Reputation - In 1993, after

Reputation - In 1993, after the "Black Hawk Down" debacle in Mogadishu, the US abandoned its mission in Somalia. That made a big impression on the world's terrorists, especially Osama Bin Laden.

The impression was deepened in incident after incident; the 1993 WTC bombing, the attacks on the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, the bombing of the USS Cole...

...and, so the theory goes, he expected no less from his September 11 attacks. If you were a Taliban supporter, it was a big mistake.

The theory continues that Hussein never expected the US to respond to any of his provocations - the 1991 conquest of Kuwait, his WMD programs during the nineties, the run-up to his overthrow.

And yet the fallout from our reputation in the 1990s continues. Most of the current terrorism in Iraq is being carried out against "soft targets" - convoys, NGO headquarters, police stations - targets with minimal risk and maximum exposure to the word media. This piece unwittingly spells it out:

"The Arabic language television station Al-Jazeera said eight Iraqis were also killed. It was the first such attack in this relatively quiet Shiite Muslim city since the beginning of the U.S.-led occupation and appeared aimed at sending a message to international organizations that they are not safe anywhere in Iraq."

Which is the entire message!

There is no military value in a Carabinieri station. A Polish or Ukrainian soldier won't have a huge impact on the actual prosecution of the war.

But if they put a chink in the armor of the Coalition of the Willing - many of whom are only barely willing - then hitting at targets like these will have an impact far out of proportion to even the ghastly cost of yesterday's attack on the Italians.

Nobody said terrorists were stupid.

Posted by Mitch at November 13, 2003 07:44 AM