Quote Originally Posted by tequila View Post
Indeed, and it is remarkable that so many American military personnel are quoted, apparently eager to swallow such mythmaking.

The phenomenon of supposed Chinese Uyghur jihadis is probably similar to the Chechen myth. See the classification of Uyghur Muslim groups as al-Qaeda affiliates in the wake of 9/11, likely with info provided by the Chinese government. IIRC the only Uighurs captured in Afghanistan were essentially acquitted of any terrorist connections and eventually deported to Albania out of fears that they would be tortured if sent home to China.

regrettable bvut not surprising....we see bad guys everywhere when we get into these things. My experience as a historian looking at the Congo in 64 and Zaire in 78 taught me to be wary of this phenomenon. In 64 Congo, it was the Chinese and in 78 Zaire it was Cubans. In reality the Communist push tpo take control of the 64 Simba Crisis came after the US-Belgian operations in Stanleyville and Paulis as well as the US-Belgian Merc operation. The main player was Che as Castro's agent of change and he failed miserably, defeated by anti-Castro merc US hired forcesw with US SOF assistance. In 78 Zaire the real intervention from Warsaw Pact forces apparentlly was East German, but the Carter Adminstration started screaming the "Cubans are coming."

The real problem then becomes sorting out the chaff and the wheat. WHo is really out there and what is he doing versus the "boogie man in the closet" we don't want to open.

Best

Tom