Posted on 09/14/2007 4:42:15 AM PDT by gridlock
Six years after 9/11, all too many Americans still have only a vague idea of what does -- and doesn't -- motivate terrorists. It doesn't help that many politicians exploit the anxiety that terrorism evokes to promote their own agendas. Here are five key urban legends:
1. Terrorism is a random act carried out by irrational people who hate our way of life.
(snip)
2. Terrorists are no different than ordinary criminals.
(snip)
3. Terrorists are likely to cross into the United States from Mexico.
(snip)
4. Terrorism is mainly perpetrated by Muslims.
(snip)
5. Terrorism never succeeds.
(snip)
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
It's just a coincidence that 90 percent of them are named Muhammad.
Of course, the terrorists are not necessarily irrational. In fact, they can be downright cynical. But that does not mean they are not motivated by hatred of our way of life.
I hate weeds in my garden, but that does not mean I am irrational to the point that I go after my tomato plants with a flamethrower. It is a false argument to link irrationality to hatred. If the terrorists were irrational, it would be much better for us, because they would be much less effective.
Again, Krueger sets up an argument that nobody makes, then rebuts it by saying that terrorists are better educated than their common-criminal bretheren and motivated by different things.
Well, DUH!
It takes an academic to look at a man holding a bomb and think that the single most important thing about him is whether or not he has completed the requisite course-hours to get his Bachelor's Degree in International Relations. Only intellectuals can be this stupid.
Here, Krueger takes a swipe at know-nothing nativists who want to close the Mexican border out of some misguided notion that border security and national security are somehow linked. You know the type...
Krueger contends that the greater threat comes from the Canadian border, so we should just leave the Mexican Border unsecured. He fails to understand the First Rule of Fences, which states that as soon as you strengthen a fence at the weakest point, someplace else becomes the new weakest point.
How 'bout this idea, hotshot? Suppose we secure both borders!
This guy is a prof at Princeton???
You really have to be an academic (or a journalist, or liberal politician) to be this stupid!!
Idiots always raise the examples of Sri Lanka, Colombia, fringe European groups, and Timothy McVeigh to try to claim that the focus on Islamo-fascist terrorists is overblown..... but Sri Lanka and Colombia (which he didn’t happen to mention this time) are irrelevant to the prospects for mass terrorism in US or European cities, which is what we are primarily concerned about when debating terrorism issues. As for the recent plot in Germany, apparently the idiot doesn’t know that the plotters were not merely “homegrown” without reference to ISLAM. As for OKC, well there’s a great deal to be said about that, but the Clintonista line that it somehow proves that “right wing” domestic terrorism is a huge threat is simply preposterous.
It’s truly incredible that Princeton can tenure someone this insipid and careless and ignorant. Liberals are so desperate to deflect attention from Islamo-fascist terrorism because it does not fit their own agenda and talking points.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
.
Krueger really starts waving his hands quickly at this point.
First Krueger ignores every terrorist attack carried out by Muslims for the last twenty years. Then points out every terrorist event that has been perpetrated by a non-Muslim. This would be a valid argument if somebody were to say that all terrorism is perpetrated by Muslims. Of course, nobody makes that argument, which makes this line of reasoning pretty irrelevant.
But they he wanders farther afield as he points out that many terrorist acts are carried out by local, home grown terrorists concerned with local matters. As an example of this type, he cites the planned attacks of last week by indigenous Muslims in Germany.
Umm... what was the point he was trying to prove, again? I forget!
More trash from the Washington Post. At least that is one thing we can unite upon.
Here Krueger cites a "myth" than nobody, anywhere, believes.
Of course terrorism can succeed. If it never succeeded, we would not have to worry about it, would we?
It is the very fact that they often succeed that demands our attention. Mr. Krueger may look at the fact that terrorists sometime succeed and choose to spend his time picking out new artwork for his Living Room walls to be hung after the Caliphate bans all Western forms. The rest of us look at that fact and are motivated to stamp out these buggers before they can get any further.
Globalist mouthpiece traitorous satanic idiots.
Yeah, we out here in the vast wasteland are just dumber than fence posts. Not
That is a MYTH!
Krueger is an Internationalist, not a Globalist!
(In all other respects, your statement is true...)
So . . .
What’s the meaningful difference between
INTERNATIONALIST VS GLOBALIST?
Or was your post missing a /sar tag?
I forgot the First Rule! Never, never forget the < /sarc> tag!
Right. People blow themselves up over "geopolitical grievances".
After all, it was not long ago that homegrown villains such as Timothy McVeigh and the so-called Unabomber were the most notorious terrorists.
Right again. Two out of two million certainly prove this point.
I believe that this is a false argument.
Totalitarian regimes are far more likely to have very tight security. Totalitarian regimes spend a great deal more of their national resources on monitoring dissident groups. Totalitarian regimes are far more likely to strike forcefully against a terrorist threat.
Liberal Democracies are soft inviting targets and are a greater threat to Muslim terrorist ideology.
As far as the current Muslim terrorist threat is concerned; they do not have seem any grievance against Totalitarian regimes (with the possible exception of Saudi Arabia).
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