I just happened to dig into one of the links provided by Eliezer
> http://cns.miis.edu/pubs/reports/binladen.htm
I think it is very important that people realize how serious
this potentially is:
> February 23, 1998
> Second fatwa against the United States issued by the International Islamic
> Front for Jihad Against the Jews and Crusaders, a Bin Laden-led Islamic
> consortium reportedly including radical Muslim leaders from Islamic Jihad,
> Bangladesh, the Egyptian Al-Gama’a al-Islamiyya, and the Pakistani Ansar:
> "For over seven years the United States has been occupying the lands of
> Islam in the holiest of places, the Arabian peninsula, plundering its riches,
> dictating to its rulers, humiliating its people, terrorizing its neighbours,
> and turning its bases in the peninsula into a spearhead through which to
> fight the neighbouring Muslim peoples . . . ."
> Bin Laden called upon Muslims to fight against the United States and its
> people "in accordance with the words of Almighty God." (19)
So, for people on the list who would argue moderation, one has to
recognize that "war" has been declared on us.
Now, the article claims that bin Laden may have obtained up to 20
nuclear warheads that are being turned into suitcase bombs. If that
is the case then it is *very, very* serious. What is needed is
greater investigation as to the reality that the Chechnyans may
have been able to obtain these resources. It seems somewhat implausible
because one has to ask why wouldn't they have used them against the
Russian's themselves? (A lack of technological sophistication is one
possibility.)
Now, I've been thinking about the problem of how does one track down
terrorists and it seems to me that there are approaches that have not
been used before that could be quite effective.
Consider:
a) We have airplanes that can stay aloft at high altitudes almost indefinately.
b) We have small (model size) planes that are capable of self- or remote
navigation.
c) We have inexpensive cameras and face recognition software.
d) We can construct secure radio networks from low altitude to high altitude
to satellites.
It would seem to me that if these are combined properly, they allow you
to create a "transparent society" in a foreign country. Certainly the
U.S. manufacturing capacity for small self-flying airborne "spys"
exceeds the ability of a nation like Afganistan to shoot these out
of the sky (I mean really -- there are limits on how many bullets
you can shoot into the sky). The net result would be to either precisely
locate bin Laden, at which point the use of cruise missles becomes much
more effective, or drive him underground permanently (effectively
imprisoning him).
Does anyone see any flaws with this type of approach?
Robert
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