War – The Finch and Pea

I did not see this article until I had drafted, edited, and posted my piece on Airport Body Scanners. Included in that piece was a speculative note (note 2; read the notes people) about the disconnect between “our” definition of a successful attack and the definition of a “successful” attack by terror networks.

So much for speculation. It turns out that “our” definition is not “their” definition. In fact, Al Qaeda is using what we would call a failed “attack” as an example of a successful attack:

Al Qaeda’s choice of a demonstration was to use parcel bombs (called Operation Hemorrhage — a classic name for a systems disruption attack). These low cost parcel bombs, were inserted into the international air mail system to generate a security response by western governments. It worked. The global security response to this new threat was massive. –John Hood

Remember that Golden Era, when war was all about hacking bits off each other from high-five range? Well those days are gone. Stupid technology. Takes the fun out of everything. I was reminded of technology’s curse – the efficient maiming and killing of each other fro a distance, as opposed to the inefficient maiming and killing of each other with manual implements – by the most recent episode (“Drone”) of the excellent My History Can Beat Up Your Politics podcast. In the episode, Bruce Carlson discusses the history of armed unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and potential ramifications of their use.