Posted on 08/31/2006 6:22:33 PM PDT by wittyone
THE MYTH OF THE OMNIPRESENT ENEMY
For the past five years, Americans have been regularly regaled with dire predictions of another major al Qaeda attack in the United States. In 2003, a group of 200 senior government officials and business executives, many of them specialists in security and terrorism, pronounced it likely that a terrorist strike more devastating than 9/11 -- possibly involving weapons of mass destruction -- would occur before the end of 2004. In May 2004, Attorney General John Ashcroft warned that al Qaeda could "hit hard" in the next few months and said that 90 percent of the arrangements for an attack on U.S. soil were complete. That fall, Newsweek reported that it was "practically an article of faith among counterterrorism officials" that al Qaeda would strike in the run-up to the November 2004 election. When that "October surprise" failed to materialize, the focus shifted: a taped encyclical from Osama bin Laden, it was said, demonstrated that he was too weak to attack before the election but was marshalling his resources to do so months after it.
….snip….
One reasonable explanation is that almost no terrorists exist in the United States and few have the means or the inclination to strike from abroad. But this explanation is rarely offered.
….big snip….
Although it remains heretical to say so, the evidence so far suggests that fears of the omnipotent terrorist …snip… may have been overblown, the threat presented within the United States by al Qaeda greatly exaggerated. The massive and expensive homeland security apparatus erected since 9/11 may be persecuting some, spying on many, inconveniencing most, and taxing all to defend the United States against an enemy that scarcely exists.
(Excerpt) Read more at foreignaffairs.org ...
"the evidence so far suggests that fears of the omnipotent terrorist …snip… may have been overblown, the threat presented within the United States by al Qaeda greatly exaggerated."
So what about the recent terror plot that was foiled? OK, that was from Britain but it involved planes flying to the US. I'm there were plenty of operatives in the US involved.
Had FDR taken out Adolph Hitler in 1936, he'd be remembered as a villain today and Hitler would be remembered as a martyr.
This Mueller guy is a noodle head. Yup, Islam just gave up and called it a day.
I guess Professor Mueller isn't concerned about the UK. They're just so far away...
Could you please learn to be more succinct? LOL
Thanks for posting the link on this thread. Downloaded it yesterday.
No, not according to the DNC Playbook.
Not that a single person other than me reading this thread is likely to do so, but I'd recommend people at least read the entire article before engaging the flamethrower or the barf-o-matic.
Well hell then. Let's bring back box cutters on planes and invite the public in to help the crew fly the plane. /s
He may be correct (unlikely), but the fact is that the stakes are so huge that even a small 20% probablility would be too much.
Al Queda attacks on the U.S. are highly exaggerated.....they only happen every few years.
However, DUmocrats (terrorist enablers and appeasers) attack the country on a daily basis and are a higher threat to the nation.
...he closes noting how so many more people die of other events more mundane than terrorism, and even an increase in terrorist activity would still mean a very small likelihood of anyone being actually killed by a terrorist. Obviously, he misses the point of what terrorism is altogether, simply put propaganda by deed with intent to cause fear (or terror, if you will). It isn't just that you die; the real effect of terrorists is that you DONT know when or where they will strike, and when they do, its in a very public forum. The effect of their act is not just to kill 3000 people; it's to frighten 300 million people. And in that sense, they have been effective. Last week, a number of planes were grounded because passengers were frightened by who another passenger might have been. It was enough that they were afraid; no one had to be killed for the terrorists even to cause a change in how people viewed the world.
So yeah--you probably stand a better chance of getting hit by a meteor or drowning in your bath tub. But do you fear either of those the same way you do when you get on a plane?
Read enough. He's too stupid to see that the things he complains about are keeping terrorist from striking. The plan to blow up airplanes is a good example of the value of wire taps in preventing more attacks.
A charming display of humility.
We need the picture of the guy with his head up his ass like Prof. Mueller/
"You may not be interested in war, but war is interested in you." - Trotsky
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