Monday, August 02, 2004
Television and Terrorism
Today the news is of a group of coordinated attacks against churches in Iraq, three in Baghdad and one in Mosul. The attacks did not seem to be too destructive, and killed perhaps as many Muslims as Christians. But they came at the time of services for maximum effect. I doubt very much whether such attacks win the insurgents many points with average Iraqis. (Most Christians in the country come from an ancient population predating Islam, so are hardly considered "foreigners" by Iraqis.) They are certain to confirm the opposition to the insurgency of the few percentage points who are Christians.
But this ties into another piece of news: the danger to terrorists of its routinization. After only a few months, even hostage taking and beheading are reported to be fading into the background of Iraqi consciousness, just as the Abu Ghraib atrocities seem to. This short attention span, a product I would argue of populations increasingly glued to their televisions, forces the terrorists to devise ever new means of gaining attention. It is probably a losing game. For instead of concentrating on what would hurt the interim government the most (such as attacks on police, political leaders, and infrastructure) they concentrate on what makes the "biggest splash", driving them into ever more questionable tactics.
Today the news is of a group of coordinated attacks against churches in Iraq, three in Baghdad and one in Mosul. The attacks did not seem to be too destructive, and killed perhaps as many Muslims as Christians. But they came at the time of services for maximum effect. I doubt very much whether such attacks win the insurgents many points with average Iraqis. (Most Christians in the country come from an ancient population predating Islam, so are hardly considered "foreigners" by Iraqis.) They are certain to confirm the opposition to the insurgency of the few percentage points who are Christians.
But this ties into another piece of news: the danger to terrorists of its routinization. After only a few months, even hostage taking and beheading are reported to be fading into the background of Iraqi consciousness, just as the Abu Ghraib atrocities seem to. This short attention span, a product I would argue of populations increasingly glued to their televisions, forces the terrorists to devise ever new means of gaining attention. It is probably a losing game. For instead of concentrating on what would hurt the interim government the most (such as attacks on police, political leaders, and infrastructure) they concentrate on what makes the "biggest splash", driving them into ever more questionable tactics.
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