« Music industry Plan B | Main | Biotech patents »
July 8, 2005
The dark side of the networked society
One of the hallmarks of the I-Cubed Economy is the empowerment of individuals and the connection of individuals in networks. This characteristic has lead to increased innovation, productivity and economic prosperity.
The dark side of this system, however, was evidenced in the London bombings. Networks and individual empowerment are just as much characteristics of terrorism as the rest of live - as explained in a story in today's Washington Post Attacks Bear Earmarks Of Evolving Al Qaeda:
The British bombings "seem to be very much consistent with a Sunni jihadist movement that is overall as strong as ever but more decentralized, in which attacks are being instigated and carried out in more places than just the core leadership hiding in their caves in South Asia," said a former senior U.S. intelligence official.
Al Qaeda's evolution from headquarters-planned conspiracies toward diffuse ideological incitement and tactical support is consistent with bin Laden's long-stated goal for the organization he founded on an Afghan ridge in the summer of 1988. For years, bin Laden has emphasized his desire to be remembered as a vanguard, an inspiring leader whose spark would light a spreading fire among all the world's Muslims, causing them to revolt en masse against Christians, Jews and their allies in the Middle East.
"According to Osama bin Laden's thinking, there are no dormant cells," Abu Jandal, one of bin Laden's former bodyguards in Afghanistan, said in a recently published interview in the Arabic-language newspaper Al-Quds Al-Arabi. "Every element of al Qaeda is self-activated. Whoever finds a chance to attack just goes ahead. The decision is theirs. This is regardless of whether they pledged allegiance to Sheik Osama bin Laden or not."
Sending tanks into cities in the Middle East and creating a huge new bureaucracy are not the way to fight such networks. We need different tactics.
Posted by Ken Jarboe at July 8, 2005 8:35 AM
Trackback Pings
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.athenaalliance.org/mt/mt-tb.cgi/215