 clipped from www.michaeltotten.comThe 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). |
"The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light." --Jesus
"Sometimes the first duty of intelligent men is the restatement of the obvious" --George Orwell
"The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain the ability to function." --F. Scott Fitzgerald