You're looking at 'em. Hundreds of thousands of dots on your computer screen. But each has been given precise instructions that say what to do with that particular bit of space and whether to remain the same or change over time.Connection instructions are largely absent with the CIA's collection of raw data dots, usually ambiguous in information and only apparent once the patterns appear in the course of interpreting what both becomes, and more importantly requires, "intelligence."
We're told the logic of the anti-terrorist database is less sophisticated than that of Google's search engine, which can suggest alternate spellings... Important in a world which can't decide whether its most wanted sama's name starts with an O or a U.
Not every language's sounds translate well into those of modern English, or even the Roman alphabet... At first glimpse does the Irish name Siobhan make you say "shove-ON?"
Now imagine Middle Eastern languages with different alphabets, and without vowels... True of both Hebrew and Arabic.
If the letter T might be at, it, tea, to, too or two you need a way to tell which is which... And they do it with dots. Which doesn't always help, because the dots in sacred texts were added later because the system didn't exist when they were written.The Qur'an's motivating promise of 72 virgins for jihadists can be interpreted as being "attended by dark-eyed maidens" or "refreshed with grapes"... Which is more consistent with 7th Century hospitality in the region of Islam's origin.
So is their reward heavenly sex, or a nifty fruit platter?
It all depends on the dots.
NatGeo's Inside the Koran airs next on Jan 12 at 1p ET.
Earthquake, tsunami,
Yes — the not-so-bright, would-be terrorist from Nigeria got though international and domestic security mechanisms supposed to have stopped him long before the jerk lit his underwear afire before landing in Detroit. And yes — the incident happened during the administration of President Barack Obama. But the sniping at the president by Republicans, including former Vice President Cheney, and by conservative radio and TV commentators, borders on — if not passing into — asinine.
ReplyDeleteThe criticism has included such childishness as blasting Obama for waiting a few days before making a national speech on the incident. For heaven’s sake, the president was briefed on the incident from the moment it occured; he made statements almost immediately indicating his concern and that he was being regularly briefed; he took time to gather the facts and meet with his national security team; and then he appeared publicly to give a rational, measured, but hard-hitting response. And for this, a former vice president criticizes him.
Partisanship truly has pervasively infected our political system when a reasonable, measured, factual, timely and substantive response by a president to a single security incident — the roots of which clearly indicate long-simmering problems that predated his tenure in office — is publicly blasted as irresponsible. In point of fact, those levelling such counterproductive attacks are the ones engaging in irresponsible behavior.