Iraq as Terror Training Ground
[A friend sends along this all too plausible report on the increased sophistication and motivation that Iraq has lent to terrorist attacks. Frankly, following upon Madrid and London, I fully expect an attack on our NYC subways/busses, etc. in the not too far future. Already it has been announced that our NYPD can't afford the costs in overtime past next week to keep on policing our subways. And our Congress is reallocating security monies to airline passengers at the rate of $9.00 per head in contrast to 1 cent per subway rider. Need one mutter here about classism? Yes, Bush, Iraq may mean the end of quite a few of us before it has run its course. So much for our armchair warriors' sophistication about the real hazards besetting us! FBI, it is all on you now. Ed Kent, a subway rider]
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As a semi-professional in the area, I agree that Bush and Co.'s venture into Iraq has made things very messy. They claim Iraq is a lure for would-be terrorists and, thus, we are fighting them in Iraq rather than in NYC or Houston. But this is developing more attackers around the world and encouraging rapid evolution of lethal techniques.
A recent NY Times article "HUMAN ARSENAL; Blowing Up in the West" (July 17, 200) examined the mindset of suicide bombers. It mentioned how one terrorism researcher found that many of extremists nowadays are self-radicalising themselves as they watch all kinds real and perceived abuses against Muslims and Arabs. (The Iraq campaign, along with US military presence in Saudi Arabia is a big part of that picture.) Then the newly radicalized people seek teachers supporting radicalism. It is not the older model of extremists teachers radicalizing the people first and they become extremists second.
Another recent item of note is an interview with Prof. David Pape by The American Conservative concerning his recent book, "Dying to Win", a book about suicide bombers. The interview is titled "The Logic of Suicide Terrorism: It’s the occupation, not the fundamentalism" which summarized Prof. Pape's analysis of suicide bomber trend's key factor.
http://www.amconmag.com/2005_07_18/article.html
Meanwhile, the attack/counter-measure/adapted attack cycles in Iraq is generating some clever bombing technicians. This is a very dangerous thing for the world. Besides taking the skills to conduct attacks upon the USA and allied countries, the skills can be quite salable. (Some IRA munitions specialists have marketed their deadly trade in the Middle East and In Latin America. Their customers, alas, do not have the bit of mercy that the IRA did in some of its attacks. The IRA often would try to give some warning, albeit not always in time.)
To give an idea of the bomb making evolution, here's a quick outline of what's reported to have happened:
1. Initial bombs were set off by wires.
Counter-measure spot the operator and kill him.
2. Eliminate the wires and use radio communications, such as cell phone.
Counter-measure: jam the frequencies so the trigger call won't get through.
3. Use a radio equivalent of a deadman's switch; broken signal is the trigger.
Counter-measure: Detect signals going to the IEDs and duplicate the signals.
4. Use encrypted signals.
Counter-measure: not disclosed.
There are some exotic anti-bomb tools, such as Jin (See
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2005-06-08-iraq-car-bomb_x.htm
and http://www.ionatron.net/files/Jin.jpg
The USA Today article gives a stat of 150 bombs made per month in Iraq. While I am cautious with the statistic, it points to a development of munitions making skills.)
Each step is making it more difficult for defenders. While some peg their hopes on detecting and stopping the bombers, a bigger key is reducing the factors that encourage the spread of support for bombings.
--
"A war is just if there is no alternative, and the resort
to arms is legitimate if they represent your last hope." (Livy)
--
Ed Kent 718-951-5324 (voice mail only) [blind copies]
--
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CollegeConversation
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/PeaceEfforts
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/EndingPoverty
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/440neighborhood
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/StudentConcerns
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AcademicFreedom
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/PrivacyRights
http://BlogByEdKent.blogspot.com/
http://www.bloggernews.net/blognews.asp
.................................................................
As a semi-professional in the area, I agree that Bush and Co.'s venture into Iraq has made things very messy. They claim Iraq is a lure for would-be terrorists and, thus, we are fighting them in Iraq rather than in NYC or Houston. But this is developing more attackers around the world and encouraging rapid evolution of lethal techniques.
A recent NY Times article "HUMAN ARSENAL; Blowing Up in the West" (July 17, 200) examined the mindset of suicide bombers. It mentioned how one terrorism researcher found that many of extremists nowadays are self-radicalising themselves as they watch all kinds real and perceived abuses against Muslims and Arabs. (The Iraq campaign, along with US military presence in Saudi Arabia is a big part of that picture.) Then the newly radicalized people seek teachers supporting radicalism. It is not the older model of extremists teachers radicalizing the people first and they become extremists second.
Another recent item of note is an interview with Prof. David Pape by The American Conservative concerning his recent book, "Dying to Win", a book about suicide bombers. The interview is titled "The Logic of Suicide Terrorism: It’s the occupation, not the fundamentalism" which summarized Prof. Pape's analysis of suicide bomber trend's key factor.
http://www.amconmag.com/2005_07_18/article.html
Meanwhile, the attack/counter-measure/adapted attack cycles in Iraq is generating some clever bombing technicians. This is a very dangerous thing for the world. Besides taking the skills to conduct attacks upon the USA and allied countries, the skills can be quite salable. (Some IRA munitions specialists have marketed their deadly trade in the Middle East and In Latin America. Their customers, alas, do not have the bit of mercy that the IRA did in some of its attacks. The IRA often would try to give some warning, albeit not always in time.)
To give an idea of the bomb making evolution, here's a quick outline of what's reported to have happened:
1. Initial bombs were set off by wires.
Counter-measure spot the operator and kill him.
2. Eliminate the wires and use radio communications, such as cell phone.
Counter-measure: jam the frequencies so the trigger call won't get through.
3. Use a radio equivalent of a deadman's switch; broken signal is the trigger.
Counter-measure: Detect signals going to the IEDs and duplicate the signals.
4. Use encrypted signals.
Counter-measure: not disclosed.
There are some exotic anti-bomb tools, such as Jin (See
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2005-06-08-iraq-car-bomb_x.htm
and http://www.ionatron.net/files/Jin.jpg
The USA Today article gives a stat of 150 bombs made per month in Iraq. While I am cautious with the statistic, it points to a development of munitions making skills.)
Each step is making it more difficult for defenders. While some peg their hopes on detecting and stopping the bombers, a bigger key is reducing the factors that encourage the spread of support for bombings.
--
"A war is just if there is no alternative, and the resort
to arms is legitimate if they represent your last hope." (Livy)
--
Ed Kent 718-951-5324 (voice mail only) [blind copies]
--
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CollegeConversation
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/PeaceEfforts
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/EndingPoverty
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/440neighborhood
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/StudentConcerns
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AcademicFreedom
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/PrivacyRights
http://BlogByEdKent.blogspot.com/
http://www.bloggernews.net/blognews.asp
posted by Ed Kent at 3:37 AM
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