A Victory for the Civilized

If I had the time, I could write as much as Austin Bay. Maybe not as well, but surely as much.

Like so many other Al Qaeda big-shots, Hambali put up minimal resistance when the CIA and Thai police nabbed him in Bangkok, Thailand. He wore a t-shirt and shorts. Life on the lam required other sacrifices. He'd also shaved his jihadi beard. Now he's chatting up interrogators about JI's plans for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Bangkok October 20-21, which President George W. Bush will attend. JI targeted two hotels for bomb attacks.

Could Hambali be lying? Sure, but bet what he says dovetails with other intelligence.

There's another reason he's talking -- in his gut he's a peculiar kind of coward. I'm constantly struck by the discrepancy between top-dog terrorists' fight-to-the-death bombast and their growing record of surrender. The round-faced Hambali went with a sigh, not suicidal grenades. Osama bin Laden-inspired terrorists claim to fight their war to redeem cosmic iniquity. The meek Hambali-in-shorts was almost comic, except the little thug is so heinously soaked in blood there is no humor, only bitter justice.

A Victory For the Civilized - On Point Commentary by Austin Bay  StrategyPage.com