Why is the terror threat level so high?

[montanadave]

Gimme a break. Those Roman Catholics are a bunch of heretics! Ask any Orthodox. Filioque, indeed!

And let's not even get started on the Protestants.

[mr_smiles]

I do not understand why some many people have their head in the sand about muslims. The fact is that recent immigrants from other backgrounds are NOT a domestic terror thread, but [some] recent immigrants from muslim countries are. To reduce that threat what should we do? Place our heads in the sand and say, "Well, they are not all terrorists"? Or stop it at the source.

If one day per year, drinking tap water at my house makes me violently ill, guess when I will drink tap water at my house in the future: NEVER.

Keep the muslims out. Period.

Because I'm far more likely to be killed by a young black male than any Muslim from a middle eastern country. I'm even more likely to be killed by some dumb ass white guy who decided to go to the bar and drive home after a fight with his wife.

So yeah I'm sure some Muslims have an agenda of terror, but since that number isn't even statistically significant in comparison to other dangers I choose to give two shits I'm more likely to die from eating a bad green onion than to have some crazy jackass from any religion kill me.

This goes back to things like dirty bombs etc that we've discussed on this forum, yes the possibility is there but is it really worth living in fear over? If a terrorist wants to smuggle a nuke in to this country I'm sure they could find a ton of kitty litter and we would know none the better when you consider a little over all 5% of containers a are checked, they're have a 1/20 chance of being caught even if they don't hide it.

So why should we give care what the terror alert is at? It's really a joke, it serves no real security purpose. Can we predict murder yet? We can't predict terrorism either, we might see elevated "chatter" but that's not an accurate way to measure risk.

ETA: According to the NHTSA alcohol related deaths are over 500,000 since 2001 in this country. But let's keep an eye out for OBL to make sure he's not hiding in Wyoming while hundreds of families are killed weekly by drunks. We're a nation of rational people.

[Suwannee Tim]

One of the reasons we do not see domestic terrorism is that the Jihadis are occupied in Afghanistan and Iraq. I suspect another reason is that the time for attacks in the US has not presented itself. There is evidence of Jihadis learning to pass themselves off as Hispanics and infiltrating the country. What are they waiting for? The order, given at the right moment. Which will be, I think, the day after we attack Iran.

[SteyrAUG]

Sounds vaguely familiar to the arguments made against J.F.K.'s Catholicism fifty years ago.

And now we have six Roman Catholic justices serving on the Supreme Court (and two Jewish justices) with the sole Protestant justice nearing retirement.

Frankly, religious fundamentalism, regardless of sect, is incompatible with the U.S. Constitution. Fortunately, most folks who adhere to one faith or the other are not zealots and when the tenets of their faith run headlong into making a buck and getting ahead in this world, religion takes the backseat.

Except that it isn't.

You can be Catholic and not live in a theocracy. You can even be Christian fundamentalist, and in both cases you can be an American first.

The problem is that a secular version of Islam really doesn't exist. Probably the closest thing to a secular Muslim country was Iraq and we managed to **** that up.

[mr_smiles]

Except that it isn't.

You can be Catholic and not live in a theocracy. You can even be Christian fundamentalist, and in both cases you can be an American first.

The problem is that a secular version of Islam really doesn't exist. Probably the closest thing to a secular Muslim country was Iraq and we managed to **** that up.

Hmm, I know some Christians who would surely disagree with you. And I not talking about the crazy god hates fags people.

Also what about the LDS members in places such as Utah who routinely violate rights of other because they believe their religious beliefs trump the laws of this country. Or the Jewish Zionist scattered around the country, or the far right Christian fundamentalist who believe in a white nation.

Surely they can be good citizens and have their way with out damaging this country.

This country is full of jackasses who would love nothing more than to destroy it and force others to live by their ways.

[SteyrAUG]

Also what about the LDS members in places such as Utah who routinely violate rights of other because they believe their religious beliefs trump the laws of this country. Or the Jewish Zionist scattered around the country, or the far right Christian fundamentalist who believe in a white nation.

They exist in such small numbers as to almost be an anomaly, especially when compared to Muslims who would introduce Sharia law at the first possible moment, believe in concepts such as Jihad and give at least tacit support to terrorism in the name of Islam.

And it isn't fringe groups. CAIR (Council on American Islamic Relations) is probably the largest Islamic group in the US and tasked with putting a good faith on Islam. And yet they have a track record of support for terrorism on par with any White Supremacist group.

http://ztruth.typepad.com/ztruth/201...errorists.html

http://www.americansagainsthate.org/cw/

http://michellemalkin.com/2007/08/09...e-terror-ties/

[Belmont31R]

That whole terror alert level thing is so stupid.



As pointed out we have tens of thousands of Americans every year who die from acts committed by others. I am still mad about 9/11 as much as anyone else, and even joined the mil as part my reasoning being I wanted to do something about it other than sit at home. Yet if you look at the stats logically there are a lot bigger threats to our safety than AQ.


In fact I think we need a politician alert system. Anytime they try to pass stupid shit that violates the Constitution people get alerted. Im much more worried about the asshat politicians like that douche from IL I think it was saying he didn't care about the constitutionality of laws he was voting on. Having lived in CA and TX the majority of my life Im much more worried about the constant influx of illegals turning our souther states in little Mexico with the lower standard of living, crime, use of resources, ect.


The terror alert system was meant to keep the sheep scared of the goat ****ers half way around the world. Ive never met a single person who pays any attention to it or could even tell you regularly what the current threat level supposedly is anyways.

[SteyrAUG]

That whole terror alert level thing is so stupid.



As pointed out we have tens of thousands of Americans every year who die from acts committed by others. I am still mad about 9/11 as much as anyone else, and even joined the mil as part my reasoning being I wanted to do something about it other than sit at home. Yet if you look at the stats logically there are a lot bigger threats to our safety than AQ.


In fact I think we need a politician alert system. Anytime they try to pass stupid shit that violates the Constitution people get alerted. Im much more worried about the asshat politicians like that douche from IL I think it was saying he didn't care about the constitutionality of laws he was voting on. Having lived in CA and TX the majority of my life Im much more worried about the constant influx of illegals turning our souther states in little Mexico with the lower standard of living, crime, use of resources, ect.


The terror alert system was meant to keep the sheep scared of the goat ****ers half way around the world. Ive never met a single person who pays any attention to it or could even tell you regularly what the current threat level supposedly is anyways.

100%

Rather than give us constructive solutions DHS gives us color alerts. It's Orange outside...so what....I need an umbrella?

[montanadave]

The problem is that a secular version of Islam really doesn't exist. Probably the closest thing to a secular Muslim country was Iraq and we managed to **** that up.

Indonesia, the fourth most populous country in the world, doesn't count?

Turkey, member of NATO and the G-20, with a population of 75 million doesn't appear on the radar?

These two countries alone, both secular democratic constitutional republics, represent almost a third of the world muslim population. Have they both had problems with Islamic fundamentalists? Sure. Have these minority movements brought down the government? No.

While Iraq (and Iran under the Shah) might have projected a secular appearance to the world, they were both totalitarian regimes run be dictators who, for better or for worse, assumed and retained their positions of power through the influence of external governments motivated by political and economic factors. First and foremost amongst those external governments was the good ol' U.S. of A. And it was the atmosphere of repression under Saddam Hussein and the Shah that created the conditions which allowed the Islamic fundamentalists to rise to power.

Hopefully, we are witnessing the birth of another democratic constitutional republic in Egypt. There are precedents in the world.

[SteyrAUG]

Indonesia, the fourth most populous country in the world, doesn't count?

Turkey, member of NATO and the G-20, with a population of 75 million doesn't appear on the radar?

These two countries alone, both secular democratic constitutional republics, represent almost a third of the world muslim population. Have they both had problems with Islamic fundamentalists? Sure. Have these minority movements brought down the government? No.

While Iraq (and Iran under the Shah) might have projected a secular appearance to the world, they were both totalitarian regimes run be dictators who, for better or for worse, assumed and retained their positions of power through the influence of external governments motivated by political and economic factors. First and foremost amongst those external governments was the good ol' U.S. of A. And it was the atmosphere of repression under Saddam Hussein and the Shah that created the conditions which allowed the Islamic fundamentalists to rise to power.

Hopefully, we are witnessing the birth of another democratic constitutional republic in Egypt. There are precedents in the world.

Well we'll start with Indonesia. While it is a far cry from say Saudi, and mostly due to previous cultural influences such as Buddhism, Indonesia still has more than a few problems with terrorism and this is a direct result of the practitioners of Islam. And it is more than just a handful of bad apples like abortion clinic bombers in the US. And more importantly, true to the nature of Islam - many followers have repeatedly tried to establish and Islamic state.

And while they have yet to adopt Sharia law, Indonesia is hardly a democratic state free from religious laws and many aspects of Sharia are accepted as a social convention. This is the same risk that Muslims pose to any free state.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/27/wo...ia/27indo.html

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-11883781

Onto Turkey, pretty much the same problems only without the previous benevolent influences of things like Buddhism.

Turkey is an Islamic Republic and many Islamic laws are the law of the land. The government gives the appearance of secularism but the reality of things like all schools being religious in nature proves otherwise.

And you touched on something without grasping the significance of it. When you have a Muslim country without an Islamic government, it is almost always replaced by a brutal, all powerful dictator. This is a result of the culture of the middle east where they have never known true freedom and democracies are viewed as weakness. When the Persians were defeated by the Greeks, they didn't even have a word for "free citizen" as all people were subjects. So you will always have one or the other, it is a cultural thing.

And far from being on the brink of becoming another free democracy, the protesters in Egypt are actually agents of the Muslim Brotherhood much as the Vietnam anti war movement actually had it's roots in Hanoi. If anything it is at great risk of becoming yet another Islamic theocracy.