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  1. #1
    Council Member TheCurmudgeon's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by omarali50 View Post
    I posted this on my blog http://www.brownpundits.com/2013/09/...ion-is-now-ok/

    Extended excerpt (basic question):
    This can be classified as a "Mumbai style attack"...armed men attack a city, pick out one or more prominent civilian targets and slaughter any random person that they find, but may make an effort to spare Muslims. The target may have symbolic value. e.g. educated Westernized left-liberal observers will not have difficulty recognizing an upscale mall as a temple of capitalism, a bastion of imperialism and neo-colonialism, or a shrine to consumerism
    I have not read enough about Kenya but I don't see it as a "Mumbai style" attack. Mumbai was clearly an attack by a foreign entity for political (and partially religious) reasons. This attack appears to be the opposite - a internally based entity attacked for religious (and partially political) reasons.


    Quote Originally Posted by omarali50 View Post
    So my question is this: Their arguments and actions are horrible, tragic, sad, etc. But are they now so routine that they have become in some sense legitimate? That we accept them as part of the nature of war? after all, when more advanced countries fight each other (or weaker countries) and use aircraft to drop bombs or fire missiles, we sort of take it in our stride. War is bad, but when it does happen (and sometimes it happens), this is just how it is. Will we think about Mumbai-style attacks the same way now?[/I]
    What might be more interesting is the question "do the victims not resonate with me enough to care?" or put another way "do I not feel enough affinity to this group to see myself as threatened by the activity of the terrorists?" The average Kenyan probably will not have anything in common with those who could shop in that mall. The average Westerner does not have enough in common with the average Kenyan to care. So you have a very limited audience who were intended to feel the brunt of this attack, if in fact it was a terrorist attack and not simply an act of war by a group who sees wealthy, non-muslim Kenyans as the enemy.

    Here we see the intersection of religious identity and national identity that I discussed elsewhere.
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    I live in Nairobi, Westgate mall is 2km far from my home. Several of my friens and colleagues were in westgate mall when it happened. There was a children cooking contest going on that day and it was just another shopping Saturday for all.
    Al Shebaab target this mall because there are a lot of foreigners and it is a symbol of Kenya economicial success. According to AS twitter account, this attack is made to force Kenya to withdraw its troops from Somalia. To me, it is a Mumbay stile attack: a group of armed men entered the mall and started to shoot in the crow.

    What is amazing is to see all the people together, helping each others to escape, black, white, indians, muslim, christians... In a Kenya were ethnic group, religion and origins are often an issue: all are together to face this coward act.

    The operations were still going on this Sunday at noon (Kenya time).

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    I think it's certainly a Mumbai-style attack. Monitoring the various twitter feeds, it's apparent that the attackers are being fed live intel and are coordinating efforts with and AS headquarters.
    Supporting "time-limited, scope limited military actions" for 20 years.

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    Default An international attack

    The list of the alleged kidnappers reported on Twitter, entitled PrayingForWestgate and by ‏@shambuguREAL via @HSM_PRESS2; missing are 5 & 7 and the HSM account has been suspended:

    10. abdirizak mouled 24 y.o from ontario canada
    9. sayid nuh 25 y.o from kismayu somalia.
    8. abdifatah osman keenadiid. 24 y.o from minneapolis.
    6. gen mustafe noorudiin. 27 y.o from kansas city. MO.
    4. qasim said mussa 22 y.o garissa KE.
    3. ahmed nasir shirdoon 24 y.o from london UK.
    2. zaki jama caraale 20 y.o from hargeisa somalia.
    1. ismael guled 23 y.o from helsinki finland.

    Another journalist refers to:
    Among the attackers Jihadists from Arizona, Maine, Minnesota, Kansas, Illinois, London, Helsinki, Damascus
    Elsewhere UK C4 News has an interview with Al-Shabaab:http://www.channel4.com/news/al-shab...ng-mall-attack
    Last edited by davidbfpo; 09-22-2013 at 08:14 PM. Reason: Add sentence
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    Default High-risk gamble by Shabaab to reverse its prospects

    An interesting commentary by Ken Menkhaus, the doyen of US Somali academics, one passage says it all:
    The Westgate attack is the latest sign of the group’s weakness. It was a desperate, high-risk gamble by Shabaab to reverse its prospects. If the deadly attack succeeds in prompting vigilante violence by Kenyan citizens or heavy-handed government reactions against Somali residents, Shabaab stands a chance of recasting itself as the vanguard militia protecting Somalis against external enemies. It desperately needs to reframe the conflict in Somalia as Somalis versus the foreigners, not as Somalis who seek peace and a return to normalcy versus a toxic jihadi movement.
    Link:http://thinkprogress.org/security/20...n-desperation/

    Note his view that the Somali desire to make money acted as a restraint on Al-Shabaab.
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    Quote Originally Posted by davidbfpo View Post
    An interesting commentary by Ken Menkhaus, the doyen of US Somali academics, one passage says it all:

    Link:http://thinkprogress.org/security/20...n-desperation/

    Note his view that the Somali desire to make money acted as a restraint on Al-Shabaab.
    Seems we have heard this spin many times before. How many times have Al-Qaeda and Al Shabaab been on their last leg and about to die off? I agree the recent trend for Al Shabaab hasn't been good, but they still control a large section of Somalia, they still have control of around 5,000 fighters, and they were able to orchestrate a very sophisticated attack in another country, potentially with a multinational group of terrorists. If true that could imply the capacity to do the same in some locations in the West.

    http://www.cnn.com/2013/09/22/world/...baab-analysis/

    STORY HIGHLIGHTS
    Al-Shabaab has threatened revenge on Kenya ever since Kenyan forces entered Somalia.

    Mall attack shows Al-Shabaab has taken its ability to strike outside Somalia to a new level.

    The operation meets criteria that al Qaeda leader al-Zawahiri listed in a recent message.

    Al-Shabaab allies in region include Kenyan militant group al Hijra and Eritrean government.
    After years of infighting and feuds, the Nairobi attack may also confirm the ascendancy of Al-Shabaab's most militant faction and its leader Mukhtar Abu al Zubayr (aka Ahmed Abdi Godane). Zubayr attended a madrassa in Pakistan as a young man and merged the group with al Qaeda in February 2012. He sees Al-Shabaab as part of al Qaeda's global jihad.

    Dissenters have defected or been killed. Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys of Al-Shabaab's old guard surrendered to Somali authorities.
    http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/kenya-...ry?id=20336438

    During Congressional testimony in January 2012, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper listed al-Shabaab as one of the most significant terror threats to the homeland, in part due to a "foreign fighter cadre that includes U.S. passport holders... [who] may have aspirations to attack inside the United States."

    However, a senior law enforcement official said the latest U.S. government analysis shows no heightened threat to the U.S. as a result of the Kenya attack. While al-Shabaab does have a desire to strike at Western targets in Africa, hitting the U.S. homeland is "not a priority" for them, the official said.
    No predictions from me on this one, we'll see where this goes over the next few months.

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    Council Member carl's Avatar
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    It seems to me that part of what will result from the attack depends upon how strong a sense national identity Kenyans have. Will they view this as an attack upon Kenya and Kenyans? I don't know and would be appreciative if some who know about this would comment.
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    This might help clarify the role sadism plays in Islamist attacks: http://frontpagemag.com/2013/dawn-pe...n-at-the-mall/ The author of the piece pursues scholarship in psychology, symbols, and ritual violence.

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    Quote Originally Posted by commart View Post
    This might help clarify the role sadism plays in Islamist attacks: http://frontpagemag.com/2013/dawn-pe...n-at-the-mall/ The author of the piece pursues scholarship in psychology, symbols, and ritual violence.
    Is this a surprise to anyone? If so where have you been?

    This sub-human behaviour is not purely carried out by Jihadists. Certainly across Africa mutilation and torture prior to killing the norm - time permitting.

    I am rapidly getting to the point where I believe that western governments are deliberately keeping the general public uninformed on such matters in the misguided belief that it could cause a blacklash against so-called 'innocent' Muslims if the public knew.
    Last edited by JMA; 10-06-2013 at 06:33 PM.

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    Quote Originally Posted by JMA View Post
    Is this a surprise to anyone? If so where have you been?

    This sub-human behaviour is not purely carried out by Jihadists. Certainly across Africa mutilation and torture prior to killing the norm - time permitting.

    I am rapidly getting to the point where I believe that western governments are deliberately keeping the general public uninformed on such matters in the misguided belief that it could cause a blacklash against so-called 'innocent' Muslims if the public knew.
    I suspect there is some truth to your claim about Western governments keeping their constituents in the dark, but the media is free to report on this, so I think the reality is that Western media is extremely liberal and these acts don't fit their preferred narrative that these are some form of freedom fighters battling the oppressive West.

    The U.S. government has considerable means to tell the unpleasant truth, but for reasons that are not clear they choose not to.

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    Default Telling the Truth to the Public

    In terms of US politicians, the 10 most prominent reasons for not being frank with the public on this issue are:

    1. I have to say this (or not say that) to stay in office.
    2. I have to say this (or not say that) to stay in office.
    3. I have to say this (or not say that) to stay in office.
    4. I have to say this (or not say that) to stay in office.
    5. I have to say this (or not say that) to stay in office.
    6. [Other Reason - Viewer's Option]
    7. [Other Reason - Viewer's Option]
    8. [Other Reason - Viewer's Option]
    9. [Other Reason - Viewer's Option]
    10. We have to protect American Muslims

    More seriously, American politicians perceive that Americans have a zero risk tolerence for attacks here; Americans do not want to be reminded that there are man-eating human beings roaming this world; and that even minor attacks generate wide-spread panic states in Americans well beyond the actual effect of the attacks. The politicians may be accurate in their perception of the voters who elect and re-elect them.

    My views on killing "bad guys" are well-known and set out in this thread, The Rules - Engaging HVTs & OBL, and elsewhere at SWC.

    From the OP:

    Comments on the practical military aspects of all this are welcome. Of course, if you think all of this Laws of War stuff is Bravo Sierra, you're welcome to say that.

    The more I think about this event [killing OBL] - and the lesser cases of PIDs entering buildings "somewhere", I think of my dad saying not to send a patrol when you can send some 105s. My question is, if you have positive ID and know you will get the target by some kind of "fire mission", why not just eradicate the target if you want the target dead ?
    To me, "bad guys" are still human. The savage traits (laid out in Dawn Perlmutter's Frontpage piece) have been well accepted in some otherwise very human societies of the 20th, 19th, 18th, 17th, 16th, 15th ... centuries. In short, we (human beings) have some very savage traits. They were survival effective (or at least not survival detrimental) in the "modern human" of 10,000 bce, or 250,000 bce, if you want to carry modern HSS that far back. So, it would be surprising if those savage traits did not appear in the 21st century among a "band of brothers" - a closed grouping in terms of ideology, whose most extreme features reinforce themselves into a very "we-they" psychology.

    To paraphrase (as to the extreme ends of the "bands of brothers" spectrum): They were the best of men; they were the worst of men.

    On to my views on some specific "gems" of mine - buried in much longer pieces - which I still believe.

    On Beheadings

    5-21-2009

    Both the beheadings and hostage use (if evidenced - not always that easy) are war crimes. They are also typical of the AQ-Taliban way of war - they have their own LOAC (Law of Armed Conflict). You can verify that via many sources on and off line. For a quick overview, see at SWJ, The Erosion of Noncombatant Immunity within Al Qaeda [2008].
    ...
    The media and many Americans are simply incapable of seeing AQ-Taliban for what they are - as determined by what they do. Those folks should assemble a group of beheadings videos - usually done according to the law and process adopted by AQ-Taliban - and watch them while dwelling on what they are watching.
    10-12-2010

    How should one class the beheading videos (having watched a few) in terms of reciprocity and the reasons for them ? I expect that is very much in the eyes of the beholder. In my own eyes, comparing them to what the Gurk did (based on our limited facts) suggests that he was guilty of a breach of etiquette.

    and 10-25-2010

    First, the facts, as stated from article:

    His unit had been told that they were seeking a ‘high value target,’ a Taliban commander, and that they must prove they had killed the right man. The Gurkhas had intended to remove the Taliban leader’s body from the battlefield for identification purposes. But they came under heavy fire as their tried to do so. Military sources said that in the heat of battle, the Gurkha took out his curved kukri knife and beheaded the dead insurgent. He is understood to have removed the man’s head from the area, leaving the rest of his body on the battlefield.
    Second, looking at these first facts from a Laws of War standpoint, the more appropriate COA (removal of the entire body from the field) was foreclosed by enemy fires. The Gurk, utilizing judgment in terms of the military necessity to ID the HVT, took an alternative COA to achieve that goal and complete his mission. [JMM !!]
    On Not Being Terrorized

    3-28-2009

    Terror is an Effect

    Terror, like its cousin Shock & Awe (and other "EBOs"), is subjective, based on the psychological reaction of the targeted population (an effect) to the violent event (the means). As such, it is essentially useless in classifying the means or the actor, either for legal or military purposes. One must concede that consideration of terror is important to the targeted population because, if a substantial segment of that population is terrorized, it will lose its resolve to resist and will be inclined to submit to the will of the attacker. Thus, the best tool to fight "terrorism" (or any other "EBO") is a targeted population that refuses to be terrorized, shocked or awed by the violent means used by the attacker.
    9-12-2011

    As to mindset, a starting point (and the ultimate defense against terrorism as a tactic) would be the civilian population's refusal to be terrorized. Soldiers accept risks in the field; civilians should also accept risks in this kind of conflict (the risks not being anywhere close to existential with respect to the civilian population as a group).
    The Sermonette

    9-16-2009

    This is my personal take, which I've had since 9/11.

    1. We must expect attempts at violence in the US by AQ, either directly, via supported groups or by persons who are simply thinking in parallel with AQ.

    2. So far, the violent incidents have been few (e.g., the DC snipers & the Arkansas shootings by "parallel thinkers"); and a number of plots have been foiled.

    3. We cannot expect this successful record to continue without a serious incident happening. It will occur. Homeland security will not be perfect.

    4. How people react will depend on the person. If you were terrorized by 9/11, you probably will be terrorized by the event which will surely happen. If you were intensely angered by 9/11 without feeling terrorized, the same emotion will probably flow from that event.

    5. I (and every US citizen, for that matter - some will disagree with this), since 9/11, have sent hundreds of thousands of guys and gals into situations where they don't have our at home luxuries and are subject to far greater risks than we have at home. So, it is time for the homeland to grow up about risks of violence.

    6. I don't suggest we adopt the mentality of a herd of prey stalked by predators. But, I do suggest that, besides the logical COA to arrest or kill when we can, we realize that AQ (as it presently stands) is not an existential threat to the US. It is simply a threat.

    End sermonette.
    Regards

    Mike
    Last edited by jmm99; 10-06-2013 at 10:22 PM.

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    Council Member carl's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by jmm99 View Post
    More seriously, American politicians perceive that Americans have a zero risk tolerence for attacks here; Americans do not want to be reminded that there are man-eating human beings roaming this world; and that even minor attacks generate wide-spread panic states in Americans well beyond the actual effect of the attacks. The politicians may be accurate in their perception of the voters who elect and re-elect them.
    Mike:

    This is accurate if you limit it to perceptions of politicians and to the sensibilities of superzips (Charles Murray's superzips), specifically the liberal establishment mass media elites (thank you Mike Rosen). I don't think it applies to the flyover people that make up the Americans.

    Us flyover people pretty much know or strongly suspect there are beasts out there, having worked with them here, been robbed or beaten up by them here or chased them down and seen their work over there. The passengers in the back of the airplane so to speak, are combat vets, EMTs, rocket scientists, historians, DAs, cops, docs and many are parents. The Americans can take whatever is thrown at them, but they have to be leveled with.

    The superzips on the other hand, live lives so insulated from the hard edge of existence they don't really believe it exists and don't want to be reminded of it. It is my opinion that it isn't the Americans that have a zero tolerance for attacks or casualties, we don't. We take whatever comes and go on. But the superzips can't, and because they can't they figure the rest of us can't and act accordingly. The politicians, many of the old line (from both parties) ones anyway are an integral part of superzipistan. The other zips are their peers and their true constituents. They play to them and so we get what we get.

    I don't and haven't thought there is anything wrong with us, the Americans. There is something horribly wrong with our leadership class and how we select them.

    I like the sermonette and think that if you asked, most of us flyover people would agree. The zips won't though.
    Last edited by carl; 10-06-2013 at 10:45 PM.
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    Default Carl:

    Yup, we SuperUnZips (and, yes, remember I made you an honorary Yooper ) have a different take from most in the Beltway. So, note my artful phrasing :

    The politicians may be accurate in their perception of the voters who elect and re-elect them.
    We then have to ask: who elects these folks ? I would like to agree with you on this being fact:

    This is accurate if you limit it to perceptions of politicians and to the sensibilities of superzips (Charles Murray's superzips), specifically the liberal establishment mass media elites (thank you Mike Rosen).
    But, the fact remains that the SuperZips and Political Elites are not sufficient to swing national elections. They are necessary, but not sufficient to elect and re-elect the politicians of the Beltway.

    While "flyover country" has a plethora of good people - and I live in something of a blessed nature preserve, the fact has been that many "flyover people" have elected and re-elected those schmucks that each of us (in his own way) have been decrying for decades.

    While it may be comforting to believe that there is a "silent majority" out there - completely opposed to the SuperZips; that "silent majority" (if it does exist) is simply not showing itself in the election returns.

    Regards

    Mike

    PS: The reasons for making Carl an honorary Yooper is that he used to fly into our weather-forsaken airports; and used to go out with a gal from IIRC Suomi College (now Finlandia University). The last took real courage.
    Last edited by jmm99; 10-07-2013 at 01:10 AM.

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    Default Mutilation @ Westgate? Not in Mumbai!

    Quote Originally Posted by commart View Post
    This might help clarify the role sadism plays in Islamist attacks: http://frontpagemag.com/2013/dawn-pe...n-at-the-mall/ The author of the piece pursues scholarship in psychology, symbols, and ritual violence.
    I am not an expert, let alone well read on the presence of sadism in Jihadist violence, but this passage simply did not sound truthful:
    The Westgate Mall massacre is comparable to the mass murder of 166 people by members of the Islamist Jihadist group Lashkar-e-Taiba, in ten coordinated shooting and bombing attacks across Mumbai, India on November 26 -29, 2008. During their siege operation the LeT Jihadists also took the time to sexually humiliate, torture and mutilate some of the victims before shooting them dead.
    So I contacted an Indian friend, a Mumbai resident, who officially investigated the attacks and is "in the know". He responded:
    There was no "ritualistic" killing, no "beheading" and no rape in Mumbai. The gory details carried on this web site did not happen here. They did not carry any knives. They did not even mutilate the Jews in Chabad House". All they did was to open fire indiscriminately on innocent civilians.

    Several of the victims in Nairobi were from India or of Indian origin. Had there been any mutilation or slaughter of children, Indian press would have published.
    The Indian police charge sheet, which details what property was recovered and no such weapons are shown (I have a copy).

    I do not doubt mutilation has happened, for example in London, but the author is wrong about Mumbai and I suspect such violence did not occur in Nairobi.
    davidbfpo

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    Default Who attacked Westgate Mall?

    Clint Watts asks 'Was Kenya Westgate Attack More AQAP/AQ Central Than Shabaab?'. Link: http://selectedwisdom.com/?p=1164
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    About the Gurkha beheading: this is one of the big reasons why so many prominent targets were beheaded in the good old days. In a world without photographs, taking the head to someone who knew him was the surest way of confirming that the deed had indeed been done. When Yazid's Ummayad forces killed Hussain at Karbala (now remembered as the central event in Shia historical memory), they beheaded a person who was, after all, the beloved grandson of the holy prophet of Islam. This was not just (or even mainly) an expression of their barbaric nature. It was the norm to cut off the head of the rebel and take it to the emperor for inspection, confirmation and reward.
    When Aurangzeb overthrew his dad and killed his brothers to become the Mughal emperor of India, one brother (Shuja) escaped to Myanmar. He was apparently killed in a skirmish there, but no one brought back a head (to the Raja of Arakan, whose people killed him; or to Aurangzeb, who was not directly involved in that skirmish). As a result, rumors of his return unsettled Aurangzeb's officials for years. ..Much better for the imperial government if that head had been cut off and brought for display.

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    About ritual mutilation in Mumbai; I dont recall any such event either. The attack itself was barbaric enough (shooting unarmed innocent people while casually walking through the railway station..those images are more shocking to me than ritual mutilation). I wish psyops geniuses did not feel the need to add these details. I have never really understood why the truth (in this case, the willingness of some groups to randomly kill completely innocent unrelated people for the sake of their "cause") is not enough.
    Then again, maybe I am just too naive.

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    Quote Originally Posted by omarali50 View Post
    About ritual mutilation in Mumbai; I dont recall any such event either. The attack itself was barbaric enough (shooting unarmed innocent people while casually walking through the railway station..those images are more shocking to me than ritual mutilation). I wish psyops geniuses did not feel the need to add these details. I have never really understood why the truth (in this case, the willingness of some groups to randomly kill completely innocent unrelated people for the sake of their "cause") is not enough.
    Then again, maybe I am just too naive.
    I don't think that professional PsyOps strategy is behind this.

    The last decade shone some light at some prevalent depth of human nature.
    Many people are mixing racism, authoritarianism, timidity, their desire to be knowledgeable (while being too stupid and/or lazy to actually acquire knowledge, thus they make #### up and insist others are clueless for they disagree), some despicable fantasies and other dirt from the bottom together.
    The outcome is a flood of such made-up nonsense.

    I suppose this is not new; 9/11 merely added a new fashion to the phenomenon.


    The more I look at the world, the more I become convinced that time is overdue for a pile of good books about cognitive psychology on my desk.

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    Default From Satanic Symbolic to Islamist Symbolic Killings

    Ms Permutter, of Symbol & Ritual Intelligence (apparently its only key figure), formerly "The Institute for the Research of Organized & Ritual Violence", founded in 2001 -

    Symbol & Ritual Intelligence specializes in the research, analysis and investigation of symbolic and ritual violence. Specific areas of expertise include; unfamiliar cultural traditions, ritual activities, religious terrorism, desecration controversies, ritual murder, and the identification of symbols, artifacts and unusual practices. What distinguishes Symbol & Ritual Intelligence from other institutes is our concentrated study of images and the application of symbolic methodologies for use in law enforcement. We can assist you in identifying emblems, tattoos, colors, graffiti, clothing, ritual objects, etc. of hundreds of gang and terrorist organizations. We produce specialized charts, intelligence reports, and group bulletins from our unique perspective.
    branched off from philosophy (in which, she has a PhD) into satanic and occult ritual crimes (big back in the 80s and 90s), and after 9/11 into Islamist ritual crimes.

    As to these subjects, she wrote Investigating Religious Terrorism and Ritualistic Crimes (2003):

    •Presents over 100 illustrations of signs and symbols to look for at crime scenes that indicate ritual practice
    •Includes background and investigation techniques for crimes involving religion-based terrorism
    •Details domestic and international terrorist religions
    •Provides organizational structures of large clans and covens, membership and recruitment policies, and homicide case studies
    •Offers intelligence strategies inclusive of indoctrination techniques, negotiation and prosecution strategies, and advantages of understanding religious violence
    •Examines types of criminal profiling and provides a crime classification system to distinguish between types of ritual homicide
    and True Believers: A Symbolic Anthropological Study of Islamist Culture (tbp 2014):

    •Includes detailed descriptions of the use and origins of Islamist loaded words, embedded symbols, and collective rituals used in indoctrination and psychological warfare
    •Demonstrates how honor and shame is utilized to inculcate children, recruit moderates, train soldiers, and motivate violence
    •Includes descriptions of specific rituals and burial rites related to martyrdom operations that can assist in preventing suicide attacks and the investigation of previous attacks
    •Explores the use of overt and subliminal messages in Islamist communications, cartoons, advertising, music, and videogames
    •Provides a detailed symbolic analysis of honor killing, beheadings, suicide attacks, dismemberment, and other Islamist atrocities.
    •Explains the disproportionate violent responses to Quran desecration and how Islamists exploit these and other incidents
    •Explores the difference and significance of tribal and rational societies
    •Demonstrates the impact of Islamist conspiracy theories for indoctrination, recruitment, and propaganda
    •Illustrates the significance of Muslim victimhood for Islamist strategic and psychological operations
    •Features full color photos
    I haven't read either book; nor do I intend to. I have read her 2006 article, Mujahideen Blood Rituals: The Religious and Forensic Symbolism of Al Qaeda Beheading (obviously the title rings my feeding time bell), which concludes (in snips):

    It is difficult to remain in denial when there is actual proof of ritual murders and not just remnants of the crime scene. The American public is all too familiar with images of violent murder. What the public cannot accept is the fact that these beheadings are communally sanctioned and religiously justified. These are not violent crimes committed by psychopaths or a form of group hysteria; beheading, suicide bombing, and ritual mutilation are the sacred blood rituals of the Holy warriors of Islam. This is a highly organized community that consistently and proudly professes their ideology, values, and goals and persistently identifies themselves as Mujahideen. They do not hide the fact that they are fighting a holy war and that they have a religious imperative to kill Christians, Jews, and unbelievers. All we have to do is listen to what they are telling us.
    ...
    The media is fond of using the word "desecration," particularly in reference to Islamic beliefs. Desecration is a sacred concept, and although we are supposedly not fighting a holy war, the word "desecration" has made headlines quite frequently; desecration of the Quran, desecration of enemies’ bodies, and desecration of mosques. We are hypersensitive to what Muslims hold sacred even when it jeopardizes our national security and puts soldiers’ lives at risk. We are not going to be defeated by terrorism but we will be defeated by political correctness unless we stop sugarcoating the sacred nature of this war. There are many people who recognize the implications of this religious threat; however, not one politician will acknowledge that we are involved in a holy war. It would be political suicide to announce that this is not a war on terrorism but a war on Islam.
    ...
    True believers are the most dangerous enemies. You may be able to get a soldier to fight and die for his country in battle, but you would be hard pressed to find one willing to strap on C-4 attached to a vest full of nails and ball bearings and commit suicide as a walking claymore mine. Mujahideen are lining up for this duty. These holy warriors are willingly blowing themselves up because they have faith. As a consequence of our Western view of the world and standard behavioral science analysis of crime, we fail to see the nature of these true believers. Al-Qaeda has already won the most important strategic battle; they know their enemy, but we are in denial of their religious imperative to annihilate us. Our worst opponent is not the Mujahideen, it is our refusal to acknowledge that we are fighting soldiers of God in a centuries-old holy war.
    Nothing in these snips is that much different from what I've said; but I worry about Ms Perlmutter's facts. That is, is she taking (esp. as in the current Frontpage article) killings by Muslims - not part of a jihadist organization - and using them to amplify the acknowledged killings by jihadist organizations ? And, is she amplifying the Mumbai killings (and perhaps other events she cites) by adding non-facts ?

    Personally, if I were to hire someone to advise me on jihadist killings, I'd hire someone like Scott Atran from the Univ. of Michigan (includes his scientific and popular pubs), who's played that game at the major league level, with such as Marc Sageman, etc., Theoretical Frames on Pathways to Violent Radicalization (2009).

    Regards

    Mike
    Last edited by jmm99; 10-07-2013 at 04:59 PM.

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    btw, re my comments above, I did not mean to deny that Jihadists indulge in horrific ritualized violence (like beheadings and displaying the heads on white sheets), see (if you wish, I did not actually see the video, but have seen others like it in the past) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ApPc...ctr=1381167244
    But I just think it should not be necessary to make up stories if they did not happen.
    What is happening and has happened is bad enough.

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