London V: Defining ‘Al Qaeda’ – Operations Arm of Political Islam

As soon as we heard about the London attacks, we immediately attributed responsibility to Al Qaeda, due to the operational characteristics and style – morning rush hour, more or less simultaneous explosions, maximum global media exposure –

which evoked previous attacks – 9/11, Madrid, the assassination of Rafik Hariri in Beirut – carried out by Al Qaeda, or, and here’s the clinker, other Islamist groups – whether flown in from outside, or, based locally, as seems likely with London and Beirut – inspired by / connected to Al Qaeda.

Which highlights the key point: Al Qaeda is no longer, if it ever was, a simple / single organization, headed by Osama and Ayman al Zawahiri.

It’s more like McDonald’s or Starbucks: an easily franchised operation that gets branding and other assistance from “headquarters,” but where responsibility for success lies almost exclusively with the “local” franchisees.

In this context, to say that London was an “Al Qaeda operation” does NOT imply Osama and Ayman were necessarily part of the planning, or even knew about it beforehand in any specific detail – although either is certainly possible.

But it DOES mean it was carried out by groups – in London, apparently, an even smaller one than did 9/11 – who are operating from the same basic ideological and operational “playbook” as Osama, Ayman and the rest of the gang.

This is BOTH very bad news, in terms of the likelihood of further outrages, especially in Europe – AND completely predictable, as we have noted since the immediate aftermath of 9/11, but which Bush and HIS buddies have consistently refused to acknowledge.

Why is this such bad news ???

The chief reason is that it means “Al Qaeda-style” operations – like London or 9/11 or Madrid or Hariri – are conceivable ANYWHERE there are Muslim populations …

ESPECIALLY with even small numbers of alienated young men – let alone the HUGE numbers of such alienated young Muslim men from the Arab world / South Asia all over Western Europe,

above all in France, Britain, Italy and Spain (the Muslim population of Germany is basically from Turkey, where Islamism has a slightly different flavor, as we have noted) .

And THIS means that the key factor in creating future events like London / WTC / Madrid / Hariri is a) the general level of alienation of young Muslim men; and b) the extent to which that alienation is seen as being LEGITIMATELY resolvable with violence …

And what THIS means, therefore, is that the struggle is NOT with Osama bin Laden … or “Al Qaeda” as an organization … and certainly NOT the nonsensical and meaningless BushCo formulation of a non-existent “war on terrorism” that is simply a rationale for limitless military spending …

But, rather, the real struggle is with – as we have consistently said since 9/11 – the cognitive and legitimating framework that makes such outrages not just thinkable and acceptable but positive and desirable – namely, political Islam.

Now, as noted, we have taken this line consistently since 9/11– which we will substantiate once we create a new section of “rejections” :-P, consisting of pieces submitted to the New York Times and other MSM institutions –

which is why we consider London and Madrid et. al. so PREDICTABLE …

The key issue in determining ANY of these events is political Islam …

and as long as Bush and Rove and “Dick” Cheney continue to RUN AWAY FROM political Islam – which they have since 9/11 –

then the rest of the world is going to have to continue to pay for the gutlessness and cowardice of these alleged “leaders” …

Tell it to the people of London and Madrid, you lying fucks, since you obviously don't give a shit about the people of New York and Washington.