Tuesday, July 12, 2005
The mass casualty attacks of al Qaeda
The presentation is not intended to capture all terrorist attacks or even all al Qaeda attacks (Chechnya, the Phillippines, Thailand and other lower intensity conflicts are not included, and neither is the war between Israel and the Palestinian Arabs), but to illustrate al Qaeda's capacity to inflict massive casualties all over the world. It is very illuminating.
The movie also demonstrates that the Iraq war is not the "cause" of al Qaeda's terrorism:
There have been 30 major mass casualty attacks directed against the United States, Britain, France, Spain, Pakistan, Kenya, Tanzania, India, Iraq, Morocco, Yemen, Tunisia, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and North Osetia. 14 of the 30 attacks were conducted prior to the invasion of Iraq, making claims of the occupation of Iraq as a casus belli for al Qaeda’s terrorism to be disingenuous at best. 4,895 people have been killed in these attacks, and 12,345 plus have been wounded. The majority of the countries attacked are Muslim countries. And although not stated, the vast majority of the victims of al Qaeda's violence are Muslims.
The war is global, and it is first and foremost a civil war within the Muslim world. Secondarily, it is a struggle to achieve certain strategic objectives that are profoundly incompatible with Western interests. Al Qaeda has chosen certain battlegrounds -- New York, Washington, London, India, Indonesia, Madrid, Istanbul, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Tanzania, Kenya, and so forth -- and we have chosen certain battlefields: Iraq and Afghanistan among them. Al Qaeda will not give up, so we in the West cannot give up, either, however much our politicians and chattering classes might want to wish away this war.
1 Comments:
, at
We specialize in laptop battery,laptop AC adapters. All our products are brand new, with the excellent service from our laptop battery of customer service team.
the most convenient and cheap replacement battery online shop in uk. We specialize in laptop batteries,laptop AC adapters.
All our laptop AC adapters are brand new, with the excellent service from our customer service team.
the most convenient and cheap battery online shop in uk.