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 Post subject: Its a good thing there aren't any terrorist attacks going on
PostPosted: Thu 02-15-2007 10:58AM 
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PostPosted: Thu 02-15-2007 12:16PM 
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How are those not act of terrorism?

I can almost understand the attempt of quell any panic by not labeling the events terrorism, but all of the claims by homeland security of stopping all potential terrorist activities are what's irking me.

Our government is stupid because it thinks most of the population is stupid. The sad think is, there are just enough stupid people in the population to make it work.

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PostPosted: Thu 02-15-2007 12:40PM 
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As the old saying goes(something like)...

The population IS stupid, even if the individuals it is made up of are not.

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PostPosted: Thu 02-15-2007 12:45PM 
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And even though said rampage was stopped by an off-duty cop carrying a handgun, there are still public policy think tanks putting out drivel like this: http://www.nicedoggie.net/2007/?p=158 (talking about: http://www.ispu.us/pages/articles/2914/ ... ailPB.html)
(Warning, blood pressure may rise accompanied by a sudden desire to clean the guns)

Oh, and attacks on Israel are usually carried out by "militants" not "terrorists"

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PostPosted: Thu 02-15-2007 6:11PM 
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From the Seattle incident:
seattlepi wrote:
"There's nothing to indicate that it's terrorism-related," Gomez said. "But we're monitoring the entire situation."


From the LAX incident:
CNN.com wrote:
Los Angeles Mayor James Hahn added: "It appears this was an isolated incident." A Bush administration source concurred with that statement, adding that nothing suggested it was anything other than a criminal act.

Israeli officials view the incident differently.

"Though there is no clear-cut evidence that this gunman is related to a terror organization, it's the most logical assumption that when someone opens fire on an El Al counter in an international airport, most likely this is a terror attack," said Ephraim Sneh, Israeli transportation minister.


From the Salt Lake Incident:
sweetness-light.com wrote:
Meanwhile, the FBI said Wednesday it has no reason to believe the shooting spree that killed five people in a shopping mall was an act of Islamic terrorism, leaving a young Bosnian immigrant’s motives a mystery.


The reason I included the quote from the Israeli Transportation Minister was to show that the authorities were right to ASSUME the acts were terrorist related (to be on the safe side), and then to rule them out only after thorough investigation.
It might just be me, but I agree with the authorities that these are not the acts of terrorists. Here is my reasoning: while it might seem fit to call anyone who instills fear/terror in a populace a terrorist, this just doesn't fit the definition. A terrorist HAS to have ties to a network of like minded people who are attempting to use fear as a tool to influence the (foreign/public) policy of a government(s). Otherwise the person is just a criminal. Think about it, the Bosnian kid, DC sniper, LAX dude, Seattle dude, they were not a part of a larger network (I'm not declaring this as an absolute fact, as some of these investigations are ongoing) trying to influence U.S. (foreign/public) policy. They were just nuts. I'm serious, thats what they all have in common besides being Muslim. Just being Muslim doesn't make you a terrorist, even being Muslim and crazy doesn't do it. The Bosnian kid was all fucked up mentally due to what he witnessed as a child. The others, probably their wives left them or they were just loners their whole lives and did a decent job of hiding the fact that they had mental problems until the very end. Muslim and crazy, but not terrorists. End of story.


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PostPosted: Thu 02-15-2007 6:53PM 
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One lone individual can be a terrorist. It just matters what their goals are.


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PostPosted: Thu 02-15-2007 7:58PM 
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After that individual is killed/captured, then what? People do not continue to live in fear. Being shot by a random crazy person doesn't occupy most people's thoughts. It just isn't on the same level as terrorism. Let me clarify my previous poest a little. I don't think it makes sense to call every criminal who scares people a terrorist. I think that leads to the government declaring anyone they don't like as a terrorist. This in turn leads to them asking for more power to fight terrorism, which leads to bullshit errosion of our rights. That is why I use a stricter definition for terrorism. Scareing people just doesn't do it. A lot of criminals are scary to some degree. Doesn't make them terrorists.


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PostPosted: Thu 02-15-2007 8:13PM 
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While I obviously have next to no empirical evidence with which to back this up, there is another possibility. You say that to be called terrorism one must have ties to a network. Fair enough, and for the same reasons you cited. However, there is also the possibility that said people are influenced by 'radical clerics,' or jihadi websites. Of course, this is in the same realm of the folks complaining about the GM superbowl ad about the robot committing suicide may influence folk to suicide. It may help, but it didn't necessarily cause it. Just another idea that may or may not have some merit.

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PostPosted: Thu 02-15-2007 8:27PM 
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Yeah, that situation escaped me. Similar to copycat criminals not taking direct orders. Not sure how courts would deal with the type of issue you have described. I'm sure there are a few other special cases as well.


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PostPosted: Fri 02-16-2007 12:11AM 
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I can't speak for the rest of the acts mentioned in the blog, but I do know that in DC news they were calling the DC Sniper a terrorist, and they even commented on how it was some lone gun man nut.

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