Other People's Wars - Caledonia Wake Up Call

More documents

Recommendations

Info

Other Peoples’ Wars – Chapter Onepeople smuggling and humantrafficking, kidnapping forransom, extortion rackets, etc.The threat posed by the larger groups are even more considerable when one considersthat individual cells, and members within them, are still capable of acting independently,but they have the advantage of the increased training offered by the resources of a largergroup. Timothy McVeigh was an anomaly in that his one-man attack in Oklahoma Citywas the most destructive ever achieved by a lone bomber, but he was a trained (anddecorated) soldier who also had access to the literature and experience of the Americanradical right; most solitary or small group terrorists are far more amateurish. The alQaeda network has sought to generate hundreds of potential McVeighs with comparablelevels of training and more focused motivation. Even if the al Qaeda meta-network isreduced, these autonomous cells and individuals will remain.In considering the capabilities of terrorist groups, it is hard to consider their politicaland fundraising arms as being able to present threats in their own right. However, evenin the mid-19 th Century, Chinese Triads supported the Taiping Rebels against the ManchuDynasty by becoming involved in the opium trade. They recognized that the trade wasboth profitable to their cause, and destabilizing to the government: Mao and the VietCong copied the tactic with the added refinement that they could point to the socialpathologies caused by na rcotics and use them for propaganda value (drugs, naturally,were strictly forbidden in territories controlled by Mao’s Communists or the VC). Othercriminal enterprises can be almost as lucrative as narcotics, but tend not to provide thesame propaganda advantage.The political arm of a terrorist group is vital for a number of purposes, but thedevelopment of a multicultural ethos in Western nations has let this element becomecapable of mounting attacks of its own. Throughout much of the Western World,political leaders and public commentators shy away from appearing to be critical ofminority issues; and insurgent/terrorist groups press this advantage as far as they can.Supporters and front organizations for (by way of example) Hezbollah tell Westernaudiences that they must tolerate the Islamic organization’s intolerance. Supporters ofthe LTTE cling to the skirts of human rights organizations and insist that, in the Westernspirit of multiculturalism, they are automatically entitled to our acceptance of their use ofviolence to create a separate ethnic state in Sri Lanka.Politicians, journalists, and commentators who persist in their refusal to have flexiblestandards of toleration and morality can find themselves described as “Racists,” get theiroffices and homes picketed by screaming mobs, and may even be sued for libel. Othersfind it easy to be flexible, and may then find themselves being rewarded for doing so bybeing given photo-opportunities, pride of place at cultural events, and campaignvolunteers at election time. This might seem like a harmless threat, but it is easy to guessat the effects of a couple of more decades of such conditioning in Western politicalcircles -- we shall be led by nothing but jellyfish if this sort of evolutionary shaping of thepolitical process continues.18
Other Peoples’ Wars – Chapter OneAs a last point on the ideological side of a terrorist organization – if their messagebecomes pervasive enough, it may be that they inspire actions by unconnectedindividuals. In the late 19 th Century, lone assassins were often unconnected with theAnarchist movement, but took their message to heart as they went out to shoot politicalleaders and captains of industry. The Patriot Militias and other elements of the extremeAmerican Right have, after decades of infiltration by police and private actors, adoptedwhat they call “leaderless resistance,” and expect individuals attracted by theirideological statements to act autonomously when the time comes. Likewise, IslamicFundamentalism (like the Anarchists or various extreme nationalist groups have done inthe past) is capable of getting disturbed individuals to act on their own too – as can beillustrated by Hesham Mohamed Modayet’s attack on people at an El Al ticket lineup inLos Angeles International Airport on July 4 th , 2002.Remolding CultureThe best-selling British fantasy novelist Terry Pratchett, in a co-operative series ofessays with Ian Stewart (Professor of Mathematics at the University of Warwick) andJack Cohen (a science writer and reproductive biologist), defined mankind not so muchas Homo Sapiens Sapiens, but as Pan Narrans – the story-telling ape. 22 Stories shape us,educate us, and define us. Subconsciously or consciously, we tend to think in plotlinesand consider people along the lines of archetypes. The stories we tell each other andourselves define who we are.If we all tell standard stories, the plot device that terrorists use is quite simple: Heroicband of visionaries take action to redress great wrongs done by monstrous evil power andpromises a brave new world for all who follow them. In telling this story, the terrorist isplaying to three audiences: Himself first; the audience whom he wishes to woo with hisdaring prowess and epic vision second; and everyone else (who should be properlyterrified and awed by the hero’s audacity) third.One of the daily problems that Pans Narrans must endure is that all the pieces of theplot device do not necessarily fit in their proper places. Some terrorists will go toenormous lengths – both in the internal realm of their own thoughts and world-view, andto the greater audience – to hammer the script into place.The internal struggle can take years of informal internal conditioning to develop, butmost terrorists do begin their campaigns with an intact set of internal beliefs about theworld and their role in it. The literature on cognitive dissonance and cognitive theory isalso extensive and rich, but the basic theories outlined by pioneering psychologists LeonFestinger and George Kelly in the 1950s have much application here. 23 Essentially,people construct meanings to support interpretations and outcomes in a framework thatgives support to their own preferences. While we all do this to a limited extent, those22 If you must, see Pratchett, Steward & Cohen; The Science of Discworld II: The Globe; London, 2002 –although prior exposure to Pratchett’s Discworld fantasy novels would be extremely helpful.23 See Leon Festinger’s A Theory of Cognitive Dissonance (first published in 1957) and George AlexanderKelly’s The Psychology of Personal Constructs (1955).19
Page 1 and 2: Other People’s Wars: A Review of
Page 3 and 4: Chapter Six: Veterans of Other Peop
Page 5 and 6: Other Peoples’ Wars - Chapter One
Page 21: Other Peoples’ Wars - Chapter One
Page 29 and 30: Other Peoples’ Wars -- Chapter Tw
Page 61 and 62: Other Peoples’ Wars -- Chapter Th
Page 73 and 74:
Other Peoples’ Wars -- Chapter Th
Page 75 and 76:
Other Peoples’ Wars -- Chapter Th
Page 77 and 78:
Other Peoples’ Wars - Chapter Fou
Page 79 and 80:
Page 81 and 82:
Page 83 and 84:
Page 85 and 86:
Page 87 and 88:
Page 89 and 90:
Page 91 and 92:
Page 93 and 94:
Other Peoples’ Wars -- Chapter Fi
Page 95 and 96:
Page 97 and 98:
Page 99 and 100:
Page 101 and 102:
Page 103 and 104:
Page 105 and 106:
Page 107 and 108:
Page 109 and 110:
Page 111 and 112:
Page 113 and 114:
Page 115 and 116:
Other Peoples’ Wars - Chapter Six
Page 117 and 118:
Page 119 and 120:
Page 121 and 122:
Page 123 and 124:
Page 125 and 126:
Other Peoples’ Wars - Chapter Sev
Page 127 and 128:
Page 129 and 130:
Page 131 and 132:
Page 133 and 134:
Page 135 and 136:
Page 137 and 138:
Appendix: A List of Canadian Terror
Page 139 and 140:
Mahjoub, Mohamed Zeki. A Toronto ar
show all

Other People's Wars - Caledonia Wake Up Call

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?