These days EVERYONE’S a critic:
For two decades until his capture in 1994, Carlos the Jackal murdered, bombed and kidnapped his way to infamy, retaining the title of world’s most dangerous terrorist before Osama Bin Laden stole his crown.
But speaking from the Clair-vaux prison in northeast France last week he berated terrorist cells said to have targeted Britain, criticising them for plotting to kill ordinary people.
And there you have a fundamental difference, which doesn’t make Carlos any more lovable (keep reading the interview with him). In the bad “old days,” terrorists targeted individuals or large groups of individuals for their carnage. The symbolism of the people who were killed (and often where) was what was important.
Today, in terms of tactics, Al Qaeda’s big goal is to drive up the body count wherever possible, no matter who is in its path (it’s political goals are more complex). Just as in the case of Hollywood’s movies and TV shows, success is judged by the numbers, although target symbolism is vital too. That’s why terrorism experts are concerned about Al Qaeda’s next terrorist attack on U.S. soil: most assuredly Osama bin Laden would want it to surpass 911 in terms of body count, immediate destruction and U.S. infrastructure destruction.
But, as this Sunday Times piece shows, Carlos is unimpressed with Osama:
In his first telephone interview with a newspaper, the Venezue-lan-born Vladimir Ilich Ramirez Sanchez, 57, said he was saddened by any loss of life in London, where he lived as a young man. He also attacked what he called a lack of professionalism in some cells linked to Al-Qaeda.
Sanchez is serving a life sentence for three murders in Paris in 1975. He will go on trial again in January over four bomb attacks in France in 1982 and 1983 that killed 12 people and wounded more than 100.
Sanchez, who is now overweight and diabetic, showed no remorse, laughing when asked about the number of his victims.
“I’m not a sadist or a maso-chist – I don’t enjoy the suffering of others,†he claimed in a thick Latin American accent. “When we had to eliminate them it was in a cold, simple way with the least pain possible.â€
And bin Laden & Co?
He condemned Al-Qaeda followers without specific targets, saying: “They are not professionals. They’re not organised. They don’t even know how to make proper explosives or proper detonators.â€
And his view about his victims?
“I don’t know how many I’ve killed . . . I’ve been fighting since I was 14. Fighting, fighting. Do you know how many people got killed in these fights?â€
The French say the number was 83 but he said: “I couldn’t count. Less than 100 anyway.†And what had those deaths achieved? “Our example has been followed, not only by communists but even by jihadists.â€
Read the entire piece. He says the Guardian was his favorite newspaper (but it’s unlikely any newspaper will allow hire him as a featured terrorism attack critic).
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.