Terrorism

But the situation will be even more dangerous than Coll suggests. Long before a faculty lounge in Islamabad or Riyadh realizes it can build a bomb alone and secretly, the same thought will have occurred to individuals in Tel Aviv, New Delhi or Palo Alto. Any Islamic group that believes it can attack New York deniably should convince itself that no similar group can nuke Mecca at the height of the pilgrim season. In fact, the whole problem that Coll describes should be generalized. The only thing worse than discovering that New York has been destroyed by persons unknown is to find that Islamabad has been vaporized by a group we’ve never heard of.

–Wretchard

Craig Henry over at Lead and Gold has a bone to pick with Richard Clarke’s speculation about terrorist attacks in the US. So do I.

Clarke says that a few gunmen can mow down hundreds of people in a shopping mall with impunity.

Four men, disguised as private mall-security officers and armed with TEC-9 submachine guns, street-sweeper 12-gauge shotguns, and dynamite, entered the mall at two points and began executing shoppers at will.

(Insert paragraph about how the Assault Weapons Ban would have prevented the terrorists from arming themselves.)

The panic and confusion brought on by the terrorists’ opening volleys led many shoppers to run away from one pair of murderers and into the path of the other, leading to more carnage. Two off-duty police officers were cited for bravery after they took down one pair of terrorists with their personal weapons, before the local SWAT team could get to the scene. Meanwhile, one of the other terrorists used his cell phone to remotely detonate the rental van he had driven to the mall; this resulted in even more chaos in the parking garages. Once the SWAT team arrived, it made short work of the two remaining terrorists. By the time the smoke had cleared, more than 300 people were dead and 400 lay wounded. In the confusion of the firefight the SWAT team had killed six mall guards and wounded two police officers.

400 dead? Not if I’m in there buying new tennis shoes. And not if any of my former students are there. Or anyone from the Pink Pistols, one of the organizations for which I volunteer.

This might seem reasonable to someone who isn’t concerned with self defense, but to those of use who shoot it’s pretty much insane.

Read the whole thing. Craig is more than a little long-winded about this subject, but I can see why he wanted to talk about it at length.

It would appear that Europe is becoming “terrorism central” according to this entry at Strategypage.com. (Post dated February 4, 2005.)

Most people consider the Middle East to be the place where terrorist organizations find sanctuary and support. But SP points out that it’s becoming increasingly difficult for terrorists to operate there, not least because of anti-terrorism efforts by the governments in the region.

(As an aside, why are regimes in the ME cracking down on terrorists? The reasons are legion, but one that’s not getting enough attention is that they’re afraid to get on the bad side of the US. Another benefit of Pres. Bush’ policy of considering those who support terrorism as being enemies in the War on Terror.)

One place that’s becoming a major sanctuary for terrorists is Europe.

The reasons aren’t surprising to those who read the blogs. Europe has a large (and growing) Islamic immigrant population. Anti-Americanism is rampant in European media, and it’s a useful political tool for any party trying to get some votes. The generous Socialist welfare programs that the Europeans are so proud of have the result of supporting a population of young disaffected men who are sympathetic to terrorist recruiters.

But I think the most significant reason that Europe is becoming the new breeding ground for terrorists and their organizations is that most European cultures actively discourage assimilation.

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