Month: October 2003

Are the attacks against US troops in Iraq acts of terrorism or guerrilla warfare?  To answer this, here is something to think about.
If you read the works of Mao, Che, and others on this topic, they would call these attacks a valid form of geurrilla warfare.  Why?  To borrow from Martin Van Creveld:  war is only considered war when each side is at risk of destruction at the hands of the other.  Any form of lethal violence that doesn’t risk mutual destruction is considered slaughter and not warfare.  9/11 was slaughter.  The lives of the attackers were never really at risk except by own hands.  It fits with our sense of what the word terrorism means.  In Iraq, attacks against US military targets puts the attacker at risk. 
The US government would call these attacks terrorism.  Why?  Modern states have had a legal monopoly on violence (but not one in actuality).  In their eyes, any lethal violence that is not within the framework of a nation-state to nation-state struggle is terrorism.  Modern states have also extended the definition of terrorism to include non-lethal attacks on property.  In this way, “terrorism” is currently used as a word of approbrium by nation-states for all forms of unlawful violence. [John Robb’s Weblog]

Guerrilla warfare, of course. Terrorism refers to attacks on innocent civilians, and the occupying forces are obviously a legitimate military target.

As Robb suggests, there is plenty of historical precedent for such guerrilla warfare, although since I’m not a socialist I’m more inclined to point out examples from American history such as Francis Marion and Robert Rogers.

David Humphreys is now selling new eMate memory upgrades! These upgrades are really pretty much necessary to get the most out of your eMate, but the originals have been off the market for years. Now you can buy a brand new upgrade for only $95 instead of paying over twice that on e-bay (or not finding one at all).

right wing lunacy watch 2. Via Calpundit, we find this:

Freudian Slip?. From Bush’s press conference yesterday:
bq. I’ll say that the world is more peaceful and more free under my leadership, and America is more secure.
Was I the only one who did a double take at that? [Hit & Run]

bq. The United States goes not abroad in search of monsters to destroy. She is a well-wisher to the freedom and independence of all. She is the champion and vindicator only of her own. If the United States took up all foreign affairs, it would become entangled in all the wars of interest and intrigue, which assume the colors and usurp the standard of freedom. She might become the dictatress of the world. She would be no longer the ruler of her own soul.
John Quincy Adams

AND THE DEPARTMENT OF SILLY “REASONING” OFFERS ITS CONGRATULATIONS. I can hardly bring myself even to comment on this, but since it’s received such wide notice, perhaps I ought to:

President Bush on Monday blamed rising violence in Iraq on U.S. progress being made there, saying coalition successes are making insurgents more desperate.

Bush spoke only hours after bombings in postwar Baghdad killed dozens of people and after conferring at the White House with the top U.S. general and civilian official in Iraq.

“The more progress we make on… [The Light of Reason]

bq. Another such victory and I shall be ruined.

Pyrrhus

From survivalarts:
bq.
That the sole object and only legitimate end of government is to
protect the citizen in the enjoyment of life, liberty, and property,
and when the government assumes other functions it is usurpation and
oppression. — Section 35, Alabama Constitution of 1901
[End the War on Freedom]

Bride of Chucky. Via Andrew Sullivan, I see that the sick puppies over at NR have produced a talking Ann Coulter doll. It spouts such legendary Coulter bon mots as “Even Islamic terrorists don’t hate America like Liberals do.” A step up from “math is hard,” I guess. But just barely. [Hit & Run]

I can’t quite tell if this is real, or meant as a joke. Either way, it’s pretty funny.

Airport trick or treat. In the wake of September 11, the federal mentality toward airline customers is best summarized by the informal motto posted at the headquarters of the TSA air marshal training center: “Dominate. Intimidate. Control.” But it takes more than browbeating average Americans to make air travel safe. Airline expert Michael Boyd aptly observed: “The TSA is a poorly focused, unaccountable Washington political bureaucracy geared to screen for objects, not for security threats.” [Washington Times]

Punishing Politicians. From Rothbard’s great article, H. L. Mencken: The Joyous Libertarian: In discussing how to punish guilty public officials (“jobholders”), Mencken said, “What is needed is a system (a) that does not depend for its execution upon the good-will of fellow… [LewRockwell.com Blog]

A look at how Mencken’s system might work in practice can be found in H. Beam Piper’s Lone Star Planet.

Listening to Mahathir.

Somewhere in Pakistan Osama bin Laden must be enjoying this. The war on terror didn’t have to be perceived as a war on Islam, but we seem to be doing our best to make it look that way. (link)

Well said. [Al-Muhajabah’s Islamic Blogs]

I think it did have to be perceived as a war on Islam, because for many of those in the government and their supporters it clearly is a war on Islam, and they’re such bad liars that they could never have hidden their true motivations.