Talk-Polywell.org

Rod Norland of the New York Times writes that in Baghdad the best police sources on the activities of the JAM and al-Qaeda are prostitutes.

One police detective said he would not dream of enforcing the law against prostitutes.

“They’re the best sources we have,” said the detective. “They know everything about JAM and al-Qaida members,” he said, referring to Jaish al-Mahdi or Mahdi Army, a Shiite militia.

The detective added that the only problem his men had was that neighbors got the wrong idea when detectives visited the houses where prostitutes were known to live. They really do just want to talk, he said.

As I’ve written many times before, it is a mistake to think that “Muslim” pirates in the Philippine South are to be found praying five times a day in the mosque. You are going to have better luck wherever ladies and liquor are in more abundant supply. Although there are doubtless men who are motivated primarily by religious texts, I think they are outnumbered by those who have found religion to be the perfect cover under which to advance simpler ambitions for power and worldly desire.

This rarely comes as a surprise to the police. But it often comes as a complete shock to academics who believe what they read. Having found a reference to a Quranic text in a terrorist screed, they find it impossible, on aesthetic grounds, to imagine that the line might have been inserted into the communique in a dimly lit nightclub, mostly as a joke on academics and media anchormen, rather than on a windswept, desert mountain top.

chrismb wrote:It's a good little piece.

However, is the message it contains for this forum simply that one would need to go explore Santa Fe's 'night life' service providers to find out the current status of Polywell?

rnebel wrote:I hate to disappoint you, but I'm afraid that physicists are a little more boring than terrorists. I don't know if Santa Fe even has a nightlife.... However, Santa Fe does love tourists and I'm sure they would love to entertain you. And if Santa Fe isn't exciting enough, you can always try Juarez.

ravingdave wrote: I wouldn't mind coming to Santa Fe as a tourist if I could tour EMC2 facilities. Any chance of that happening ?

rnebel wrote:And if Santa Fe isn't exciting enough, you can always try Juarez.

rnebel wrote:I hate to disappoint you, but I'm afraid that physicists are a little more boring than terrorists.

hanelyp wrote:If dying as a martyr in a strike against infidels guarantees entry to paradise, why would a terrorist be concerned about going to that other place for his sins? Why not live it up while waiting for the day of martyrdom?