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Shades of 3/11By Zachary Abuza
There are two aspects about today’s tragedy in London to note. First, the current Al Qaeda line regarding targeting was set in a statement by Osama bin Laden aired on Al Jazeera in October 2002: “We will target the nodes of your economy.” To that end nearly every major terrorist attack by an Al Qaeda affiliated or inspired group since then has targeted soft economic targets: tourist venues (Bali, Mombasa, Jakarta, Tunisia, Morocco), the energy sector (the SS Limburg), the financial sector (Istanbul); and of course public transportation (Madrid and now London). There is very little that liberal democracies can do against such open-ended targeting. Second, many terrorism experts assert that Al Qaeda, as an organization, is defunct. What is left of the leadership, they argue, is hiding in Wajiristani root cellars. I think they overstate Al Qaeda’s demise; but they do agree that the real threat that Al Qaeda poses is less as an organization and more as an ideology and inspiration. The previously unknown group that has claimed responsibility for the attacks, calls itself the Secret Organization Group of al-Qaeda of Jihad Organization in Europe. While the group may have direct ties to Al Qaeda, what is more likely is to emerge from the investigations into the London bombings is a cell that is very similar to that which perpetrated the Madrid bombings on 11 March 2004: A fairly autonomous cell comprised of a marginalized diaspora that had some roots to extremists in their own country, but was really acting independently. Though they were inspired by Al Qaeda, they received neither funding, planning nor guidance from them. These home grown militants were motivated by a vitriolic hatred of the West and its policies towards the Muslim world, especially their armed presence in Muslim lands, Afghanistan and Iraq. They are the nexus of international jihadists, diaspora communities, Islamist social organizations motivated in the defense of their co-religionists. The 3/11 cell is the model of terrorism in the near future. The good news is that these groups are probably too small and autonomous to launch a major catastrophic attack. The bad news is that these groups are difficult to penetrate, and their operations, though small are still large enough to cause an unacceptable loss of life and have adverse economic implications.
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» Shades of 3/11 from The Law and Terrorism Page-- Greg McNeal
» THE 7/7 ATTACKS: BRITAIN'S BREEDING GROUND FOR SUICIDE BOMBERS from Michelle Malkin
» Terror in London from The Indepundit
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» Terror in London from The Indepundit
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