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| quote: | Originally posted by Vesa
Whatever Al-Qaida's long-term goals, its actions are currently strategical operations in a war against the Trio, not anti-secularism. Those Paris attacks happened as a revenge by an Algerian opposition group who wanted to punish the French Government for meddling into the aftermath of Algerian elections. Similarly, Al-Qaida's latest two attacks are a revenge against the Coalition governments for meddling into the war of US against Islamists. Why else would such non-secular symbolic targets have been chosen as two synagogues, a bank and en embassy, instead of ultra-secular Western-style night clubs or movie theaters?
My guess is that the latest two operations were not directed against secular Turks. Turkey was IMO just a random location of opportunity for an anti-Israel attack and an anti-US attack. Thomas Barnett would probably agree with me on this interpretation because Turkey is what he calls a seam state between the Core and the Gap i.e. the most likely location for a clash.
Turkish civilians said that it was a surprise, but violence doesn't come out of nowhere and not without warning signs. What is sad is that almost everybody in the Western World ignores their own responsibility for this fast escalation of Islamist terror.
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I'm afraid I'm going to have to kind of agree and disagree with this statement Vesa ... haha furthermore upon more reflection, I think that I'm going to have to disagree with what I had originally said myself. I would go so far to say that Turkey, and all the Muslim countries were targeted with a specific goal and master plan in mind asides from the mere fact that they are easy targets or they are ultimately trying to hurt us ... although that probably does play some role. If we examine the roots of Al-Qaeda, the organization's goal is not to destroy America or try to kill as many of us as possible ... Bin Laden is probably no fool, he knows that no matter what he does, he cannot cause permenant damage to the US as a superpower. So what I think he is trying to do is acheive the original goal he had set out to accomplish since the 80's ... the radicalisation of Muslim society/nations. A return to fundamentalist states.
The 9/11 attacks have essentially brought his organization worldwide condemnation, however, more importantly it has brought about worldwide attention to his organization. He has essentially purchased the best marketing campaign that terrorism can buy. Now that everybody knows who he is, does he plan more concerted attacks against western nations? No, he carries out attacks against western targets inside muslim countries ... inspiring fear and death among westerners and muslims alike. However, are these attacks directed at the west? I would say no ... I would say that these attacks are directed against the Muslim people themselves. Al-Qaeda is in Africa, they're in Saudi Arabia, they're in Turkey, they're everywhere. And while they're inspiring fear among Muslims they are also increasing their popularity and attracting the radicals to their ranks.
So how does this relate all back to Turkey? Well, I would say that Turkey was specifically chosen by Al-Qaeda as a target. The Great Eastern Islamic Raiders Front is a relatively small group that lacks the resources to carry out the attacks this week and last ... Al Qaeda does not. Therefore Al-Qaeda chose this out of a hundred possible locations ... so why Turkey? On the one hand I would say that Turkey's relations to the west plays a role: they have strong ties to the US and Israel, they're a member of NATO, they offered to send troops to Iraq, etc. However I would state, that the reasoning goes deeper than that. Turkey is essentially the anti-thesis for everything Al-Qaeda stands for ... it's not only not a fundamentalist Islamic state, but it's a secular democratic state in the Islamic world. Over the past year, Turkey's government has been pushing through sweeping democratic reforms more so than any other government in modern Turkish history. The hopes are to gain acceptance in the European community, and already the EU has promised to hold hearings about Turkey's admittance into the EU at the end of 2004. By causing chaos and attempting to radicalise Turkey, Al-Qaeda hopes to undermine this acceptance by Europe and encourage Turks to believe that the west will have nothing to do with the Islamic world and therefore Turkey should look towards Islamic fundamentalism as the path they should follow.
Just my perspective ...
Edit: I thought this concept made sense by examining what Al-Qaeda had to gain from such an attack. What the hell do they care by killing a few more Jews and some 20 or so British consulate workers? Is it really WORTH that much effort? But then look at its effect on the Muslim population ... it has an effect on so many levels. Those people who want to westernize/democratize become scared: "the more we become democratic the more we are threatened ... we should just revert to Islam to stop the killings." Those people who have radical tendenicies: "Look how powerful Al-Qaeda is in trying to save our religion. We should support their cause." The poor/uneducated/easily manipulated: "Look at how they are attacking the great satan and the threat from the west ... once western influence has been purged from our country, all hardships shall cease to exist."
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Retro ...
Last edited by occrider on Nov-21-2003 at 07:38
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