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Comment by honestoHeminway | Hacker News Reader

Its partially what hollywood, games and news-media transport as terrorists image. The give them sort of a dark glamour, justifying the expensive military thrown at them. If they where depicting the screw ups- the prematurly exploding bombs, the wonky egos and stupid pride, the burning out flats destroying plans- the love-storys ruining suicidal bombers for the job. Al Quaida could make a comedy number, if it werent for the memorys of the hits outshadowing the many misses.

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For many years I was in the infantry and spent a lot of time overseas in places fighting terrorists. "Fighting terrorists". We did occasionally fight, don't get me wrong, but I'd say 80% of the stuff that happened was just funny and the furthest thing from dangerous you could imagine. Just one example: One day, we received an intsum that told the story of how terrorists had finally been able to get a US visa for one of their people, a camel farmer in the far south of Iraq. The problem was that he was too much of a bedouin: He could not figure out how to operate calling cards to receive his instructions and they couldn't get his plane tickets to him. He had become marooned at the airport in Baghdad, where he was apprehended. And you want terrifying? The intelligence capabilities of the Five Eyes is what's terrifying. They had been involved with this story from the beginning. Snowden's revelations merely hint at the power of the Five Eyes, but if you knew half of the capabilities on display in a warzone, you'd shit your pants. That's truly the terrifying stuff.

>They had been involved with this story from the beginning.

Which story are you referring to, the camel farmer getting a visa?

>if you knew half of the capabilities on display in a warzone, you'd shit your pants

Please, do tell!

There is a fantastic British film along those lines:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1341167/

Recommend Four Lions as well - perhaps one of the few pieces of really cutting satire I've seen on the subject.

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