Most Terrorists Are Nitwits, Ctd

Andrew Exum sizes up Daniel Byman and Christine Fair's argument:

I think the ineptitudeis just one side of a wider trend. Keeping the argument to Britain fornow; before 9/11, to become an extremist, you had to be fairlycommitted. There was none of the reflected glamour of being associatedwith people capable of scaring polite society. In those days,extremists were overzealous, a bit nerdy, waay too into religion andgenerally uncool. As Chris and Daniel's example of 9/11 lead attackerMohammed...