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Saturday, November 29, 2008 12:00 AM

Guns and bombs in booming India

Amid calls for a fierce crackdown on "potential terrorists," Indians strive to define the Mumbai attackers as "the other."

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  • Saturday, November 29, 2008 06:42 PM

    Terrorist Strategy 101: Provoke Unjust Retaliation

    Dear advocates of violent retaliation against any and all Muslims: Congratulations. You're doing exactly what the terrorists want you to do.

    The architects of the attacks want to topple the current government and put in one more hateful, more violent, more repressive to the Muslim minority. Why? Because the more the Indian Muslims are repressed -- the less chance they have to be treated and viewed as equal partners in Indian life -- then the more likely they will be to rise up against the Hindu majority, and the more likely they will be to become radicalized.

    If this sounds familiar, it's because it's Osama bin Laden's strategy, as described by Doug Muder (writing as "Pericles" at the DailyKos.com website) in his famous essay "Terrorist Strategy 101: A Quiz". Muder explains that George W. Bush's massive and wrongheaded reaction to 9/11 made a lot of enemies for the US and a lot of allies for Bin Laden. Bush couldn't have helped Bin Laden any more if he'd actually been under his direct mental control.

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