Al Qaeda's Acts of Impotence
Jim Robbins has an excellent analysis of al Qaeda strategy.
" ...at the operational level — that is, in the way they coordinate their attacks towards achieving their strategic goals — they aren't so bright. The bombings took place in countries they said were ready for revolution, but it is unclear how these attacks will lead to the desired end-state. Militarily, the attacks have little impact. They strike in a loosely coordinated and opportunistic way. They hit soft targets (apartments, clubs, markets) and inflict few casualties. They attack in series, but their efforts are so widely dispersed they cannot generate momentum. They have no mass, and no capacity for sustainment (especially since they specialize in suicide attacks).
"In Karachi, Pakistan the Muslim United Army claimed credit for 21 bombings at foreign-owned gas stations. Apparently, they seek to create a hostile investment climate, as well as to wreck local commerce. The attacks in Riyadh have angered the Saudis, so they say, even drawing comparisons to 9/11. No coincidence that this newfound commitment, hardly in evidence after Khobar Towers, comes as U.S. forces are leaving for Qatar and enough Iraqi oil may be available to compete with Saudi exports. In Morocco, al Qaeda struck at Jewish, Spanish and Belgian targets. Jewish, well, we understand that. Spanish too — Spain has been a stalwart defender of civilization of late, and there is that whole 1492 Reconquista situation that bin Laden has condemned. But Belgium? The country that wants to try Ariel Sharon and Tommy Franks as war criminals? The center of an illicit diamond trade that helps fund terror networks? Not to mention — Norway?"
It is basically a raiding strategy that is unsustainable, that turns the people against their cause. If the explosion at the Yale law school in an empty class room is the work of al Qaeda, it is hard to see how it will terrorize anyone other than insurance companies.
Read the whole article.
Jim Robbins has an excellent analysis of al Qaeda strategy.
" ...at the operational level — that is, in the way they coordinate their attacks towards achieving their strategic goals — they aren't so bright. The bombings took place in countries they said were ready for revolution, but it is unclear how these attacks will lead to the desired end-state. Militarily, the attacks have little impact. They strike in a loosely coordinated and opportunistic way. They hit soft targets (apartments, clubs, markets) and inflict few casualties. They attack in series, but their efforts are so widely dispersed they cannot generate momentum. They have no mass, and no capacity for sustainment (especially since they specialize in suicide attacks).
"In Karachi, Pakistan the Muslim United Army claimed credit for 21 bombings at foreign-owned gas stations. Apparently, they seek to create a hostile investment climate, as well as to wreck local commerce. The attacks in Riyadh have angered the Saudis, so they say, even drawing comparisons to 9/11. No coincidence that this newfound commitment, hardly in evidence after Khobar Towers, comes as U.S. forces are leaving for Qatar and enough Iraqi oil may be available to compete with Saudi exports. In Morocco, al Qaeda struck at Jewish, Spanish and Belgian targets. Jewish, well, we understand that. Spanish too — Spain has been a stalwart defender of civilization of late, and there is that whole 1492 Reconquista situation that bin Laden has condemned. But Belgium? The country that wants to try Ariel Sharon and Tommy Franks as war criminals? The center of an illicit diamond trade that helps fund terror networks? Not to mention — Norway?"
It is basically a raiding strategy that is unsustainable, that turns the people against their cause. If the explosion at the Yale law school in an empty class room is the work of al Qaeda, it is hard to see how it will terrorize anyone other than insurance companies.
Read the whole article.
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