Old Ruses, New Barbarians

"The most famous story of the Western world, the prototype of all tales of human conflict, Barbara Tuchman writes in "The March of Folly," is the Wooden Horse.

Despite repeated warnings, the Trojans relaxed their guard and let their fortress be breached.

After the Trojans feasted and fell asleep, the hidden Greeks emerged. "Mad with murder," Homer wrote, they wielded their swords and hacked men and women to "the last thrust."

The moral: Invaders can also win by cunning, deception and their adversaries' complacency and trust.

We are chilled as we learn more about how the Middle East terrorists mad with murder breached our walls and lived brazenly among us for years, mocking our hospitality, exploiting our freedoms. Training at our flight schools and at Gold's Gym; casing Logan Airport; loudly warning that "America's going to see bloodshed" while spending up to $300 apiece on lap dances and drinks at a Daytona Beach strip club, where they left behind a copy of the Koran.

Last spring, when the president was letting Dick Cheney run the country, he also put him in charge of coordinating a domestic response to terrorism, saying that the threat of biological, chemical or nuclear weapons was "very real" but "not immediate." No one ever heard about that group again.

On "Meet the Press" Sunday, the vice president conceded that the unspeakable air attack had caught the government by surprise, even though "there had been information coming in that a big operation was planned."

It's hard to know why our government was so clueless.

The tactics of warriors in the mountains of the treacherous Khyber Pass, where we may soon send American troops to war, no longer include such medieval barbarities as cannibalism and giving the breasts of captured virgins to senior Mongol commanders.

But the guileful guerrilla methods of Central Asian warriors have stayed the same since the 13th century. Consider this description by Peter Hopkirk in "The Great Game": "The sheer speed of their horse- borne archers, and the brilliance and unfamiliarity of their tactics, caught army after army off balance. Old ruses, long used in tribal warfare, enabled them to rout greatly superior numbers at negligible loss to themselves. Time and again their feigned flight from the battlefield lured seasoned commanders to their doom."

Why were we so blind? Osama bin Laden recently made threats in the London press. Islamic zealots have repeatedly shown their willingness to get to heaven — a heaven where 70 virgins await each "martyr" — by committing homicide even as they committed suicide. They already tried to topple the World Trade Center eight years earlier. Much of the Arab street abhors the United States. The kamikaze pilots during World War II showed how easy it is to turn a plane into a weapon. Middle East C.I.A. analysts, not even required to speak Arabic, should at least be expected to have as much imagination as Hollywood screenwriters..."

http://www.nytimes.com/2001/09/19/opinion/19DOWD.html

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NBTA Survey Reveals Future of Business Travel

In response to last week's tragedy, corporations and their corporate travel managers are speaking out about the future of business travel. In a focus group survey conducted by the National Business Travel Association (NBTA) today, corporate travel managers revealed the actions their corporations are taking in reaction to safety and economic concerns in the industry.

According to today's survey, the majority of corporations are not suspending travel in light of recent events. 77% have not suspended domestic travel and 66% have not suspended international travel.

NBTA's survey indicates that 58% of corporate travel managers say their companies will reduce travel, while 23% were unsure and 19% were not planning on reducing travel. Of those reducing travel, 65% are doing so immediately. However, comments received by NBTA indicated that some travel reduction initiatives are the result not of last week's terrorist attacks, but of previous cost-cutting measures.

Other survey results indicate that corporations are looking for alternatives to traditional business travel. For instance, of those surveyed:


* 88% Say They Will Increase the Use of Video Conferencing
* 65% Say They Will Increase the Use of Car Rentals on Short-haul Trips


``Corporations are being realistic about their need to travel,'' concluded McInerney. ``There is definitely more caution out there, but travel remains an essential part of doing business in the United States.''

Comments from survey respondents reinforce McInerney's assertion:

* "Employees have been advised to use good business judgment in making
travel plans."
* "We won't be putting our travelers at risk, but we will need to get the
job done."
* "We must get back to the business at hand ... if we don't, they win!"

http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/010919/dcw028_1.html

[This message has been edited by doc (edited 09-19-2001).]