But Maybe The West Never Will

clipped from fallbackbelmont.blogspot.com Thinking of al-Qaeda as a religion like Buddhism will take one down the wrong path. It's easier to understand it as a gang, with territories, local bosses, rackets, internal rivalries, and a secret culture which requires you to be "made". Al-Qaeda is in fact linked to gangs. It operates an actual narcotics trade in Afghanistan. It performs contract hits on behalf of clients and subcontracts hits to independent operators. It does everything gangs do and very little that religions, as we know it, undertake. The reason al-Qaeda is poorly understood is that the West insists on misunderstanding it; giving it a dignity far beyond any it would accord itself in candid moments. The contracted Vilks murder is a case in point. It's not about cartoons, blasphemy or piety but about intimidation and dominance. A desert raider will grasp the point immediately. But maybe the West never will.