PrintMay 14, 2010
Sloppy Jihadists
Think about something for a minute: Are these Islamic, jihadist terrorists who have captured the attention and imagination of the world as truly diabolical and fearsome as our media has blown them up to be? Sorry, just couldn't resist that. So, examine the evidence coming out of the recent Times Square fiasco and all you see, quite frankly, is more Islamic ineptitude. Think about something else for a moment. When have we ever seen really impressive professional terrorist planning from al-Qaeda?
You say 9/11? Think about that for a moment. Was it their sophistication and clever planning or was it our laxity and unpreparedness that brought those two towers down? They succeeded only because of our failures. Back in 2001, in our politically correct society, how much cunning was required to get a bunch of Western-dressed jihadists on three American airliners, considering the lax security standards of the time? Rocket science wasn't required -- just a bit of luck. Hey, here we are ten years later, and a bomb-planting jihadist made it onto an airliner just recently, so just how much has our security improved, really?*
Think about it: In 2001, all four flights departed their gates on a relatively timely schedule; jihadists, no matter how clever, couldn't possibly have planned for that event. Nope, that was pure luck. When Flight 93's takeoff was put on hold until 8:42, look what happened: The passengers, alerted to the other hijackings, were able to foil the terrorists' ultimate plans, although at the cost of their own lives. So you might say that even jihad's greatest terror accomplishment was only 75% successful. And look what we've had since then: bumbling shoe bomber types and, most recently, this fizzled-out fumbler in Times Square -- none of which points to diabolical genius. Likewise, the successful train bombings in Spain and Britain didn't demonstrate much in the way of sophistication, either. How clever do you have to be to carry a backpack into a subway car at a scheduled time? What level of genius is required to drive a truck full of explosives into a troop barracks?
Think about it, folks: Do you honestly believe those Mideast oilfields would be pumping millions of barrels a day if it had been left up to medievalist malcontents to figure ways to extract that black gold from the bowels of earth? Yeah, right, Bubba. Those bedraggled Bedouins would still be burning camel clumps in their camp fires and goat grease in their genie lamps if it weren't for British, French, and American petroleum professionals.
I know, I know -- critics are going to say, Russ, you'll be eating your words when those nutcases nuke New York. In response, I would say they are certainly going to have to exhibit a level of sophisticated planning and execution far above anything they have delivered so far. Yes, both we and the Russians have SADMs, but I don't think we can equate too many jihadists with highly trained American Special Forces teams or their Spetsnaz equivalents. And these weapons require technically challenging upkeep not readily available in Badakhshan Province. Remember the old saying, "You can take the boy out of the country, but you can't take the country out of the boy?" That holds true for the jihadis' countries, too, where bein' country doesn't mean driving a pickup and dipping Copenhagen -- it means being about five hundred years behind the times. Think about it.
So what's the purpose of this diatribe? Think about it, folks: Successful terrorism requires instilling fear of death and destruction in the broad masses by a determined few so that those broad masses are fearful of conducting the normal routines of their lives. Well, in that regard, bin Laden and his primitive organizations have succeeded beyond their wildest calculations. They have half the civilized world flooding their fruit-of-the-looms while all the evidence, such as this most recent Times Square failure, should be telling us that we are up against a bunch of determined but relatively inept losers.
I'm no head-up-my-posterior Pollyanna; these zealots may very well nuke us at some time in the future. My point is this: The success of such an operation will not be a result of the incredible cleverness and efficiency of a bunch of misguided medievalists as much as it will be the product of our own modern failures. In the meantime, archaic, cave-dwelling curmudgeons can gather at the mouths of their clandestine caverns and joyously ululate in celebration of the civilized world's collective fear of them and their odious actions like an imperiled pack of wolves howling as civilization slowly but inexorably closes in.
*And apparently the canary is singing...
