Waterboarding, Just water boarding

[Mark O'Neill]

Gunaratna (and others) have cited numbers as high as 7 million men radicalized and armed (or willing to be armed) to fight in jihad, and drawn from all over the Muslim world.

Ok, slightly off thread, but I could not, as we say in Australia, 'Let this one go through to the wicketkeeper.'

This figure beggars credibility in every reasonable sense of sound statistical analysis. How did Gunaratna (who is at the helm of what is essentially a Government funded social science program focussed on security) come up with this figure?

He certainly does not have the resources (or ability) to poll everyone (or even a representative sample) of the Islamic world. I even doubt whether respected polling groups like Pew could undertake such an audacious poll. Singaporean think tanks obviously have some (well hidden) abilities..

I suspect that if challenged on this, after a few disingenous and distracting observations, we would find that the figure cited comes from some form of 'government source' , thus obviating the need for substantiation because, after all, they know what they are talking about, don't they? As a last resort , if pushed, we would find out that if came from 'classified source' , thus totally removing the need for rigorous verification. Gunaratna, and others of his ilk, have 'form' for this.

The problem with 'careless' facts from 'credible' figures is that people accept them at face value. The mental image of millions of putative violent jihadists is quite disturbing - and, dare I say it, grist for the mill for those who make their living, name and reputation from being expert commentators on the matter.

The fact is that it does nothing to 'help' confront the true nature(s) and scope of the problems associated with radical Islam - related issues of political violence . This appears irrelevant to those who spout such meaningless, and ultimately useless figures.
- Mark

[Shivan]

I'm not wedded to the number, nor do I take it as absolute. However, if we consider that the number represents about 00.50% of all Muslims spanning the globe, it is not that huge. 50 basis point deviation from the mean in any group (although Muslims are not homogeneous) is not that much.

Yes, how did he come up with the number? What degree of radicalization are we speaking of? When putative jihadists claim to be "willing" to take up arms, do they intend to do as they say?

[Presley Cannady]

...do we really know what the interrogation technique in current practice actually entails? My own attempts to answer this question have been thwarted by reports persistently hand-waving in SERE counter-resistance techniques with those actually authorized for use on detainees.