Hezbollah--acting from legitimate government position

A recent report out of the BBC cited a Hezbollah MP condemning the US for placing the USS Cole off the coast of Lebanon as a threat to independence and sovereignty. I find it fascinating that Hezbollah has come out against the US action through legitimate channels, but I wonder if such declarations represent a prelude to any violent activity from Hezbollah. Will the deployment of the USS Cole create a discontent which will promote more US targeted terrorist activity in the area? The MP, Hassan Fadlallah, told reporters, "We don't succumb to threats and military intimidation practised by the United States to implement its hegemony over Lebanon."

The US maintains that it deployed the ship to show support for regional stability--not to send a signal to any one country. Keeping the ship out of visible range of Lebanon may limit Hezbollah's ability to arouse popular discontent with the action, but then again, maybe not.

Exam question bleg

The study guide for the next exam (3/7-3/8) has been posted to the Blackboard course website. I'm still looking for a couple of good questions, though, so I'd like to see what you all come up with.

So, what questions would you ask on this exam? I generally look for questions that require students to demonstrate their understanding of ideas presented in multiple readings. And I generally list some of those authors in parentheses after the question. But I'm open to trying new kinds of questions.

If you have a good idea, attach it in the comments to this post. Thanks!

Fatwas Online

If anyone's interested in reading some fatwas online, I found a really good site. Enjoy!

Note- Please do not count this as my post for the week.

Kurds' terrorism threat to Turkish cities

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/02/24/wturkey124.xml
After bring up the discussion in class on Friday about Turkey crossing the Iraqi border I figured I could look up to see if there was any information for the class. In this article I found it. I found out that Kurdish separatists are threatening a new campaign of violence against Turkish cities as the country's army pressed on with its latest offensive against guerrilla positions in northern Iraq. The PKK, or Kurdistan Workers Party, vowed to "move the theatre of combat to the heart of Turkish cities" unless Ankara ends the military campaign, which began on Thursday. in the article it said, "The rebel group is believed to have numerous "sleepers" within Kurdish communities in cities such as Istanbul and Ankara, who are primed to carry out bomb attacks on military and government targets. Unleashing them, however, could raise tensions with the Turkish majority and lead to reprisals against Kurds." Even with the possiblity of the increase of tension the US is backing Turkey as long as it goes after PKK known members. I think that this could cause major problems in the Middle East, more then there already is. This problem needs to be solved soon, because these terrorist could have a possiblity of creating nuclear war. I hope you like the article let me know what you think.
Austin Conners

Misinterpretation of Islam

Here is an interesting article that I found in a Pakistani newspaper (You gotta love Google News). You can find the article here

The article states that students of various educational institutions, misinterpretation of Islam is one of the main causes of terrorism in Pakistan. Some Muslims in Pakistan misunderstand their own religion and believe that it promotes jihad against the West.

The article also says that several external forces contribute to the problem. One scholar said that poverty, illiteracy, poor leadership, lack of development programs, and a poor economy also influence the situation. Another scholar cited internal instability as a cause of terrorism.

This is an interesting article and I would recommend that you all check it out.

-Chris

Kosovo Liberation Army

With everything going on in Kosovo right now, I thought it would be a good idea to brush up on the KLA, or Kosovo Liberation Army. Here's a good description of the group. I also found a very interesting article on the KLA and other terrorist groups in Kosovo. While I disagree with the premise of the article, the information on al Qaeda's presence in Kosovo and the Balkans is interesting. (Sidenote- Bosnia was a part of my mission, but missionaries were not allowed to serve there. One of the main reasons we were told for this was because of the presence of radical Islamic fighters that stayed after fighting in the war.)From what the articles suggest, even though the KLA is officially disbanded, if Serbia really tries to prevent Kosovo from becoming independent, it wouldn't take long before Kosovars rally to the cause again.

A little contest

Good afternoon, all. Once again, I have changed the header at the top of the blog. And I have some questions to ask about the famous international terrorists pictured both here, and in the new header.

Here are the contest rules: The first student with a correct answer to any of these questions gets a brownie point. Students answering more than one question are disqualified from the contest. All answers must come in comments appended to this post. Good luck!

Questions:

1. What is the (full) name this man was born with?

2. In what country was he born?

3. What was his nomme de guerre?

4. What is the title of the novel from which he got his famous moniker?

5. What is the (full) name of the terrorist group with which he was associated in the early 1970s?

6. Where does he currently reside, and why?

Achmed the terrorist sings some Christmas songs

Here is some belated Holiday humor.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wskT6YfVB6E

Because of my recent bout with mononucleosis, I have had really weird cycles of extreme sleeplessness followed by days of extreme fatigue. Tonight I wasn’t able to sleep so I decided to peruse the news. As I was browsing the international news section of CNN, a news alert flashed across my screen that was pertinent to our class. However, before one reads this latest news article I wanted to sort of chronicle the events that have lead up to this latest attack.

In the past week, renewed tensions between the LTTE and the Sri Lankan government have come to a head. The Sri Lankan government officially pulled out of a truce with the LTTE last month; it was a truce which had begun earlier this year. Immediately after withdrawing out of this truce, the Sri Lankan government began shelling suspected militant hideouts. The LTTE said that the targets of the shellings were merely Tamil civilians and that the government was not targeting them (read: the LTTE) but rather they were targeting ethnic Tamils in a bid to try and coerce their people.

In response, the LTTE reinstituted their campaign of terror. Their first act was a suicide attack on a civilian bus that killed 12 and wounded 100. A dozen or more attacks then followed: the LTTE was also implicated in a hand-grenade attack on a local zoo and on the Sri Lankan Independence Day, the LTTE staged a variety of attacks, which killed 13 and wounded even more.

Recently this week, the LTTE ambushed 3 Sri Lankan soldiers and executed them south of their “safe zone of de facto control.” The government responded with aerial bombings of suspected militant strongholds and hideouts.

All of these attacks have been increasing in crescendo. In fact, today, there was another governmental response to the LTTE’s previous attacks: the government killed an estimated 46 rebels and destroyed 5 bunkers in a new offensive aimed at curbing the violence. It seems that the violence is going to continue to escalate, for the LTTE has already vowed to respond to this latest governmental attack.

My question is this: for anyone who is familiar with the LTTE, why did they “mysteriously” agree to a cease fire after September 11, 2001? Why didn’t the government accept their terms of greater autonomy (read: the LTTE dropped their demands for independence)? Why did the cease fire fail? Why did the 2006 ceasefire fail? And furthermore, why did this most recent cease fire fail?

PS Another interesting news article linked to the CNN article that stemmed all of this musing can be found at BBC Sinhala.

Israeli/Palestinian Peace Talks

This article http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7252305.stm discusses recent Israeli/Palestinian attempts to formulate a plan for peace regarding Jerusalem and the creation of a Palestinian state. Tension has dominated the peace talks and increased with militant activity in Gaza and the Israeli plan to build a number of homes in East Jerusalem. Both sides hope to reach an agreement soon before negotiations become improbable. Many wonder what a peace settlement between Israelis and Palestinians would look like because Palestinians want East Jerusalem to be their capitol while Israelis claim the entire city. It seems that peace talks like this are ongoing in the Middle East yet never resolved. Does anyone know more about how many attempts have been made to negotiate peace among Israelis and Palestinians?

Terrorism, Counter-Terrorism, and Star Wars

I was looking for something to post about and I discovered that the content from a pro-terrorist site I have used to post in the past was "removed by the user." I thought this was a little odd and started to look around and I found something very interesting. There are a lot sites that support terrorists on the internet, many of which are hosted in the US. I then found a bunch of sites devoted to the downfall and removal of these pro-terrorist sites. These sites request users to file complaints to servers hosting pro-terrorist sites to stop them from spreading their messages. The site which seems to be popular (other sites/blogs have links to this site or refer to it) in fighting these pro-terrorist sites is called The Jawa Report. After poking around on their site and reading what the whole Star-Wars Jawa analogy stuff was all about I thought it was pretty interesting. These people see themselves as players in what is going on with terrorism in the world, and they use Star-Wars characters to identify different actors. They are taking a very active (there have been two new posts since i started writing this entry) role to prevent terrorists from spreading their message and gaining support here in the US, and it seems that they have been successful on various occasions. It is interesting to think that there is a cyber-struggle going on for space to spread ideals. I don't know if these people are really having a large impact because the people who read the pro-terrorist sites regularly usually tend to agree with them and will find pro-terrorist propaganda elsewhere. Either way, at least they are trying to have a positive impact.

Hidden Terrorists

Last week we talked about members of terrorist groups that blend in with the rest of the population. Last September there was a young man in Germany that was arrested for transporting chemicals to Pakistan. Here is the article.

A Sick, Twisted Little Bunny

I just came across this clip from Hamas TV. The only thing I can compare it to is Bugs Bunny having a bad acid trip.

A [Silly] Question. . .

I was home with the family this holiday weekend, and my 7-year-old sister got me thinking.  At one point on Sunday evening she wasn't getting her way, and like any good youngest child, she began screaming and crying.  Her sobs were obviously not motivated by real pain, but geared towards getting attention and sympathy.  

This brought to mind the terrorist strategy of armed propaganda, and leads to this question: Are childish outbursts a form of low-grade terrorism, or is terrorism simply an overblown temper tantrum?  Perhaps both?  Neither?

Interpreting God

As compared to secular terrorists, religious terrorists inflict a lot more casualties on enemy targets. According to Hoffman, it is because of, "radically different value systems, mechanisms of legitimation and justification, and concepts of morality".
What seems so ironic to me about this is that religiously motivated terrorists seemingly value human life less than secular terrorists, who see killing a large number of innocent civilians as immoral and counter productive to their goals.
In regard to Islamic terrorism, it seems that the promise of the after life has blurred their line between a moral and immoral act. While secular terrorists seek to improve the world for the present times, religious terrorists have fewer qualms about killing "infidels" because it is sanctioned in the Koran. But, who is to say what the criteria should be for determining an enemy of Islam?

Hezbollah still has 2 Israeli Soldiers

We sort of talked about this in class on Friday, so I did some research and found this article. It really did take some research, because like we discussed, the international community has largely forgotten that these two soldiers are still being held. Barely anything has been written on them until today, when it came out that they may soon be officially classified as "dead". It's unfortunate that no one seemed to put much sustained pressure on Hezbollah to release them. These are the two soldiers that were kidnapped during a cross-border raid in July of 2007. They are the reason that Israel attacked Hezbollah, and the fact the they are still being held is the reason Hezbollah is claiming victory, while Olmert struggles to stay in power in Israel.

Musharraf Says Election Vital to Anti-Terrorism Fight

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=a31ISoTro0dY&refer=home
This article is on the Pakistani elections for parilament that are coming up tomorrow. During these last few weeks of camaigning there has been terrorist attacks. Most recently was yesterday (the final day of campaigning)suicide bomber killed at least 38. he attacker, driving a car laden with explosives, struck in the northwestern tribal town of Parachinar yesterday, about eight miles (13 kilometers) from the border with Afghanistan. He targeted the offices of opposition election candidate Syed Riaz Hussain Shah. In this article, President Pervez Musharraf said tomorrow's parliamentary elections are vital to Pakistan's fight against terrorism. In this article the attacks during the campainging were not called terrorist attacks, they were called by militant attacks, including the Dec. 27 assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. This surpised me. So I wonder why in some countries they call attacks, "Acts of Terror" and in other countries they are called "militant attacks". I also wonder about AL Queda's presents in the tribal villages of Pakistan. I hope you guys like the article and can fill me in on some new info.
Thanks
Austin Conners

Facebook and the FARC

A recent Economist article took a different take on terrorism and media. In class last week we discussed the benefits and drawbacks of the media with regards to terrorism. Specifically, how terrorist organizations benefit from new media like the internet, satellite TV stations, and cheap video production equipment and costs. This article didn't discuss internet anonymity or recruiting techniques, but how it can be used for counter-terrorism measures. Oscar Morales created the Facebook group "One million voices against the FARC," which organized marches against the terrorist organization on February 4th. Apparently, most Colombians are sick of the FARC and are standing up to them in some degree. 700-plus hostages later, the FARC no longer has the support (whether passive or active) of the public, and most people are blaming them (instead of the Colombian government) for the continuation of the hostage crisis. It's interesting to see another use of the internet...and one which doesn't benefit terrorists. Who would have thought Facebook could be a counter-terrorism tool--organizing over a million people to demonstrate to the world and the FARC, itself, a change in public sentiment?

Al-Qaeda Defeated in Baghdad

From the article: " Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki proclaimed on Friday that Al-Qaeda had been routed in Baghdad thanks to a security plan launched a year ago, and would soon be defeated throughout the country."

Though it seems the surge in Iraq has had an affect on the amount of attacks and casualties in Iraq since its inception (attacks down 62 percent since last June in all of Iraq), it is hard for one to say that Al-Qaeda has been "routed" or "defeated" completely. In our studies of the network structure in terrorist groups, especially Al-Qaeda, it cannot be fully known the extent to which the organization exists or doesn't exist. This announcement may signal better success but to infer that the job in Baghdad is complete is very hard to accept.

Greg

Terrorists see Women as to weak to rule countries

"It’s no wonder why the Prophet (sallallahu ‘alayhi wassallam) said, “The nation that has entrusted its affairs to a woman cannot be successful.” Aside from a woman’s weakness of her period and the affects it has on her (as has been proven scientifically), the pressure around her will be so great and momentous that it will be easy for her to make an enormous mistake that is rooted in her emotional veins. If Clinton is elected as President, it would be good for the Ummah. Why? Because America would crumble very fast. "

This puts forth a very intresting point of view from the terrroist perspective that women are not an enemy because they are weak. If muslims extremists see women as so weak how can we use that to a counter-terroist tool ?

U.S. Presidential Elections

I remember a question being raised in class asking if terrorist organizations are concerned about and observing the current presidential elections. I found an interesting review of the candidates by a website that spreads various terrorist propaganda. It is clear that these people are paying attention to the current race and thinking of what will happen when one of them is elected. The thing that I found most interesting in this analysis is that the author claims that whoever is put into the oval office will be elected according to Allah's will.

Suicide Bombers' Burial

I've never realized what happened to suicide bombers' bodies after the attacks. This is an interesting article that explains it. If you read it, notice what the mullahs says about killing oneself and others.  The article discusses the debate over this.

Israeli-sponsored terrorism?

I found an interesting article online today. You can find it here

Basically Saudi Arabia seems to be siding with the Palestinians, and saying that what Israel is doing to them is state sponsored terrorism. Saudi Arabia said that the international community needs to take a stand and pressure Israel to end these "atrocities".

I find this very interesting. I don't know enough about the entire situation to form an educated opinion, but I do know (from this class and others), that Palestinian terrorists constantly carry out suicide bomb missions against Israel. Is that not considered terrorism, or atrocities, by Saudi Arabia? While I understand the Palestinian grievances, I don't think terrorism is the way to address them, and I certainly don't place blame on Israel for trying to defend their cities.

What do you think? Who is guilty of terrorism here in this situation?

Terrorism may become a salient issue in polls

http://www.livemint.com/2008/02/11003646/Terrorism-may-become-a-salient.html
I found this article on the effect of terrorism on voting. This article specifically talks about The United Progressive Alliance (UPA) in theBharatiya Janata Party (BJP). It discusses how tactics on terrorism may have to become one of the parties main platforms. During the UPA rule, a series of terrorist attacks have taken place in the last four years. All these terrorist attacks have also occurred in then Congress-ruled states of Maharashtra, Delhi, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka have led to the allegation that the Congress party is “soft on terror” and lacks the political will to curb terrorism. This is the main reason that he UPA has changed it tactics and views. I wonder if anyone knows if terrorism has been effecting voting in other countries besides that United States. Also, is changing Parties platform the only way to change public opinion on its views on terrorism . I hope that this gets some interesting convo.
Thanks
Austin Conners

A New Generation

The Al - Qaeda in Iraq is recruiting children to carry out their operations. The US and Iraqi forces recently released a footage showing children under the age of 11 participating in terrorist activities. We discussed in class that terrorists tend to recruit individuals who can be easily persuaded to carry out their operations. Children of that age are easily brainwashed and ask little if any questions. Besides that, these children are recruited for attracting other young children and teenagers. Also, since children raise very little suspicion by their activities, it is easy for them to carry out any operation as long as they have the proper training.

Australian anti-terrorism

I found this interesting article that described recent efforts from Australia to combat anti-terrorism. You can find the article here

I this article it is says that the EU recently agreed with Australia to share information about airline passengers traveling from Europe to Australia. The US and Canada already have access to this information, and now Australia will be able to check private data of passengers.

I think it's good to see Australia and the EU cooperating to increase the anti-terrorism efforts of Australia. I hope that similar agreements can be made with other countries.

Terrorist Television Programs

I read this story a while back; it relates directly to the discussion that we had in class about the attempts of terrorist organizations to indoctrinate youth through media programs. Not only does this Hamas channel have children's programs, they also have "MTV-type" programming, which would most likely target the teen demographic. I think it is interesting that this program is part of a "new strategy" for Hamas, as they try to use a more passive approach with which to penetrate Palestinian political and social systems. The members of Hamas definitely realize the importance that public support plays in their cause, and this program is their attempt to garner positive public opinion.

Organization in Lebanon

This Economist article discusses three problems in Lebanon threatening its "peace." One, predictably, is the car bomb that killed Wissam Eid in late January. The article, referring to Eid's position as an intelligence officer investigating assassinations for the UN says, "his death sent the chilling message that someone will stop at nothing to wreck the case before it comes before a special international tribunal due to be set up in the Hague." This is interesting to me because of the obvious organization required to plan the sabotage of the UN's investigation. In class on Friday, Group C presented on the Irgun and different components of the organization (the Sea, Delek, HATAM, HAT...you can see this on the powerpoint presentation they emailed everyone). This was the first discussion we've had on organizational structures (other than the existence of recruiters) within terrorist organizations, and it got me thinking about the division of labor: only some terrorists are actual militant fighters, others plan, others gather intelligence, etc. So Wissam Eid's murder was more than a car bomb fatality and more than an assassination; it involved lots of strategic planning from people with different assignments within the same organization. Furthermore, it was only part of a larger strategy to botch a UN investigation. When you think beyond the headlines, you can see how much organization and effort actually go into successful attacks.

Humor

Jihadomerate

Following a story by the NYT in one of my previous posts about a 21-year old in North Carolina, I found a really interesting website called The Ignored Puzzle Pieces of Knowledge thats main purpose is to expose readers to the happenings in the lands of jihad. I did not find a specific affiliation for this website, from what I understand it is basically just trying to expose all us "hypocrites and infidels." The story on the main page was very interesting to me. They talk about how the U.S. got all bent out of shape over an Al-Qaeda video of a young boy with lots of guns dressed as Mujaahideen. They call us hypocrites by displaying a picture of a row of American boys holding and aiming rifles. Sure, in boy scouts I learned how to shoot and was extremely happy when one of my leaders had an automatic rifle for us to play with, but I think they are comparing apples and oranges. I believe that the firearm education and exposure are meant to ultimately lead to different ends.

A few terrorist websites

Here are some English-language terrorist websites I found. Enjoy!

Hizbollah

Islamic Army in Iraq

Some guy known as the "Baghdad Sniper"

There are some videos on those sites, so you may see things you wish you hadn't. But I noticed something interesting about those videos. Often, they'll launch a rocket somewhere, and no matter where it hits, it's considered a success. It's almost funny to see a rocket miss a Hummer, then hear the terrorists celebrating like they actually hit it. Oh well.

Another contest

Seeing that no one has posted anything today, I thought it might be fun to have another little contest. So, I am asking some questions about the individual pictured here.

Here are the contest rules: The first student with a correct answer to any of these questions gets a brownie point. Students answering more than one question are disqualified from the contest. All answers must come in comments appended to this post. Good luck!

Questions:

1. What is the name this man was born with?

2. What was the name he took when he converted to Islam?

3. What is he usually called in the press?

4. What is his ethnic background?

5. When he performed his attack, what country was he a citizen of?

6. What was the explosive he used in his operation?

Abu Hamza al-Masri to be extradited to US

British courts have just ruled the al-Masri can be extradited to stand trial in the US. He is currently serving a prison sentence in England for "inciting racial hatred". In America he will be tried for a variety of crimes, including conspiracy to build a terrorist training camp in rural Oregon. I think this is very interesting. It shows that now, more than ever, western governments are willing to prosecute Muslim clerics who are outspoken extremists. I believe this is a good step in fighting terrorism. It seems like much of the hatred the radical Muslims have comes from their religious leaders. I think this sends a message to other Muslims leaders that they need to watch what they say. I'm wondering what the class thinks on this. Do you think that prosecutions like this can make a significant difference?

Al Qaeda seen planning attack on U.S.

This was just posted at the Washington Times - Story

From the story:

"Senior al Qaeda leaders have diverted operatives from Iraq across the globe and are increasing preparations to strike the United States, senior intelligence officials told the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence yesterday. They said the terrorists had plans to attack the White House as recently as 2006.

"'Al Qaeda is improving the last key aspect of its ability to attack the U.S. — the identification, training and positioning of operatives for an attack in the homeland,' said Michael McConnell, director of national intelligence, which oversees all 16 U.S. intelligence agencies."

Greg

Globalization bleeds into Training Movies

Many people are going to be digusted by this type of video that shows Al queda training children as soldiers. Article on Video. Something that I couldn't help noticing about the video was that the boys were all running around in nice jerseys and training pants with what logo on them Addiads and Nike both American companies. It is intresting that these organizations say that they are motivated by the desire to resist the influences of western culture show the boys in so blatantly american clothes which no doubt are popular. Is it a good recruitment method to give recruits nice american clothes to join the war against america ?

Tamil Tigers Website

After discussing and reading so much about the media and its influence on terrorism and the different terrorist groups throughout the world I thought it would be interesting to take a look at what is considered to be, according to Hoffman, one of the most media savvy terrorist groups, the Tamil Tigers. They have several different websites, including this one. The book discusses the fact that there is little if any attention focused on the terrorist acts that they commit, but rather the websites are dedicated to discussing matters of freedom and the origins, etc. of the group. Looking at the homepage alone of this website I find it to be very interesting. This is the opening statement given on the homepage, just a glimpse of what the entire site is about, "Our organisation, as well as our people do not want war. We want peace and we want to resolve our problems through peaceful means. We are deeply committed to the peace process. It is because of our sincere commitment to peace that we are firmly and rigidly observing ceasefire. It is our organisation that took the initiative of declaring the cessation of hostilities unilaterally and observing peace for the last two years tolerating the provocative actions of the state's armed forces. . "This is something that I thought might be interesting to have posted on the blog.

Suicide Bombings in Israel

Israel Hit by Suicide Attack

Fatah, the PFLP, and a previously unknown 'United Popular Brigade' are all claiming some responsibility for the suicide attacks this morning. The attackers used the weakened separation barrier to conduct the attacks, reportedly crossing into Egypt before entering Israel.

Initially Palestinians seemed to be using the Hamas-induced barrier breach to buy food and supplies to offset the scarcity created by Israeli counter-terror measures that at varying times left impoverished Gazans without electricity or access to markets. In doing so, Hamas has once again established itself as the champion of the people.

As a result of the suicide bombing and due to Israeli suspicion concerning the nature of Palestinian purchases, however, the barrier breach will no doubt lead to harsh counter measures by Israeli forces that tend to punish the Gazan population just as much as the terrorists responsible.

Even though Israel's separation barrier has received international criticism for violating Palestinian human rights, it still seems to be the best way to prevent suicide bombings in Israel. Despite the suffering of the Palestinians in Gaza, the suicide bombings that took place Monday provide further justification for the need of a separation barrier.

Egypt-Gaza border resealed

Egypt-Gaza border resealed

This article highlights the governmental structure/integration with Hamas and their demanding to be recognized internationally.

"Gaza's Hamas rulers are demanding new border arrangements that would give it a say in administration. But that looks doubtful with the international community opposed to any role for the Islamic militant group in running the crossing."

"Bearded Hamas police worked in tandem with the Egyptians, trying to keep the crowd back. It was a marked change from several days ago, when uniformed Hamas men thwarted Egyptian attempts to reseal the border."

Not fully understanding the reasons for the breach, but I see it as a stunt to try to legitimize or put the spotlight on Hamas as a legit governmental organization. These attempts to "give it a say in the administration" and "working in tandem with the Egyptians," brings focus to them and seems to make them more credible as a governmental organization.

Greg

Interesting article

I just came across this interesting article that states that engineers are more prone to terrorism then other academic backgrounds, because "such people are high achievers and often get sucked into radicalism out of frustration with their corrupt bureaucracies." You can find the article here
The sociologist in this study surveyed 404 militants in 31 countries and found that out of the 178 who had academic backgrounds, the results fell into the following categories:

Engineering: 78
Islamic Studies: 34
Medicine: 14
Economics/Business: 12

The authors said that engineers are typically high achievers who advance by merit, and this could make them more frustrated with the establishment.

I think it is interesting that the sociologists came to this conclusion, but it is important to keep in mind that, according to the article, they defined "engineering" as architecture, all computer related areas, town planning, etc. They have a broader definition of terrorism then the standard "civil, mechanical and electronic engineering" definition that you or I might have.

Interesting study though. I would encourage you to read this article.

US Kills al-Qaeda Commander

Last week, a UAV killed a top al-Qaeda commander in Pakistan. He is apparently responsible for much of the violence in Afghanistan. The fact that he was killed in Pakistan is very interesting, because the president of Pakistan has repeatedly said that he will not allow the US to strike within his country. I think this poses an interesting question. To what degree can a country violate the sovereignty of another government in the name of fighting terrorism. I think it's interesting to imagine what it would be like if someone did that to America. Like if Spain killed a Basque leader somewhere in America. Obviously, the government would be upset. Of course, I whole-heartedly approve of killing terrorists. But shouldn't we also be careful to not step on the toes of friendly governments? I'm wondering what everyone else thinks about this. Do you think it's okay to disregard a government's sovereignty in the name of the global war on terror?

Capitulation is not the answer.

I just had to write a little rebuttal to a comment made last class about the reading. In the reading, there is a quote from an Israeli policemen saying that he's scared, doesn't bring his family to the city of Jerusalem anymore and would give up his bank account and capitulate to the terrorists demands to have peace. Well, while this might seem like a sensible solution, there is absolutely no guarantee that suicide terror would discontinue or decline as a result of Israeli capitulation. In fact, quite to the contrary. The object of the terrorists is to create this fear, mistrust, and anxiety that paralyses the social infrastructure. Giving in to their demands and giving them what they want proves that their method is a good one. And, what would you do if you found a successful method to get what you want? Do it again and get more. Hamas does not recognize Israel as a sovereign nation. Giving in to them would allow them to up the ante, giving them legitimacy and encouragement to take all of Israel. Similar things can be said about the PIJ and PLO/PA even though the PLO/PA have already recognized Israel's legitimacy.

A comment was made in support to capitulation last class. That is the last thing that Israel should do. Let's look at the big picture.

Baghdad Suicide Bombings

The article here discusses the suicide bombing that we talked about in class today. As it states, two female bombers detonated explosives in pet markets in Baghdad, killing a total of 72 people and injuring many others.
It is incredible to see the amount of damage that can be done by two people. Not only were 72 people killed, but the marketplace was destroyed. The emotional and psychological damage of such a tragedy is also evident in the statements made by witnesses of the event, who were beginning to hope that security in the nation's capital was improving. Additionally, the article notes that the city was ill-equipped for such a catastrophe. Bodies were carried out in pickup trucks and wheelbarrows, and the hospital was unable to adequately treat all the victims.
Overall, this article demonstrates the efficiency of suicide bombing. Terrorists were able to do a great deal of damage, with very few costs of their own.
Not only did this attack result in immediate physical and emotional damage, but it also revealed inefficiencies, as were demonstrated by the city's incapability to deal with the event.