickly.
As a service to the readership, the following is an incomplete list of several scholars who write and comment well on terrorism.
1. Will McCants. Will, an analyst at the Center for Naval Analysis, worked in the State Department's counter-terrorism shop until recently. Armed with excellent Arabic and a PhD in Near Eastern Studies from Princeton, Will is a serious scholar of both Islam and jihadi movements. He founded the website Jihadica and can be followed on Twitter at @will_mccants.
2. Thomas Hegghammer. A Norwegian himself, Thomas is the author of this incredible book and introduces the field of jihadi studies quite well in this excellent if dated essay.
3. Brynjar Lia. Another Norwegian, Brynjar also wrote a rather wonderful book and is an analyst at the Norwegian Defense Research Establishment.
4. Leah Farrall. Aussie goddess of all things counter-terrorism. Follow her on Twitter at @allthingsct.
5. Brian Fishman. A research fellow at the New America Foundation, you might actually see Brian on television. He probably will not say anything ignorant. Which is more than you can say for most people you will see on television. @brianfishman
You will note my incomplete list of counter-terrorism experts is somewhat biased toward those with language skills and formal education in the subject and away from law enforcement and military experience. This is not an accident. Nothing wrong with the latter, of course. It's just that if you want someone to explain the origins of al-Qaeda, some guy who used to kick down doors is probably not your man. (Though he may be, I guess.) My list is also biased toward experts on Islamist terror. There are those in the field of strategic studies who focus more on terror and coercion as general subjects, but I have found they are less likely to be able to say something of consequence about specific groups than people who are experts on specific groups can say something of consequence about terror tactics and coercion in general. Anyway, do add your own names in the comments section.
P.S. This list was compiled after jihadi groups claimed responsibility for the Norway attacks. If the attacks were instead the acts of what we social scientists call an "LDA," or Lone Derranged A******, save this list for the next time there is an attack by bona fide terrorist group or you're just otherwise curious about terror and counter-terrorism.
That last line cracked me up.
That last line cracked me up. Ouch! :-)
AND Norway still got bombed.
AND Norway still got bombed. Laughable. Sick and tired of "sexperts", they should just be called Perts.
AM, has J. Coffer Black
AM, has J. Coffer Black decided to do a memoir or is he proving any workshops on said topic?
I haven't seen or heard a peep from him, since he retired, went to work for CT at State and then jumped ship to work for Eric Prince - Managing and handling the legal issues for XE / Blackwater contracts for the USG. I don't believe he's with Xe anymore. He's dropped off the grid. Is he doing anything beneficial for his country these days? Have you heard anything in the trenches? Black's got more to offer than all five of the individuals who you've listed above.
Perhaps you can could do a guest interview at CNAS with Mr. Black and pick his brain?
I'm sure the farm team has much to bring to the table, buy why not have a chat with Michael Jordan himself?
There are those in the field
There are those in the field of strategic studies who focus more on terror and coercion as general subjects, but I have found they are less likely to be able to say something of consequence about specific groups than people who are experts on specific groups can say something of consequence about terror tactics and coercion in general.
###
That is a genuinely interesting finding. I wonder what the "generalists'" rejoinder would be.
ADTS
Robert Spencer. No matter how
Robert Spencer. No matter how complex the issue, he can usually boil it down into one oversimplified explanation. And he doesn't bore us with facts or reasoning.
On Monday, Norway's foreign
http://turtlebay.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2011/07/21/israeli_ambassador_s...
Please no one shoot the messenger, i.e. the quoted site. Just finished reading this a few moments before I looked at today's news.
The list is missing experts
The list is missing experts on pissed off Norwegian loners with no connection to Islam.
What are you talking about? I
What are you talking about?
I am literally speechless that not a single news channel is covering the story. There are no experts, there are no talking heads, there is no video at all! If this had happened in the US coverage would have been wall-to-wall, instead of nothing.
Seriously, why are we watching cable news?
Wait, i'm sorry. Now i
Wait, i'm sorry. Now i understand, they waited 7 HOURS after the event so Wolf Blitzer could mention it for a few minutes.
Oh Fnord, I am so sorry.
Oh Fnord, I am so sorry.
Others you should look
Others you should look to:
Phil Mudd
Barbara Sude
Jarrett Brachman
Don Rassler
Vahid Brown
Katherine Tiedemann
Evan Kohlman
Juan Zarate
Stephen Tankel
Paul Pillar
Kenneth Katzman
Huma Imtiaz
Fnord, I am so sorry also.
Fnord, I am so sorry also.
Fnord - I hope you crush your enemies -- See them driven before you, and to hear the lamentation of their women.
Well, I guess we won't be
Well, I guess we won't be hearing from Fnord anytime soon. I knew that guy had issues.
Didn't Fnord just converted
Didn't Fnord just converted to Islam?
Regarding your "P.S.," since
Regarding your "P.S.," since when exactly did the definition of terrorism or terrorist come to narrowly include only those considered "jihadi?"
I'm glad I'm not the only one
I'm glad I'm not the only one on here who thought of Fnord as soon as I heard about this. I guess it's one of the oddities of the internet that I now associate an entire country with some random online commenter I've never met in real life. As it gets later into the night the stories coming from that camp on the island are becoming more and more like something out of a horror movie.
Since MOST Terrorists are
Since MOST Terrorists are Muslims.
Here's the only way I know how to deal w/ Terrorists: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6dZU8RqenlU ("Look at me. Look at me!" from Heat)
Thank you all for your
Thank you all for your thoughts. Spent last night in shock, we gfathered at a pub (much the same people as at 9/11). When the bombing came we all thought Libya/AQ but when the shooting at Utøya began, we just thought "loonie". In a sense we were right and wrong, he was a ideological killer from the extreme right, fed and raised on islamophobic propaganda over the net. Killed 80 + youths in cold blood, going hunting over an hour.
I remember my summer spent at Utøya camp back in 88, when I was a member of social democratic youth. Only way in and out was with a small boat with a outside engine. Motherfcking islanmophobe nationalist did this, consider it a warning for things to come elsewhere if we do not mount a counter-narrative to that of the extreme right. To be ontopic: Could I please request that those with experience in the campaigns opverseas start a "Nice muslims Ive met" narrative across the internets.
Fuck, Im shocked. AQ/Libya, I could see that coming. But a Timmy mcVeigh? In Norway? unreal.
Iftikar Jones: Strictly
Iftikar Jones: Strictly animist here. But what does Islam have to do with this, except that hatred for it was a motivation for the killer wanting to kill traitorous liberals?
Fnord....my condolences.
Fnord....my condolences. Hard to believe something like this occurred.
How loose are the restrictions on firearms in your country and what kinds of weapons did this nutcase have?
Stay strong.
let's see the guy you trust
let's see the guy you trust the MOST turned out to not translate things right and to spread information without checking it first. I think I may want to follow the list of the folks you think shouldn't be trusted. I'm kind of big on actual facts and the truth. crazy I know when it's so much easier to do blind ignorant hatemongering.
So what is the difference
So what is the difference between a LDA and a person on a payroll in Washington?
Both believe what they are doing is a rightful cause, one gets a regular pay check. The more people that you get to agree with you, the larger the paycheck.
See that the UN is heading back to Somalia for the most recent famine, I dusted off an old book to read about The Day of the Rangers. When it happened, I knew about it before CNN did. Had a chance to talk to some of the operators shortly there after, they were the ones that only got a mention in the book. I think that America is still learning that lesson in Yemen, Libya, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and other places in the world. I know people that did CT before they had a name for it.
We have built a stage for any person or organization that has a cause. We staffed it with people making careers out of it. Exum, you have driven in a few nails and so have I. What happens to a terrorist if you take away the terror and the attention?
Trillion dollars and what does America have to show for it (Actually, I believe the $4 Trillion numbers. There is a lot that happens on the edges and that which we do not see on CNN)? Hope the Generals enjoy their six-figure retirement, business has been good.
There is nothing that motivates Washington more than Fear of Failure. It is the end of the paycheck, Wiener is just another guy looking for a job now.
The only thing that Americans have to fear, is fear itself (Thank you Mr. Churchill). McCarthyism was not a good time.
COIN is the right response, the war should not have happened and now Washington is Fearing Failure. Who has done more damage? Washington or the LDA's.
Visitor 6.32: Thank you. The
Visitor 6.32: Thank you. The paradox over here is that almost anyone can have acess to weapons, yet our guncrime rate is ridicolously low. But, seeing that he had acess to and licence for a submachine gun (Im guessing MP-5 since he disguised himself as a policeman) indicates that he has been a part of the Heimevern (National Guard), propably the navy wing. ( Hes also a freemason in good standing...)
For those of you interested in his ideological mentor, google Fjordman, a norwegian anonymous blogger who has been preaching class war against the liberals betraying the White West. he is located at the US blog Gates of Vienna first and foremost. I sure as &%ck hope that the various intel companies start treating the islam-haters seriously now, instead of focusing on animal liberation fron weirdoes.
Here are his ideological
Here are his ideological rants presented by a guy who agrees with him:
http://islamversuseurope.blogspot.com/2011/07/anders-behring-breiviks-co...
Fnord, our prayers are with
Fnord, our prayers are with you and your country.
Abu M: Thank you. I hope
Abu M: Thank you.
I hope that this will be the start of a real crackdown on the various internet hatemongers out there. This was a clear ideological attack, and not the act of a lone psycho. The news now is that there were propably two of them, and that one got away. Again, I would urge veterans to start telling tales of muslims who are fighting alongside our soldiers.
Fnord, why weren't you at the
Fnord, why weren't you at the camp. Thought you'd be a camp counselor there.
ONLY thing I know about
ONLY thing I know about Norway is that Nordic Naturals Fish Oil is the BEST. NO more joint pains and back aches for me, plus I feel healthy.
See Albert Camus, The
See Albert Camus, The Plague:
"On the whole, men are more good than bad; that however isn't the real point. But they are more or less ignorant, and it is this that we call vice or virtue; the most incorrigible vice being that of an ignorance that fancies it knows everything and therefore claims for itself the right to kill."
Given the rapid rise of far right neo-Nazi linked politics in Northern Europe, this isn't entirely surprising - one might look into the 1990s-era "militia movement" in the U.S. to see how such groups arise, and what their sources of financing and inspiration are. What do they call it? Not jihad, but rather a crusade? A new area of terrorism studies is called for, focusing on Christian crusader groups, which are taking the same shape as Islamic jihadi groups. Probably a few Jewish Zionist groups doing the same thing, too.
As far as "jihadi websites" anyone could set those up and use them as PR tools for any agenda at all - hardly a reliable source of information, as this episode shows.
Grim day yesterday for
Grim day yesterday for Norway, which continues today. It is almost a throwback to the invasion by Hitler's Germany in 1940 for the violence and the realisation when Quisling and his followers came to the fore, assisting the occupation that there was an 'enemy within'.
Much has been written about 'Lone Wolves', notably by Raffaello Pantucci and his website is: http://raffaellopantucci.com/tag/terrorism/ He is ex-IISS and now aligned to Kings College London. He has wisely not yet commented.
The potential for 'Lone Wolves' to develop has always been there, which the USA is more familiar with than Western Europe. Today the speed of moving to planning an attack is faster and the knowledge required easier to find. The extreme right has it's "lunatic fringe", rarely aggressive in Western Europe I say and despite all the bluster it is usually defensive posturing.
I am sure many politicians across Europe, particularly where there is an extreme right fringe, will be asking their security agencies for a review of their own national / regional position. There is no reason why that should not be done in the UK, maybe in the USA & Canada?
Governments will normally conduct such a review behind a wall of secrecy. I see no reason why, in the UK, the Home Affairs Select Committee should not hold an open hearing nor that US Congressman who holds hearings on the threat from Muslims.
As this CNAS article was
As this CNAS article was being written, Will McCants was convincing every media outlet in the world that he had a super secret scoop that this attack was carried out by a Jihadist extremist group that doesn't even exist.
http://www.fastcompany.com/1768726/oslo-terrorists-allegedly-claim-respo...
"According to a partial translation by terrorism expert Will McCants of Jihadica, al-Nasir claims the attacks were in retribution for the occupation of Afghanistan by foreign troops and unnamed insults to the Muslim prophet Muhammad."
Fnord - "Gates of Vienna"
Fnord - "Gates of Vienna" scared me so much when I came across it that I mentioned it here, do you remember? You agreed. It's not like this wasn't visible while it was coming. Can you confirm a report that camp activities included political rallies?
Eli Lake said "This is war." I agree; this is war.
SCTWe are not safe as civilians. I call this blowback for Oslo. I call that because my heart lifted when I read the numbers that had agreed to the creation of a new state.
Oslo! What a symbol.
Sorry; life's a bitch. And then...
I'm waiting for the usual
I'm waiting for the usual calls for a nuanced understanding of the causes of this man's alienation, explanations of how he's not representative of the entire far right wing, demands for rapprochement, "why do they hate us," and so forth.
Deepest sympathy Fnord. And
Deepest sympathy Fnord. And to Norway.
This is a sobering reminder
The incomparable Jennifer Rubin.
The Bush administration made a fortune waging war against jihadists and we got a t-shirt saying Utoeya 2011.
No, I am not looking away.
No matter where the pain
No matter where the pain comes from, it does not make any sense. Americans feel for Norway.
Going forward, what is the most important thing to take away from this?
A) Spin up the Intel Network and go after all those right wingers? Great poster boy.
B) Spend Four Trillion more dollars? Harden defences. Separate government from the people. Install more swipe entry and guards.
C) Understand that the world has differences and we all can not think and act the same. The more we push, the more the world pushes back. People are looking for balance.
Think I trust the people of Norway to do the best. It might be a good example.
"Since MOST Terrorists are
"Since MOST Terrorists are Muslims."
http://www.dangardner.ca/index.php/articles/item/90-remember-that-eurabi...
"Just the facts, Ma'am."
how was this guy NOT a
how was this guy NOT a jihadi?
i am so over the pressures the early 21st century have put on my moral absolutlsm.
if it had been a muslim terror act i would have beseeched norway not to launch a pogrom against muslim citizens, and meant it.
so why do i hope fnord is lacing his docs and preparing to dole out medieval ultraviolence against his skin head and fundie scumbag fellow citizens?
Would you define what you
Would you define what you mean by 'jihadi' (July 24, 2011 - 2:21am), diablotakahe?
Nota bene: again, children
Nota bene: again, children have been judged fit for slaughter.
Impunity is virulent.
Visitor: Yes, its a political
Visitor: Yes, its a political camp, its a 50/50 politics and partying tradition for social democratic youth between 14 and 17, goes back to the 50s at least. I participated when I was 15, back before the fall of the Soviet union. The logic behind the terrorist is to hurt the real traitors of "White Norway" and to kill their children, their coming cadre.
Diablo: The worst part of it is that this isnt skinhead-boy and his dumbo sidekicks, this is a intelectually sophisticated, "rational" holy warrior acting on behalf of the anti-jihad culture. As mentioned above, his leader is a blogger called Fjordman, whose extremism has been embraced by people far into the respectable right. What we see here is a result of the echo-chamber of the internet, I wrote articles about the layers of the net from extremism through intelectualization into politics and/or terror as far back as in 2009. We have people such as Bruce bawer over at Pajamas Media who makes up fairytale stories of Oslo for international consumption (according to him, large parts of oslo are muslim-only areas, sharia rules the streets, etc.), we have intelectuals talking about the need for keeping "White Values" and getting coverage and political platforms in pro-zionist christian newspapers, we have (unfortunately) the unholy alliance between ultra right pro-Israelis and ultra right Pro-serbians and ultra right anti-muslims (Pamela Geller, Robert Spencer, gates of Vienna) all trying the best they can to influence the Tea Party movement (see the anti-mosque movement in New York).
But what is worse, we seem to have no counternarrative emerging, because anyone who tries to argue with these folks are met by a storm of noise, be it "dhimmi", "anti-semite", suicidal liberal, selfhating Jew. And it seems that all the best in our society just writes them off as crazies, and retreat, leaving them the internet as their own playground. Yes, I feel like going to some of those people houses with a baseball bat, I freaking know where they live and where they meet. But im not sure that would be smart politicaly. (*grumf* At least not yet. *grumf*.) I do hope that the police will blow Fjordmans anonymity wide open with a public arrest, and Im writing every journalist I know to urge the hunt for him. because he is the Zawahiri of this movement, urging that the real war is against the liberal elites and that the muslims are only weapons in their nefarious plans to exterminate the white race. And I do hope that we will see some plain old fashioned police harassment of the leading anti-muslim bloggers in the coming year. God knows they have done it to the left before, Im still on the list of political suspects for actions I did in the 90s wich did not involve any real violence.
Fnord-amazing. One terrorist
Fnord-amazing. One terrorist attack on a Komsomol camp in your country, and you're seeing enemies of the people in every corner, under every rug, "Bruce bawer over at Pajamas Media...intelectuals talking about the need for keeping "White Values" and getting coverage and political platforms in pro-zionist christian newspapers...ultra right pro-Israelis and ultra right Pro-serbians and ultra right anti-muslims (Pamela Geller, Robert Spencer, gates of Vienna) all trying the best they can to influence the Tea Party movement (see the anti-mosque movement in New York)", fantasizing about a political environment where you can take a baseball bat to them and damn near demanding they be put on the trains and sent to containment areas north of the Arctic Circle. I have no recollection of seeing any right-wing intellectuals in the US coming out with a bucket list like that, or demands for purges of terrorist fellow-travellers after 9/11. Funny how the Left's principles disappear when it's THEIR side taking a hit.
Disclaimer-this was a tragedy, and obviously I think that machinegunning people for holding objectionable political views is a bad thing, condolences to all involved, etcetera. Since I'm a firm believer in the sanctity of human life and the equal value of all lives, I condemn this man's actions as being just as bad as the actions of any mass-murdering socialist insurgent out there.
i do. i have recollection of
i do.
i have recollection of such demands.
endless demands, using phrases like 'drain the swamp' and 'you're with us or against us'
Really? By whom and in what
Really? By whom and in what context?
"I do hope that we will see
"I do hope that we will see some plain old fashioned police harassment of the leading anti-muslim bloggers in the coming year. "
This is the Left's concept of "Freedom of Speech", apparently.
:: This list was compiled
:: This list was compiled after jihadi groups claimed responsibility for the Norway attacks. ::
Groups, plural? One man on one jihadi forum claimed responsibility (the Will McCants tweet). What other group or groups had anything like a claim of responsibility for the attacks?
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