The Looming Tower

I just finished The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11 by Lawrence Wright. It starts off outlining the life and development of Sayyid Qutb, the Egyptian intellectual father of militant Islam. Qutb lived in the U.S. during the 1950’s and thought it was the most decadent place on earth. He took this view back to Egypt and spun out a medieval interpretation of Islam. This in turn influenced another fire-beard named Ayman al-Zawahiri, who started plotting to overthrow the government at age 15. Zawahiri went on to found al-Jihad, which based on the name you can pretty much guess what they did. Al-Jihad and Zawahiri had a John Hinkley/Jodie Foster type fascination with the government of Egypt.

As usually happens when you start pooping where others eat, Egypt soon became too hot for Zawahiri, so he fled to Saudi Arabia. In Saudi Arabia he came across pious piss-ant named Osama bin Laden. About this time bin Laden, like a lot of other rich boys in the Muslim world, wanted to go play danger against the Soviets in Afghanistan. The bin Laden family’s connections to the royal family of Saudi Arabia allowed him to channel large amounts of money and aid to the mujahideen. One interesting factoid brought out in the book: The Arab fighters were largely worthless against the Soviets and the mujahideen couldn’t stand them. Also, bin Laden’s legend as a brave battlefield commander is myth he marketed and promoted. When the conflict ended bin Laden and a few other key players decided that liked playing adventure and wanted to continue jihading. After a lot of brainstorming they decided that the U.S. would make a good enemy and the elected bin Laden head of the club because he could swing the most money. Eventually Zawahiri merged al-Jihad with al-Qaeda because he ran out of money.

One of the most interesting concepts brought out in the book is the idea of takfir. Takfir is the intellectual fig leaf militant Islam uses to create its circular, adolescent nihilism. In short, takfir is the idea that it’s okay to kill infidels, and anyone that doesn’t think like you do is an infidel. For example, when an al-Qaeda member was being interrogated about the embassy bombing in Nairobi in 1998 he was asked how killing women and children could be justified. The bombing took place on a Friday, and the al-Qaeda member said that if the victims were good Muslims they would have been at the mosque and not where the bombing took place.

The book takes a lot of air out of the myth of al-Qaeda. What is painted as a worldwide network of legions of committed religious zealots is actually a very loose association of deranged sociopaths. Modern society has enabled their reach to exceed their grasp, and modern media tells the narrative of the image, not the substance. Over the years of its existence a lot of members have left. 9/11 did not result in hordes of the faithful joining the fight, as bin Laden had hoped. The ones that enter today have bought into a marketing campaign that would make B.F. Skinner and Madison Avenue blush. If you study the composition of cults al-Qaeda very much fits the pattern. Even without an academic analysis the book makes for compelling reading. It’s a measured, wide-ranging examination in a field of shallow understanding.

Ares

Go West Young Man

There’s an honest reason for the stale stench on this page. Mrs. Ares and I spent the past few weeks on vacation out west. After a few days in northern California we did the great American Road Trip to Montana. Not much, only 2,000 miles in a little over a week. Never had a vacation that was that much fun and that much work.

After some quality time on Interstate 90 we rolled into Missoula. I-90 through northern Idaho is one of the most beautiful interstate drives you can do in this country. Missoula is a little rough and a little industrial, but pretty thinned out by Atlanta standards. Best part of Missoula was visiting the Big Sky Brewing Company. The next day took us down state highway 93 and along the eastern edge of the Bitterroot Mountains. I’ve seen a few mountains in my day, but this place will stop you cold. After a few hours in Hamilton I wasn’t sure I wanted to leave.

Alas, we had to press on as we needed to take possession of a U.S. Forest Service cabin north of Dillon. While the cabin had electricity, that was as far as it went into modernity. Being 8 miles down a dirt road that was shaky at best in a rental car was another obstacle. Still, it was clean and quiet with views you couldn’t beat. I was pretty okay with it until the mouse ran across my arm in my sleep. That was where sleep and I parted company for the duration of the cabin stay.

After the a few days of outhouses and cabin mice we gladly checked into a hotel in Bozeman. Aside from checking out the town we were taking a crack at the Lewis & Clark Marathon/Half-Marathon/5K. I settled on the 5K and Mrs. Ares joined me. Or, as we’ve taken to calling it, the Pneumonia 5K. It was 43 degrees and raining throughout the run. Still a lot of fun though. Bozeman seems like a nice town, and you can’t beat having mountains on 3 sides to view.

Montana is an interesting place. The residents are fiercely rugged and don’t seem to like outsiders too much. (Except Bozeman, which is a tourist and college town.) With the land speculation that’s been going on there the past dozen years or so I can’t say I blame them. I also came to the conclusion that I probably couldn’t live there for three reasons: I don’t have enough facial hair (and I look really stupid with it), I don’t have giant pickup truck, and I don’t have any Carhartt clothing. Carhartt is the state uniform of male residents between 6 and death. Overall I think my friend Dave described it best when he used the term “Gun-toting tree-huggers”. As for me, I’m just glad to have showers and flushing toilets at my disposal again. Remember, plumbing is what makes civilization great.

Ares

Dennis Kucinich...Still an Asshat

Once again Dennis the Menace demonstrated his membership in that irresponsible group of politicians that think if you just believe hard enough in good things the world will be a better place. The Troll did a little grip & grin tour of Syria recently. After praising the Syrian president he made sure to tell the world that he wasn’t going to Iraq to visit the troops. (Much to the relief of everyone there in uniform.) “I feel the United States is engaging in an illegal occupation…I don’t want to bless that occupation with my presence.” Sorry, I didn’t know you were the f****** pope, able to bless entire countries in a single bound. Because your junior miss-sized blessing was all that was missing to make things complete in Mesopotamia. .

The self-proclaimed lover of peace is championing a government that calls for the genocide of the Jewish people. (I won’t farm the fertile soil of criticism against Nancy “Hajib” Pelosi and her sporting the latest in oppression wear during her unwanted visit.) How does that math work in his tiny little head? I’m sure he has to climb back into mommy’s papoose for frequent naps after all that hard thinking of trying to self-justify the contradictions. If someone would get him a high chair he could look across the table and see that Syria is sufficiently blood-soaked via their proxies in Islamic Jihad and Hezbollah. The only condition of Dennis’ praise is that the other party agree with him about George Bush. An intellectual kiddie pool if ever there was one.

The Troll is completely entitled to his opinions, and supporting the troops isn’t some compulsory altar that should be bowed at. That said, 46 Marines from his district died in Iraq in 2005 and his response is “I don’t want to bless it.” He’s been faithfully consistent in not blessing both the war and the memories of those who died. Because to him it’s all about politics. But if you can’t say anything nice about men and women that are your betters, men and women that believe and commit more than you do, then why don’t you do us all a favor and keep that tiny cake hole shut.

Endnote: Had to cut & paste a comment from a site about this issue. Meanwhile in Syria, Dennis Kucinich models avant-garde 21st century impressionistic Burkah-wear® made from a breathable, yet radiofrequency reflective material patented by Alcoa for the fashion/RF conscious progressives in both the United States and the court of President Bashar Assad. Stunned is all this fashion reporter can say. LMAO.

Ares