The goddess writes: Al Qaeda Is Short On Idiots Willing To Die For Allah

Well, clearly these imams need to be advertising better. I mean, who wouldn't mind blowing themselves up for the certainty of 72 virgins in the afterlife?

I've decided not to pay attention to this story. Let me know if anything happens, like it turns out to be a bitter loner from Secaucus or something. A bungled car bombing in Times Square?

Meanwhile, I have a swelling book-boner. Now, he's too young to honor himself with a memoir, and he probably ought to have a few more scalps before he deserves it... Another Teresa, or maybe another God... But I'm still looking forward to it.

Mother Teresa, I meant.

Well, it seems the idiot who left the Nissan Pathfinder full of gas, propane and manure, with the detonator (an alarm clock rigged with firecrackers that didn't go off, even!) got the Pathfinder from either a junkyard in Stratford (just across the river from where I live), or a used-car dealer in Bridgeport. Nice, huh? o.O

On the cosmic terror scale, this ranks lower than the possibility of increasing the bottle deposit or property taxes. I'm not feeling it anywhere near enough to stay out of the city, not that we go often.

This shows how easy it would be, should the local jihadis learn the bomb-making ropes.

Here's a funny thing; Al-Quada is now reduced to steal credit from pathetic failures. I mean, homegrown terrorist poster child's Timothy McVeigh succeeded his stunt and got a body-count.

As far as the whole asymmetrical warfare in Iraq goes, looks like battle fatigue is a two-way street. What is the use of the favors of a vengeful God if nothing changes on earth?

Well, my guess is there is a limited number of folks who want to blow themselves up at any given time... Al Quaeda will just have to wait a decade or so for a new crop.

The problem is not the lack of folks ready to die for the graces of Allah but the lack of those ready to die for nothing.

The Japanese Kamikaze were told, as a justification for their suicide, that their skills as pilot were better served by piloting a winged rocket in the side of a U.S. Navy warship that shooting down American fighters. A warship was a better target and the loss might turn the tide of the war in the favor of the Exalted Emperor.

Since the invasion of Iraq, the American mass-media was hell-bent into claiming that the whole situation was about to degenerate into a bloodbath. When the Islamists heard the echo of those lamentations, they had little effort to make to convince the religious zealot that his death would be a turning point in the Infidel's war.

Five years later, nothing changed. How could they convince the fanatic muslim that killing himself, many other muslims and a handful of U.S. Marines would turn the tide in the favor of a Jihadist insurrection? Even worse; the attack on Taliban strongholds in Pakistan were led by U.S. drones piloted from an Airbase in Arizona. How can a Jihadist really believe that his death can stop this? No militia actions can lead to the capture of a pilot or the end of such operations.

I think the Arab world is getting jaded of all this; not out of their desire to not blow themselves up but the futility of their sacrifice.

Time to forget about Al Queda. Their bombings are just publicity stunts--not a real threat to Western democracy.

Treat Al Queda actions as nitwit, mentally ill criminal actions.

In the USA, about 30,000 a year die in auto accidents, and 18,000 in plain-vanilla gunshots (not terrorism). If you want to be scared, be scared about auto accidents or your spouse plugging you.

Forget terrorism--and it will fade away.

Yea we would like to ignore you BOTU but damn you keep coming back like a bad jock itch.

So if we ignore you will you fade away like Terrorism. Please! Really! Starting now!

ignore

I mean, who wouldn't mind blowing themselves up for the certainty of 72 virgins in the afterlife?

Well, for one me - i prefer my partners to have a bit of experience. Patrick, I wouldn't expect you to be too moved by it either - or does the virgin prediliction cross gay/straight lines? I ask out of pure curiosity.

Well, my guess is there is a limited number of folks who want to blow themselves up at any given time... Al Quaeda will just have to wait a decade or so for a new crop.

I think the Arab world is getting jaded of all this; not out of their desire to not blow themselves up but the futility of their sacrifice.

Exactly right Nicole and Toubrouk. Effectively, the flypaper strategy (give them a hard target and let them waste themselves on it) has worked. They only ever had a limited number of people really willing to risk their lives, and most of those have been depleted in Iraq and Afghanistan - can you imagine what it would be like if the ten thousand plus who went through training in the 90s had not contested and lost those battles? Wars are about pushing the intensity of conflict to a level the other side can't support logistically. It always looks like you're getting nowhere (think Battle of the Bulge here) right up to the point where they collapse because you can continue and they can't. They've fed their best, most committed people into a meat grinder and now they're sucking wind.

The sacrifice of your (and ours, i.e. Australian) troops in those battles has been worth it. They've torn the guts out of the opposing force and left them with no ability to strike abroad. They might rise up again but it will be a different group. Al Qaeda is finished.

The sacrifice of your (and ours, i.e. Australian) troops in those battles has been worth it. They've torn the guts out of the opposing force and left them with no ability to strike abroad. They might rise up again but it will be a different group. Al Qaeda is finished.

Our Canadian troops have performed flawlessly in Afghanistan. the longest sniper shot recorded (2.4Km) was made by a Canadian soldier there.

Yes, bringing the war to Muslim countries was a productive move. Not only it drained many extremists from western nations but it also forced many Middle-East governments to revise their position regarding some cumbersome allies. A decade ago, the Pakistani secret service was happy to support the Taliban, now they are hunting them. The Palestinian Authority was united, now they are divided and crushed. Iran was a sponsor of global terrorism, now they are on shaky grounds.

Even with the words of doom and gloom peddled by various rabble rousers, the current war on terror barely affected the western standard of life. Right now, Al-Quada reverted to it's worst state possible; irrelevance. Let's keep the pressure on these clowns until we can walk away from oil. The we will see how their pious medievalist way of life will cope with our disinterest.

I should have mentioned the Canadian troops in Afganistan Toubrouk, as well as (if I remember correctly) the Dutch who have done well there too. Your point about the effect on Pakistan is good - there has been virtually an undeclared civil war there for years, the ISI was operating independently of the government. And we're a) winning that war in that they are finally taking control of rogue elements and regions, and b) keeping people who would otherwise be available to conduct terrorist attacks on the run from both sides.