Hey, let's just call them idiots...

[Presley Cannady]

From The Atlantic.

They blow each other up by mistake. They bungle even simple schemes. They get intimate with cows and donkeys. Our terrorist enemies trade on the perception that they’re well trained and religiously devout, but in fact, many are fools and perverts who are far less organized and sophisticated than we imagine. Can being more realistic about who our foes actually are help us stop the truly dangerous ones?

Sure, the enemy can make mistakes and apparently uses its most expendable men for its most hazardous, if not complicated, operations. This is apparently what qualifies as insight in open source analysis these days.

[JMA]

From The Atlantic.



Sure, the enemy can make mistakes and apparently uses its most expendable men for its most hazardous, if not complicated, operations. This is apparently what qualifies as insight in open source analysis these days.

Yes, one wonders how these same idiots are able to give both the US and Brit forces the run around?

[felixdz]

We have no shortage of our own idiots. The enemy doesn't have a monopoly on stupidity.

"Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former."
-Albert Einstein

[Global Scout]

The point of the article isn't simply the brutality, stupidity and perpertedness of our foes, but this is the start of a new narrative that is long overdue. Our military and media have hyped the Taliban almost to the level of Samarai warriors in some cases, and now we're presenting a more accurate narrative to the world that in time could have a telling effect.

As for our own stupidity, brutality etc., the media does more than an adequate job of covering that. This article is long overdue.

[Chris jM]

Our military and media have hyped the Taliban almost to the level of Samarai warriors in some cases, and now we're presenting a more accurate narrative to the world that in time could have a telling effect.

The overhype may be true, but I don't think this narrative of stupidity is helpful or accurate.

Are the Taleban tactically impotent against the professional soldiery, offensive support and technological superiority of ISAF? Absolutely. Does this make them stupid? Certainly not.

I also think that the characterisation of ISAF/ Western forces as 'stupid' is both inaccurate and unhelpful. There is certainly a lot of inefficiency and a fair amount of incompetence, but there is also a lot of smart, dedicated people out there doing there damndest to win over there. Reading the posts on this board of those actively involved in the struggle - the Maj Gants and the Col Roberts - should be enough evidence to dispel any blanket label of foolishness or stupidity.

We need to be honest with ourselves in that we are struggling to get to grips with a tactically primitive enemy and, as some on the board point out, this enemy is not a good yardstick to base future tactical undertakings on. We also need to be honest with ourselves in that we, ISAF, are operating in an alien and very complex and hostile environment. Difficult yes, inefficient certainly, illogical at times maybe. But stupid? No.

[JMA]

The overhype may be true, but I don't think this narrative of stupidity is helpful or accurate.

Are the Taleban tactically impotent against the professional soldiery, offensive support and technological superiority of ISAF? Absolutely. Does this make them stupid? Certainly not.

I also think that the characterisation of ISAF/ Western forces as 'stupid' is both inaccurate and unhelpful. There is certainly a lot of inefficiency and a fair amount of incompetence, but there is also a lot of smart, dedicated people out there doing there damndest to win over there. Reading the posts on this board of those actively involved in the struggle - the Maj Gants and the Col Roberts - should be enough evidence to dispel any blanket label of foolishness or stupidity.

We need to be honest with ourselves in that we are struggling to get to grips with a tactically primitive enemy and, as some on the board point out, this enemy is not a good yardstick to base future tactical undertakings on. We also need to be honest with ourselves in that we, ISAF, are operating in an alien and very complex and hostile environment. Difficult yes, inefficient certainly, illogical at times maybe. But stupid? No.

A quick and simple answer to you is that the Taliban sit and watch the ISAF forces day after day and in their medieval minds they note weaknesses which they exploit. This while the ISAF forces arrive in Afghanistan with the attitude "This is how we do it". The prognosis for ISAF remains poor.

[BayonetBrant]

I happen to like Kung-Fu Monkey's appraisal of the current Jihadians...

To be honest, it's not like I'm a brave man. I'm not. At all. It just, well, it doesn't take that much strength of will not to be scared. Who the hell am I supposed to be scared of? Joseph Padilla, dirty bomber who didn't actually know how to build a bomb, had no allies or supplies, and against whom the government case is so weak they're now shuffling him from court to court to avoid the public embarassment of a trial? The ####wits who were going to take down the Brooklyn Bridge with blowtorches? Richard Reid, the Zeppo of suicide bombers? The great Canadian plot that had organized over the internet, was penetrated by the Mounties on day one, and we were told had a TRUCK FULL OF EXPLOSIVES ... which they had bought from the Mounties in a sting operation but hey let's skip right over that. Or how about the "compound" of Christian cultists in Florida who were planning on blowing up the Sears Tower with ... kung fu?

And now these guys. As the initial "OH SWEET MOTHER OF GOD THEY CAN BLOW US UP WITH SNAPPLE BOTTLES!!" hysteria subsides, we discover that these guys had been under surveillance, completely penetrated, by no less than three major intelligence agencies. That they were planning on cell phones, and some of them openly travelled to Pakistan (way to keep the cover, Reilly, Ace of Spies). Hell, Chertoff knew about this two weeks ago, and the only reason that some people can scream this headline:

"The London Bombers were within DAYS of trying a dry run!!!"

-- was because MI-5, MI-6, and Scotland Yard let them get that close, so they could suck in the largest number of contacts (again, very spiffy police work). The fact that these wingnuts could have been rolled up, at will, at any time, seems to have competely escaped the media buzz.

This is terrorism's A-game? Sack up, people.