Daniel J. Pipes

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What (and where) is the target?

Reader comment on item: Al-Qaeda's Limits

Submitted by Alain Jean-Mairet (Switzerland), May 29, 2003 at 03:42

For "mere" suicide bombing, there’s no need for any centralized organization. It is enough to make means obtainable by almost anyone decided to use them. The rest can be achieved by mouth-to-ear communication. I judge it is reasonable to think that, say one Muslim out of three or four would take part voluntarily in this process if openly asked. You know, just a little bit, just to pass on an address, just to recommend someone, just to hide some material, just to lie about this or that, etc. It takes a whole lot of civil courage, indeed, for openly refusing to take part in the "Jihad", refusing to help the "brothers", refusing to take the orders of assassins. Hence all it needs is some sort of "bureau", possibly in Iran, or Syria, and the overall acceptance of terrorism in the Muslim world. It is almost a semi-public organization. And that is impossible to attack directly, indeed. It needs another, more "social", approach.

But for more important terrorist actions, like 9/11, there is a need for more solid structures, and much more secrecy, discretion.

BTW, how are doing the Taliban in Pakistan now?

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Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".

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