The only reason that they lasted for the centuries that they did... was because they were competent at terrorizing their enemies into passive fear, rather than active confrontation. One anecdotal story stated that representatives from a few western governments went to the group to pursue a sort of truce. Sabbah (or one of the people that ran the gang after Hassan's death) met the representatives on the roof of Castle Alamut. He listened politely and then called two of his men, told them to jump from the roof (which they did... and died). He then turned to the westerners and said "What do I have to fear from you?" This bit of history (or historical bullshit as the case may be) is exactly why I supported our invasion of Afghanistan. It's also why I think we'd be better off continuing what we started, rather than getting sidetracked (but that's blood and water under the bridge at this point). |
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