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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Hawkmoon who wrote (134682)	5/28/2004 11:47:14 AM
From: cnyndwllr	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 281500

Knucklehead, dude?? And then Thanks for FINALLY concuring with my point (while trying to duck out of having to publicly admit it). Hawk, you're getting shriller and making less and less sense. Here are some things you may want to consider while you build your bomb shelter: First; almost every expert has said that terrorism is not dependent upon "state sponsorship." They feel, correctly, that as long as there is vast popular support for the concept of terrorist attacks and for the terrorists themselves among many of the populations of the world, there will continue to be major terrorist attacks irregardless of the non-support of their governments. Second; there is no threatening army of terrorists that is able to create the kind of terror that ... threatens to destroy our government, our economy, or our way of life.. Maybe you'd like to set out the methods you fear they'd follow to accomplish that ambitious goal? Educate those of us who don't fear they are massing on their side of the ocean and preparing to launch their ships and planes against us. Help us comprehend the full extent of the danger. Third; the "big terrorism" that you describe in your post requires organization, communication, large transfers of money and a clear chain of command. After our efforts following 9/11, those are things of the past, even though you state, And those kinds of movements require MASSIVE coordination and grass-roots support, in this case from Saudi derived oil money and Muslim charities financed by the Zakat. You need to get up to speed here. We can track those types of activities, we can find those kind of groups and we can stop them. That's why the Al Queda network has morphed into a shadowy, many headed network of loosely connected or unconnected cells that are united in their aims but which work virtually independently of each other. Fourth; those NON "big terrorist" cells are extremely dangerous and can kill thousands. They may, depending upon luck and the recruitment of those with access to technology or weaponry, be able to do catastrophic damage through the use of chemical, biological or dirty nuclear weapons, so don't feel too good about the interdictions of "big," highly organized and financed networks. Fifth; the more we use our military to suppress and punish the populations that feed the terrorists, the more we foster and feed terrorists. Terror is a tool of the weak against the strong. Terror is a tool of those who feel oppressed against the oppressor. Terror THRIVES under the threat of military force. Sixth; the terrorist have some pretty damn good arguments to support their "cause" and we're giving their supporter more and more legitimate reasons to support them all the time. Why do you think a large majority of the Arab world NOW supports the concept of 9/11 types of actions to change our policies in the Arab world when immediately after 9/11 they did not? Or are you so blindly "patriotic" that you don't even care? Seventh; we need to get out of the "attack Arab nations" mindset before we create hundreds of thousands of terrorists who rightly feel that we're messing with their religion, their national pride and their hive. Your "attack the nations that don't adequately fight terrorism" is the absolute wrong approach. You can't create love with a stick and a whip and these aren't trainable dogs, they're strong, intelligent and determined peoples. So don't underestimate the impact that DC sniper kinds of terrorists can have but don't overestimate the dangers of terrorism. It will continue to be a major problem but it won't "bring down" and overwhelm our government. The majority of us won't be Muslims anytime soon and the Muslims won't be wearing miniskirts and see through dresses anytime soon. Get used to it.