Iraq; Bad as it has been

[xoxoxoBruce]

An article in Discover Magazine called "The Future of Terrorism" said; (emphasis mine)

In popular perception, suicide terrorists are desperate, uneducated naifs or psychotic dupes. Certainly that applies to some of those who have been caught so far. But the terrorists planning strategies for the future are probably far more astute than those disoriented few. "It's a Darwinian situation," says Hugh John Williams, a private consultant and a former member of British intelligence. "We catch the less smart ones, and the ones who get away learn from their less fortunate associates."

Psychiatrist Marc Sageman, a former CIA case officer who has worked closely with Afghanistan's mujahideen, recently completed what is perhaps the only scientific analysis of the social factors that help make a terrorist. Combing court transcripts and other documents, Sageman compiled a database of the motives and backgrounds of 500 jihadists and found that the average terrorist is middle-class, sane, well-informed, and educated. The typical occupation: engineer.

Jim Crupi, a military consultant, likens tomorrow's terrorist group to a Silicon Valley start-up: "value driven, networked, global in scope, and targeted to a niche."

My God, engineers?...unemcumbered by MBAs! We're in trouble.