Thursday, October 18, 2007

Jihadi Stooges

Mark Bowden, auther of Killing Pablo and Black Hawk Down, has a show appearing on the History Channel on Saturday October 20, 2007, at 8pm Eastern (check local listings).

It's called Stalking Jihad.

I heard him this morning on the radio, describing the Jihadis as rather different than we have been led to believe.

While extremely dangerous, Mr. Bowden says they are essentially criminals and thugs, who have no cohesive unity with each other. As is on display in Iraq and the greater Middle East, they are at each others' throats constantly, murdering each other for their own gain and power.

He says we see them through the lens of their most magnificent success: 9/11...rather than the many cock-ups and failures and bumbles and mistakes.

Here's how the History Channel website describes the show:

Follow acclaimed author/journalist Mark Bowden as he travels to the remote islands of the Philippines to reveal the untold story of a CIA mission to hunt down the Al Qaeda-linked terrorists who kidnapped an American missionary couple in the summer of 2001. Islamic militancy was not yet a concern for the American public and initially little more than a perfunctory attempt was made to rescue the missionaries. Things changed after 9/11. CIA surveillance video of the terrorists' demise will be shown for the first time on television. Features Mark Bowden on-camera as the central storyteller and includes interviews with the captives and the Philippine Marines who carried out the CIA's secret mission.


In the interview, he also said that the Philippine model was one that we may use more and more, it keeps us out of the spotlight, off stage, the master mover behind the scenes...influencing outcomes.

And it might even work, if we can figure out a way to prevent the New York Times from betraying every clandestine operation and outing every secret agent.

Check it out. We can talk about it next week.

The Gunslinger

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