I believe you have fanatics that have made the same mistake the fanatics have always made. They believe that if they take these spectacular actions, it will rally the masses to follow them into the fires of hell. I think they honestly believe that these actions will result in some more general rising up resulting in widespread mayhem. Problem is that the masses so far don’t seem to be buying it. They didn’t buy it after 9/11 or when Al Qaida appeared in Iraq either. Sure, there were a few thousand who trotted off to their deaths but that is nothing compared to the estimated billion Muslims on this planet. The vast majority just aren’t buying it at all.

I believe we are witnessing a desperate attempt to create that rallying point by attacking the one target the masses can’t refuse to go along with, Israel. It is a desperate attempt to revive their movement. But one major problem is that their best leaders are dead and most of those who would be likely to rise up and join their bloody campaign of hirabah have already been killed, captured or imprisoned. The areas surrounding Israel and the Horn of Africa are probably the last remaining places with any reserves of potential “martyrs”.

If you listen to the rhetoric coming out of Lebanon, Syria, and Iran, the talk is of a war by the Islamic Nation. They are attempting to portray this as being on the scope of a war by all Muslims and in so doing, implying that it is somehow the duty of all Muslims to come to the aid of Hezbollah and Hamas. Besides the masses not buying into the whole notion that hirabah is somehow a noble cause, there is another problem.

Israel has been quite effective in blocking any way for a would-be terrorist to get to the area of fighting. Air routes are closed, sea routes are closed, fuel is scarce and what roads are open are flooding with refugees and foreigners trying to get out. There is practically no way for any significant number of volunteers to get to the area of the fighting even if they have the means. It looks like Israel is following the Powell doctrine of “First we are going to cut it off, and then we are going to kill it” that was so effective in the first Gulf War.

I believe there is been a miscalculation but the Israeli response isn’t it. What they miscalculated was the level of support this would have and what the global response to this coordinated series of spectacular actions would be. This could well be a clear sign of the begining of the end for these terrorists. If this turns out to be a spectacular failure, look for Iran to crumble from within and for Osama to fade away. If this push becomes an embarrasment, the concept of Islamic Revolution is probably dead.

Gaius? If this plays out the way i'm looking at it, Boy Bashir is over, and the Russians are gonna get bumrushed by our swarthy, mustache armed UN school marm. W: "Look, we're gonna help the Jews kick those ******** square into ***** Street (now go call Sullivan so he can couch his anti-'whatever the ****' crap). You wanna keep them Pali guys alive? Tell the Ceder bastards to start shooting Hezbollah. Tell the Arabs to admit it: "Palistinian" equals "*" and not one Arab gov will claim them as kindred souls.

(TC – Please tone down the language – my underage kids read this blog and the comments.)