The next phase of terrorism?

[Eghad]

In a videotaped statement issued on August 5, al-Qaeda's second-in-command Ayman al-Zawahiri announced what he described as a merger between members of Egyptian Gama'a al-Islamiyya (EIG, Egyptian Islamic Group), under the leadership of Muhammed Khalil al-Hakaima, and al-Qaeda.

In a document posted on August 12 entitled "How to Fight Alone," al-Hakaima provides readers with a list of what he describes as "simple and accessible means" to use against the "enemy occupiers." Among other statements, he recommends that followers study the human anatomy in order to identify vulnerable areas and to take up martial arts and exercise, presumably to prepare for hand-to-hand combat scenarios. He then mentions utilizing tactics such as stabbings, arson, car bombs and cutting the brake lines on automobiles. Al-Hakaima suggests using lethal doses of narcotics such as cocaine and heroin as weapons, although he does not specify how exactly to employ these agents. He even goes as far as to recommend the use of readily available poisons, such as castor oil seeds, which contain ricin, a potent toxin that can lead to death if consumed, and to devise ways to poison food. In another document posted under the same title published on September 8, previously analyzed in the October 10 issue of Terrorism Focus

In "New Methods in Today's Battle," an essay posted to his website on August 20, al-Hakaima stresses the futility of confronting vastly superior U.S. forces in open battle so long as they maintained technological superiority and the support of local security forces, in this case allied governments. Instead, resistance should be organized only through small covert cells disconnected from each other that employ guerrilla tactics.

http://www.jamestown.org/terrorism/news/article.php?search=1&articleid=2370173

http://www.worldtribune.com/worldtribune/06/front2454022.0881944443.html


Pretty interesting stuff...

The website that had the documents has been suspended.

 

[JR47]

And this methodology is new, how? I'm guessing that he's just found Mao's writings? Or Che Guevara's?

The use of covert cells is a tacit admission that Al-Queda, despite their boasting, is losing the battles. Anyone who's read anything lately can see the wholesale shift away from military confrontation to attacking civilians. That sounds like a victorious force.

When the Coalition Forces do leave Iraq, the news media will also reduce their presence. Then, the Iraqis may well show one how to deal with terrorism. Does the phrase "Kill them all, God will know his own" bring anything to mind?

 

[Eghad]

The use of covert cells is a tacit admission that Al-Queda, despite their boasting, is losing the battles. Anyone who's read anything lately can see the wholesale shift away from military confrontation to attacking civilians. That sounds like a victorious force.

Sounds like a sound strategy to me.

I would say Al Qaeda is not losing. They have beaten us in the information war. Congress is talking about taking the troops out of Iraq. They have bled us economically. All of these are objectives that Osama talked about in 2004.

Part of terrorist strategy is to get the other side to commit attrocities. With Abu Gharib, and the killings by some US soldiers we have given them that also.
So now they can make us look like the bad guys.

Terrorist strategy does not include force on force battles

Why would you fight a stronger force to lose and get your folks killed? Its a given that these guys will lose in a force on force battle. They know that.

 

[WeedWacker]

Guerilla tactics have worked very well in the past with certain uprisings and rebellions. It has actually been proven that a smaller force can win if they skirmish and harass a larger unit by hitting fast and leaving just as fast. Hit from one side, then another. that's how the war for independence started out after all and look what the outcome was.

 

[JR47]

With Abu Gharib, and the killings by some US soldiers we have given them that also.

Right, and Al-Queda has been so humanitarian with it's beheadings and bombings of children, women, and the elderly.

I would say Al Qaeda is not losing. They have beaten us in the information war. Congress is talking about taking the troops out of Iraq. They have bled us economically. All of these are objectives that Osama talked about in 2004.

Al-Queda, through captured documents found in both Iraq and Afghanistan, is complaining of manpower, logistics, and funding woes. I'd have to say that we can bleed economically a lot longer than they can.

How have they beaten us in the information war? Most of the information released by Al-Queda smacks of the Iraqi Information Ministers assertion that "they aren't in Bagdad". It's juvenile, and even our MSM gives it short-shrift.

In the four years that we have been in Iraq and Afghanistan, we have lost just over 3000 killed. That's far fewer than are killed in many of the liberal-controlled metropolises in America. Congress wants out of anything that the other party can be blamed for. It doesn't have to make sense, it just has to make politics.

By the way, Abu Gharib and torture are worlds apart. What many liberal organizations consider torture is considered, in their own countries, as standard treatment. You'll have to be more specific. How many prisoners there were tied to trucks, then dragged down roads? Or were raped repeatedly? Or beheaded? Or beaten bloody over most of their bodies? How about THEN we talk about torture.

 

[seeker_two]

Puts all those "single deranged individual with no terrorist connections" events of late (Utah, LAX, etc) in a brand new light, doesn't it?....

 

[MD_Willington]

Puts all those "single deranged individual with no terrorist connections" events of late (Utah, LAX, etc) in a brand new light, doesn't it?....

Sounds like Arsenic poisoning, slow but effective.

 

[badbob]

I read "The Turner Diaries" when the OKC bombing trial was going on. A big deal was made about it being McVeigh's guidebook. Anyway, what I got out of the book is the more brutal you are in fighting "terrorism", for instance, the more terrorists you create. All the study I've done on guerilla tactics seems to follow the same premise.

badbob

 

[Eghad]

Right, and Al-Qaeda has been so humanitarian with it's beheadings and bombings of children, women, and the elderly.

How have they beaten us in the information war? Most of the information released by Al-Queda smacks of the Iraqi Information Ministers assertion that "they aren't in Bagdad". It's juvenile, and even our MSM gives it short-shrift.

You know that and I know that....but what does the rest of the world see?
beauty is in the eye of the beholder. What is the propaganda value of that for future recruits? Think about what a poor male Iraqi might think about seeing the Abu Gharib stuff. How would you feel if one of your kinfolk was hauled into jail by foreigners and treated like that. You would be fighting mad. We see Al Qaeda as terrorists, what does a poor oppressed male Muslim see Al Qaeda as ? It isnt about what you or the liberals feel its about what those that we might be fighting in the future feel. We ddnt even get a fair shake from American media on that stuff. Our MSM opinions dont matter, the opinions of the Iraqis and other Arabs and Muslims are the ones that count.

How have they won the information war? You haven't heard the gnashing of teeth on Capitol Hill? The calls for leaving Iraq? Terrorism is all about the media value. Everybody loves a winner. Im not feeling much love for Dubyah at the moment.

Well it seems that our military leaders appear on Capitol Hill and complain about funding, manpower and logistics woes also. Does that mean we are losing the war? Show me military leaders who dont complain about those things on a regular basis.

Didnt we do the body count thing in Vietnam too? I dont think an enemy bodycount has been issued since 2003? Wasnt it General Franks who said, "we dont do body counts".

 

[Eghad]

more brutal you are in fighting "terrorism", for instance, the more terrorists you create.

bingo...

Look at the Ruby Ridge shooting. The Feds stepped up the force and got met with a public backlash. They were seen as the enemy by the local citizens. These folks were calling them killers, murderers and other things. They hated the law enforcment there.

 

[Eghad]

Puts all those "single deranged individual with no terrorist connections" events of late (Utah, LAX, etc) in a brand new light, doesn't it?....

Each case should stand on its own merits/evidence. An assumption without evidence constitutes an opinion without a basis in fact.

 

[Redworm]

How have they won the information war? You haven't heard the gnashing of teeth on Capitol Hill? The calls for leaving Iraq? Terrorism is all about the media value. Everybody loves a winner. Im not feeling much love for Dubyah at the moment.

And all this is merely perpetuated by the cries of the blindly loyal claiming that thos in disagreement with this conflict lack "resolve" and don't want to "stay the course" and would rather "cut and run" so we have to "fight them here instead of fighting them there" and all the other bull**** lines thrown around that don't add up to jack when people are dying for absolutely no reason at all. And I'm not talking about our troops that willingly signed up to put their lives on the line. They made their choice. I'm talking about the lives of the people in Iraq that wanted nothing to do with this, that had no interest in having a democracy shoved down their throats.

Oh, and of course there's the billions of dollars we're spending compared to whatever they're spending...I wonder if Al-Queda or even all terrorists around the world put together have spent what the American taxpayers have spent. Wasn't the magical oil supposed to pay for this war after we were "greeted as liberators"?