I have to confess, I am puzzled by the idea that blowing up random strangers will somehow win people to your cause. What message are they sending to their fellow Indonesians? All they offer is destruction.

Does anybody understand this?

Do what we tell you or we'll blow you up. Pretty straightforward.

Blowing Up Random Strangers

They are not blowing up anything convenient to change the mindsets of the unbelievers, they are blowing up things to encourage other fellow travellers to blow up things, to start a chain reaction that will catch the attention of Allah and bring the world to a stop.

Bombing -- such as cafe bombing in Algeria -- was supposed to make a certain type of behavior such as colonial occupation, too costly. Bombings occurred in metropolitan France and eventually the French withdrew from Algeria. The French population did not care enough about continuing to have Algeria as a colony to put up with random bombings. That is the model, but the trouble is they are applying it far too broadly.

Random bombings have risen to an act to get publicity for your cause and its value in encouraging a couse of behavior by your enemy has slipped into the background. The primary value is to get the press explaining your cause and stuff like "why do they hate us." Some people confuse intensity with validity and often the bombers reap rewards.

I find the WTC, Bali, Saudi, Morocco, and Marriott bombings to be wildly counterproductive. They are pushing the fencesitters over to the other side.

New York? Who in their right mind would bomb New York. New York has been consistently out of sync with the rest of America for decades. Now New York is nearly as hawkish as the rest of the country.

Bali? Bali is an Australian resort. The Australians, a hemisphere away from the rest of the world was ready to fence sit. Not after Bali.

Saudi Arabia? The war chest of Al Qaeda is Saudi Arabia. Who do they piss off?

Morocco? A fencesitter, the most Western of Arab countries. The targets were just strange.

Indonesia? Indonesia is the most populace Moslem country. I don't think its government likes terrorists anymore.

Instead of persuading, they are driving the neutrals into the other camp. They are doing the wrong things. Chaos does not necessarily help them. Focused chaos might, but this is dartboard chaos. It may be intended as a show of muscle, but is upsetting rather than convincing. It makes it more difficult for people to be fencesitters, but when pushed on what side do those fencesitters fall?

As far as I can figure, the only possible one they are trying to make a statement to is Allah. I guess they are saying, we are fighting all vestigages of teh West and of the Great Satan, join us and guide us.

Mark-- You've assumed we're dealing with rational people. Everything is Allah's will to the bombers. If they fail at something, same explanation. If their own supporters are killed, same explanation.

Just Me, and others: It is an interesting question...there does seem to be something odd and at the same time familiar about Islamic suicide bombing. Monks burning themselves during the Vietnam era was something of a political and personal statement, and usually did not kill others. Japanese Kamikazes were generally aimed at military targets, were they not? This Islamic thing is different...is it just a random manifestation of mysticism influencing political action, or is it something more understandable in terms of specific cause and effect? Is there something in Islam that has changed the nature of self-flagellation and sacrifice in the name of God? Is it as simple as those promises of big-breasted female virgins?

I suspect it is something about the political impotence of Islam married to mystic fanaticism. They simply don't know how to make a political argument. Islam gives very little guidance on political systems. Helplessness leads to an extremely toxic combination of rage and self-destruction. It is more psychotic nihilism than it is political persuasion.

WMDS have magnified their destructive power. And even more enraging for them - even the technical means of their destructive power - from simple explosives to airplanes to nukes are made by...the enemy.

Just how many people do they have to blow up to get Allah's attention?

And doesn't this rather remind you of an ignored child jumping up and down screaming for attention?

What kind of God would want you to murder strangers anyway? No God I would want to belong to.

It's high time for the Muslim peaceful majority to stand up and take back their faith from the lunatics and categorically condemn their actions!!!

Allah's will: So it is Allah's will that the Taliban get their butts handed to them and now live like hunted animals. It is Allah's will that America wiped out the Saddam regime, killed his two sons, and install a free government. It is Allah's will that instead of drawing folks into the faith, they are turning on them, and collecting multimillion dollar rewards for the effort. It is Allah's will that they have pissed off the most populous Muslim country by wrecked their tourism industry.

Maybe Allah is trying to tell them something. Maybe they already have Allah's attention and that is why they are dying and being hunted in droves.

I doubt Allah, or any God wants one to murder strangers. But that does not mean the immans have been listening to Allah. Even Shaytan was an angel of light.

"The terrorists dream of destroying the United States and bringing down Western civilization, of purifying their own societies and imposing their degenerate version of Islam on all of humankind. So they marshal their resources - and blow up a hotel lobby.""

New York Post editorial 8/6/03 "The Best They Can Do?"

The islamoterrorists are strong on meaness, but terrible on molding global opinion. Islam came to a crossroads -- Algazel on one hand and Ibn Rushd on the other. The bedouins took the severe Algazel everything on faith road. It was easy, they didn't have to deal with different thoughts or peoples like the traders in Egypt, Turkey, or Morocco.

The more worldly Moslems allowed rationalizism. "One minute, that particular concept doesn't make sense? Shouldn't we just ignore it?" Unfortuately Egypt, Turkey, and Morocco fell into decline and the bedouins were fortunate to have someone find them oil.

Er, probably should read "rationality" instead of rationalizism.

Cliff - You said - Islam gives very little guidance on political systems. On the contrary, Islam was founded by a bureaucratic, and has been used as the 'model' for social structure (i.e. 'state') for 1400 years. It has never recognized or differentiated the difference between the Man and the Citizen. It is a backward view of social order much akin to the 'tribe', where power is focused on one individual, who holds the 'power' to make social order decisions. That 'individual power' was personified in SH, whose base was a tribe, and an Islamic religious party. The 'model' will not accomodate the Man. It can never accomodate the Man. Hence, it is doomed to failure. Man cannot and will not be a slave.

Islamics and Islamists alike will tell you that the Koran sets out a government and its laws. But Islamics may recognize that the Koran was compiled several hundred years after the death of Mohmmed (SAW) by a ruling Caliph from bits and pieces from all over the Middle East, and he cherry-picked what he wanted - doubtful passages were discarded, but so were politically questionable ones: the result was quite similar to what he had in place...

One purpose which the Jakarta and Bali bombings share is to discourage tourism and business investment from the West. This weakens the economy and reduces the influence of the West and, they hope and believe, increases Islamofascist control. It is dangerous to dismiss a cunning and committed enemy as "irrational."

Fulmar, that is a good observation. They like to sever where East and West touch. It may backfire and cause greater contact...and economic exchange.

Thanks for signing in, . Now you can comment. (Click here should you choose to sign out.)

As you post your comment, please mind our simple comment policy: we welcome all perspectives, but require that comments be both civil and respectful. We also ask that you avoid the extensive use of profanity, racist terms (neither of which we consider civil or respectful), and other boorish language.

We reserve the right to delete any comment, and to prohibit you from commenting on this site, if we feel you have broached this policy. As a courtesy, we will first send you an email noting a violation so you understand the boundaries. This will occur only once, however, and should we ban you from our comment forums we expect that ban to be permanent.

We also will frown upon those who suggest that we ban other individuals for voicing unpopular opinions, should those opinions be voiced in a civil and respectful manner. The point of our comment threads is to provide a forum for spirited though civil and respectful discourse … it is not to provide a forum in which everyone will agree with your point of view.

If you can live by these rules, welcome aboard. If not, then we’re sorry it didn’t work out, and thanks for visiting The Command Post.

URL:
Remember me? YesNo

Comments: