Posts tagged “terrorism”
A foiled plot to blow up transatlantic flights dominates the news, but deprived of actual carnage, media scramble for content. Meanwhile, 24 young British Muslims are arrested, and nobody should be surprised. We've done nothing to address the genuine grievances driving this radicalization.
We and al-Qaeda have found common ground: neither of us believes in transparency. The White House actually argued we can't discuss rights violations because it would help terrorists. That's a reason to *stop* violating rights, not to hide it. Can 2008 get here already?
Terrorism operates like a successful web startup: distributed, peer-to-peer, networked, and exploiting the long tail of countless small attacks rather than one decisive blow. Al-Qaeda is to conventional warfare what Amazon is to retail. I wish this analogy weren't so compelling.
Autumn's here, and I can't decide if the cold weather should make me more or less paranoid about people in heavy coats on the tube. The cover it provides cuts both ways.
I catalogued every time Bush shoehorned "hate freedom" into an unrelated speech. Home ownership, cattle farming, senior fitness, Labor Day, Greek Independence. He managed it every single time. The man cannot open his mouth without pivoting to terrorism, no matter how tortured the logic required.
Fantastic Four is a super-fun summer movie with stupid plot holes, but it's myth, so roll with it. The Human Torch was hot even before his powers. Also: a clamped car trailing sparks being chased by police, jumpy Londoners, and a message to terrorists: you've only made me late for work.
Angry, not scared, after today's failed London bombing attempts. They were amateurs compared to last time, but they still had a plan and still panicked the city. My tube link to London is down again. Retreating into Harry Potter, where the villains are clear and defeat is guaranteed.
Some bombings get names and others don't. The Baghdad attack killed twice as many people as London, but you wouldn't know it from the coverage.
After July 7th, I emailed my former Muslim coworker M to get an unfiltered view on British Muslim anger. He confirmed many are furious, but condemned the bombings as un-Islamic. His ranked grievances: Palestine, Kashmir, Iraq, Bosnia, and Western hypocrisy. This isn't hatred of freedom. It's anger at specific things we did.
London's dark humor is returning after the bombings, and so am I. We're coping the only way we know how: taking the piss. And to those posting "We Are Not Afraid" from Nebraska: easy to say when you're not the one who's fucking terrified.
Today's attacks hit home in the most literal sense. The bombs went off meters from my desk, on the lines I ride every morning. I finally understand what it meant to be in Madrid or New York. London is my city, my home, and today someone hurt it. I'm writing this for me.
I'm okay, but all three of my routes to work were bombed this morning. Mobile networks are down. I walked home shaken. This was real, not panic or exaggeration. Reach me at work email for now.
Trying to parse the logic on targeted killings in the Middle East is making my head spin. Both sides are committing atrocities out of mutual terror, the security fence looks inadequate, and the only thing I'm sure of is that simple answers don't exist here.
Thomas Friedman declared the "terrorism bubble" burst because Iraq fell. But hey, the terrorists weren't Iraqi, their money wasn't Iraqi, and bin Laden sure as hell isn't Iraqi. If anything, we just gave the Middle East more reasons to hate us. Friedman is an idiot.
Living outside the US, I rely on friends like Ed to remind me how absurd American domestic security theater has gotten. Nationwide terror levels, duct tape against chemical weapons, and delivery guys worrying about terrorism in suburban Michigan. You can't make this stuff up.
Bin Laden's crew notes the irony of Bush and Sharon being called men of peace. Hard to argue with that logic.
Surveys show nearly half of Americans want to gut the First Amendment in the name of national security. Freedom of speech, press, religion, academic freedom -- all apparently negotiable. Honestly, people who'd so eagerly surrender these rights deserve exactly what they're asking for.
US networks are suppressing bin Laden's statement at White House request while simultaneously broadcasting counter-propaganda. That's state censorship, plain and simple. There's no obviously good outcome to any of this. War is such shit.
September 11th. Everything has changed.
