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To: Logic n' Reason
Excellent essay, and thanks for posting it. I do note that the author left out two salient points with respect to why suicide terrorism is relatively unpopular: first, that the war in Iraq rid the world of tens of thousands of active jihadi from all over the world, and more important, second, that they lost, and that they continue to lose when confronted with force and determination. The dynamics of terrorism are fairly well-established, and success is absolutely essential. Not success on terrorist's published terms, which is essentially air time, column inches, and body count, but success in terms of long-term change effected by long-term carnage. The Caliphate has not, in fact, advanced by the sacrifice and everyone who isn't already besotted with religious propaganda knows it.

That could change, and what would change it is weakness in the face of that carnage and surrender couched in the form of "compromise" that appears to be a hallmark of liberal foreign policy. 0bama, to his credit - yes, let me go on record as according the devil his due - has not compromised on actual offensive operations against the training camps in Pakistan in the form of the drone campaigns. He has, however, come up short in terms of a coherent anti-Islamist campaign worldwide - what in heaven's name were we doing dropping bombs in Libya, for example? Replacing an old terrorist with new ones?

Nevertheless, the principal reason that there are so few Islamist nut-cases ready to blow themselves to kingdom come (in a very literal sense) is that it is by definition decidedly a fringe position. The question un-asks itself. Bin Laden stopped attracting recruits when he started looking like a loser, so much so that after the sensation of his death, he hasn't achieved the status of martyr. He was only ever a slick-talking thug, and now he's a dead one.

But he did speak the truth when he stated that the Arab world prefers strong horses. He was a fool to underestimate his enemy. One can only hope that it was the last thought in his head before the SEALs put a bullet through it.

21 posted on 08/29/2011 6:43:15 PM PDT by Billthedrill
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To: Billthedrill
Bill....excellent posting.

When I post these kinds of articles in the future, I'm going to try to post also how to send a response to the author.

He should "hear" what you've pointed out!

Nice job.

24 posted on 08/30/2011 4:18:20 AM PDT by Logic n' Reason (The stain must be REMOVED (ERADICATED)....NOW!!)
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