Dealing with Islamic terrorists, and with Afghanistan

[Optimizzin Al-gorithm]

At 12:39 AM 10/5/01 -0000, Dr. Evil wrote:
>> It may or may not work - I don't know how serious these guys are
about
>> their religion. Should the leaders be more worldly they might
struggle
>> with their texts to devise a palatable philosophical out for their
field
>> soldiers.
>
>From what I can tell they don't take their religion seriously at all.

I think this is nearly as ludicrous as questioning the depth
of their delusions.

>First of all, Islam does not allow sucide attacks.

Right, and Jesus wouldn't have sniped a physician.

Secondly, I just
>read that these guys were habitues of the Vegas stripclub scene.  I
>guess that's a little luxury you can't find in Kabul.  Allah will
>judge them.

Either they were blending in (ie, counter counterintel) or
they were taking small karma hits and expected to be very in the
black when they got to St Peter's gates.

Admittedly there's some geopolitical/war- and personal- issues involved
in
hijackers' motivations, and maybe their generals were more obsessively
pious than
they, but I don't think you gain much by doubting their faith.

It is much harder to convince someone to kill themselves for you
without something supernatural (irrefutable, possibly tapping into
certain circuits) ---the japs had their emperor, etc.