TechnoChitlins

What next?

Jay Tea over at Wizbangblog has some ruminations on what comes next- bq. After Beslan, what next? bq. A while ago, I read a science fiction novel about an invasion of Earth (David Gerrold's "War Against The Chtorr" series). The protagonist, over the course of several books, gains a reputation as being an "expert" on the aliens, based on his ability to uncannily predict just what they will do next. He explains his "gift" to another character (roughly paraphrased): "I just think about what would be the absolutely worst thing that could happen next, and then predict it. Then when it happens, I look like a genius." bq. I've always been struck by that sheer, pragmatic pessimism, and found an element of realistic honesty behind it that I respected. With that in mind, I decided to apply that sentiment to the Islamic terrorists. bq. (Author's note: I'm doing this "on the fly," without extensive research. The sequence of events is far more germane than other incidents that have escaped my memory, so please spare me any nit-picks.) The first real strike against non-military targets was against the Israeli athletes in Munich. Then they moved on to hijacking planes. Then they hijacked a cruise ship and killed a passenger simply for being Jewish. bq. Then they started moving beyond threatening death (with the hijackings) and actually carrying out killings. Bombs were used first, then they moved on to suicide bombers. They targeted areas where they were guaranteed massive civilian casualties. They blew up buses, pizza places, buses, restaurants, buses, religious gatherings, buses, discos, buses, pizza places, buses, buses, and more buses. bq. Then came 9/11. They returned to hijacking planes, but this time they combined it with suicide bombings and killed over 3,000 in one fell swoop. In retrospect, it should have been obvious, this blend of two previously successful tactics. But hardly anyone could have foreseen the sheer magnitude of the act. Read entire here to see where he's going with this. I sure hope he's wrong but it makes perfect sense to me... Posted by Jim Webb at September 8, 2004 02:34 PM | TrackBack