Comments on: How Network-Centric Warfare Failed: The Networks are Social, Not Electronic http://jstahl.org/archives/2007/12/03/how-network-centric-warfare-failed-the-networks-are-social-not-electronic/ Politics, the environment, technology, activism. And stuff. Fri, 19 Mar 2010 21:03:15 -0800 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Reinout van Rees http://jstahl.org/archives/2007/12/03/how-network-centric-warfare-failed-the-networks-are-social-not-electronic/comment-page-1/#comment-391581 Reinout van Rees Tue, 04 Dec 2007 10:42:01 +0000 http://blogs.onenw.org/jon/archives/2007/12/03/how-network-centric-warfare-failed-the-networks-are-social-not-electronic/#comment-391581 <p>I think you'll like the "global guerrillas" weblog at http://globalguerrillas.typepad.com/ where John Robb says somewhat similar things. He also compares the guerrilla's social system to open source, which I find pretty interesting to compare and contrast with my knowledge about open source.</p> <p>The terrorists in Iraq are out-innovating the USA army. Every innovative new way of blowing up stuff anywhere in the world finds its way via the social networks to the "terrorist in the street". The dead hedgehog in the street's gutter can contain a small anti-personel bomb.</p> <p>And don't underestimate the simple monitary reasons. People are making money by providing energy to a single city block with their generator. Is it in their interest if the Iraqi government restores the electrical grid? Sigh. And when there's massive unemployment, why not take a job placing roadside bombs? Simple bomb placement has a going rate of $100-$300 iirc. Osama can have a lot of fun: for 1 million $ you can keep the USA army busy for a couple of months (at 1000 million $ a day or so). Return on investment, anyone? Sigh.</p> <p>And it was such a nicely terrorist-free country before Saddam got bombed out. Saddam was a bastard, rightfully hanged, but it <em>was</em> one of the few terrorist-free and not-terrorist-funding countries in the neighbourhood... The irony.</p> I think you’ll like the “global guerrillas” weblog at http://globalguerrillas.typepad.com/ where John Robb says somewhat similar things. He also compares the guerrilla’s social system to open source, which I find pretty interesting to compare and contrast with my knowledge about open source.

The terrorists in Iraq are out-innovating the USA army. Every innovative new way of blowing up stuff anywhere in the world finds its way via the social networks to the “terrorist in the street”. The dead hedgehog in the street’s gutter can contain a small anti-personel bomb.

And don’t underestimate the simple monitary reasons. People are making money by providing energy to a single city block with their generator. Is it in their interest if the Iraqi government restores the electrical grid? Sigh. And when there’s massive unemployment, why not take a job placing roadside bombs? Simple bomb placement has a going rate of $100-$300 iirc. Osama can have a lot of fun: for 1 million $ you can keep the USA army busy for a couple of months (at 1000 million $ a day or so). Return on investment, anyone? Sigh.

And it was such a nicely terrorist-free country before Saddam got bombed out. Saddam was a bastard, rightfully hanged, but it was one of the few terrorist-free and not-terrorist-funding countries in the neighbourhood… The irony.

]]>