Ekhlaas member `Abd al-Wahhab alleges that the programmers of Grand Theft Auto 4 have been inspired by al-Qaeda. To prove his point, he posts a series of links to clips from the game in which al-Qaeda’s terrorist tactics are employed. `Abd al-Wahhab then asks: “Is the West preparing its next generation in the mode of [...]
Archive for the ‘terrorism’ Category
AQ Inspires Grand Theft Auto 4
Posted: 12th June 2008 by Will McCants in tactics, terrorismTags: terrorist tactics, video games
1
Smackdown! Sageman vs. Hoffman
Posted: 8th June 2008 by Will McCants in AQ Leadership, Pakistan, terrorism, Western AnalystsTags: Bruce Hoffman, Marc Sageman
That’s how the New York Times sets up the Sageman/Hoffman argument today: Two powerful academics are feuding over whether al-Qaeda is a leaderless movement (Sageman) or a hierarchical terrorist organization (Hoffman). There are billions in federal dollars hanging in the balance. And best yet, the two guys can’t stand each other. There’s a lot more [...]
Measuring the Terrorist Threat
Posted: 1st June 2008 by Will McCants in terrorism, UncategorizedTags: terrorism
Daniel Benjamin has an excellent piece in Slate on the difficulty of measuring terrorist threats. The common way to measure it is body count: if the number of people killed annually by a terrorist group goes down, then the threat from that group is reduced. This measurement also allows people to say things like, “Only [...]