As a boy, I used to box. I was a thin boy and faced much heavier and stronger opponents. I learned though that if I could get a good punch in early to my opponents nose that he would invariably lose his temper and flail away at me. I usually won those fights. My opponent had allowed his anger to blind him.
I see a pattern here between 911 and the events unfolding in Mumbai as I write these words.
The choice of targets are deeply symbolic and are designed to provoke the emotional immune system that reinforces the collective fears and prejudices of the host. It's an attack on the immune system.
The aim is to so provoke, by the selection of the target and by the manner of the attack, as to have the host lose all sense of proportion for its response. So like an auto immune disease, we then destroy ourselves by our over reaction.
The simmering distrust and hatred between Muslim and Hindu boils over. The selection of British and Americans keeps Obama from offering the hand of peace. The choice of targets ruins the Indian Tourism industry for an extended period.
This is the Art of War in action. They are using our own energy to destabilize our own world.
If the general is not victorious over his anger and sets them swarming like ants,
One third of his officers are killed
and the walled city not uprooted
This is the calamity of attack
Art of War Chapter 3 - The Denma Translation
Look at what 911 did along these lines. We have lost much of our liberties and the use of law itself. We have lost much of our moral compass. In waging war on a peacetime society, we have lost much of our economy. In giving up so much of our power to the executive, we have unbalanced the constitution.
The challenge is that democratic states like America or India are especially vulnerable. We can rely on some hot head to call for vengeance and the people to rush to agreement. It was the same in 1914 - Belgian Babies and later crucified Tommies - were stories that created the will to fight a total war.
Can the leaders see the risk of being manipulated and hold back from creating a storm of rage in India?
One hundred victories in one hundred battles
is not the most skillful
Subduing the other's military without battle is
the most skillful
I pray that wisdom supersedes mere reaction.
