Are We Spending Entirely Too Much Money on Counter-Terrorism?

I think pretty much everything we've done so far in the name of fighting terrorism, except for counter-intelligence operations, has been an enormous waste of time and resources.

 

actually, trumps stupid, ignorant and anti-muslim rhetoric will make us less safe from terrorism. his lack of diplomacy, insulting our allies and giving classified info to the russians will make our allies less likely to share info with us.

pre 9/11, everything was in place to stop it. the tools were already there. warnings were ignored over and over and over again. bush got the presidential daily briefing on 8/6/01 titled "bin laden determined to strike in u.s.", multiple hijackers were living with fbi informants, two different fbi field offices warned about suspicious guys taking flying lessons, about a dozen other governments, including russia, warned our government that an attack was imminent, the military was war-gaming that exact scenario, ect, ect. 9/11 should have been prevented.

the tsa, department of homeland security, patriot act - all resulted in the erosion of democracy and our civil liberties and the further bankrupting of our nation...in that respect the terrorists won.

we have "security theatre" - someone here even mentioned that all this crap makes them "feel" safer. its billions and billions and billions of dollars a year to "feel" safe. nevermind that the tsa was found recently to have a 95% FAILURE rate. they make us "feel" safe.

why dont we apply that same "if it could save just one life" standard to health care or gun control? everytime there is a mass shooting the republicans are up there at the behest of their NRA masters blocking any attempt at sensible gun control...there are tangible measures we could take there that would actually save lives, but "pro-life" republicans block it every time.

the republicans are so controlled by the NRA that they blocked a bill that would have prevented people on the f***ing terrorist watch list from buying guns.

we have a disproportionate fear in this country of being murdered by a muslim as opposed to a non-muslim.

 

I am probably not as conservative as most. In fact, I have never owned a gun but I follow and dispise both types of stories. Many conservatives don't see the need to yell and scream about every crazy story or even share their party affiliation. Take this board for example, I would guess that the conservatives outnumber the libs on clutchfans but you couldn't tell by looking at the D and D.

 

How mass shooting have there been in the month of May this year?

Spoiler

12 and counting.

US Mass Shootings

 

ISIS is a real existential threat for Iraq.
Al-Nusra Front is a real existential threat for Syria.
Various other terrorist organizations and Islamist movements are serious existential threats to other countries.

My solution would be to immediately pull all troops from Afghanistan,Pakistan, and Iraq (one of the biggest costs); discontinue all arms sales and give-aways to Salafi Arabia; refocus those troops against Russia and China; and continue to back Israel and Egypt.

As long as the Middle-East is a shithole (which it has been and will continue to be for a long time), groups like ISIS, Al-Qaeda, Al-Nusra, and the Taliban will thrive. Obama should never have gone back on his word once he pulled the troops out of Iraq. Those people have their problems - so let them deal with it.

 

So why doesn't the liberal dominated media pump these stories up? Because conservatives will ignore them?

 

The terrorism was not a big issue before the Iraq war, right? The money spending is not a major issue, it is a policy.

 

9/11 disagrees. Terrorism was a huge problem all over the world long before the Iraq war. We had embassy bombings, plane hijackings, etc all throughout the 80's and 90's, and the rest of world suffered much worse. We were just very sheltered and it had never really hit us here at home, so we pretended it wasn't a big deal.

 

I am sure that these stories are covered locally. If the MSM were truly liberal, they would be hammering these stories. The MSM is not liberal, just incompetent.

 

No, 9/11 agrees, why did terrorism attack Switzerland, China? Terrorism exists a long time ago, but USA was fine for a long time because of a good policy. We can not save everyone in the world. The American first should be the no. 1 thing to be considered all the time.

 

A correction: Why did terrorism not attack Switzerland , China?

 

Probably had more to do with proximity to Middle East than policy.

 

The USA wasn't fine for a long time because of policy - our embassies have been being bombed and our planes have being hijacked for decades. It was just a hell of a lot harder to actually do things here on the mainland. Modernization and globalization has made it much easier. You can now recruit fighters over the internet. You can now build a bomb out of a garage through instructions and materials purchased online - things you couldn't do 20 years ago.

As for China and Switzerland,

From December:

http://www.breitbart.com/london/2016/12/22/switzerland-guard-terror-jihadi-numbers-increase/


The Swiss intelligence community is increasing its alertness and its preparedness for future terror attacks as the number of known jihadis in the country grows.

http://foreignpolicy.com/2017/03/01/the-islamic-state-pledged-to-attack-china-next-heres-why/


From March:

The Islamic State Pledged to Attack China Next. Here’s Why.

...

“Oh, you Chinese who do not understand what people say. We are the soldiers of the Caliphate, and we will come to you to clarify to you with the tongues of our weapons, to shed blood like rivers and avenging the oppressed,” an Islamic State fighter said in the video



Simply put, the US the west are the ones that stand up to extremism and for human rights the most, so they are going to be the ones targeted the most and first. But the rest of the world isn't remotely immune to it. It's no different than our false sense of security pre-9/11. Just because something hasn't happened yet doesn't mean it's not in the works.

 

Thoughts and prayers are not an effective deterrent to gun violence.

 

Thoughts and prayers to those effected by the terrorism attack in Manchester.

 

i voted no, but i think that we need to beef up more in cybercrime far more

 

Really? How many American planes have been hijacked since, say, 1980?

I count . . . 7 domestic. Not counting all those Cubans we agitated since the Bay of Pigs lol. But that 7 does include the 4 planes of 9/11.

Oh hell let's throw in the 17 from Cuba!

That's 24 hijackings in 37 years. And last year there were over 9 million domestic flights. Let's just say since 1980 there were 3 million flights a year, not 9. . . . Out of 111,000,000 flights, 24 hijackings. Is this one of those things where you're more likely to be killed by your bathtub? Oh wait, most people don't even die from hijackings.

What are your numbers on the hijackings and embassy bombings?

 

This and the fact is we have so little ability to cover that many targets. It takes like 30+ people to cover one terrorist suspect in the US. These folks also don't make minimum wage. I think technology and investments in AI could really help shoulder some of the day to day operations of tracking people.

Folks that voted for Trump thinking the wall and the Muslim ban were the answer are truly ignorant of the real problems we face with terrorism. ISIS isn't driving tanks across the Mexico border... they are online and they further penetrate the minds of disenfranchised Americans more and more when idiots like Trump are elected with an agenda that feed the propaganda machine like a charm.

 

So, Trump is to blame?

 

Propaganda is to blame for online radicalization, and Trump is going to contribute to that yes. However its a positive that he has re-shaped his language to avoid further propagating himself.

However the "Blessed Ban" was celebrated by ISIS for a reason. The Wall would be a huge problem too if ever constructed. These are issues that Trump and his fans own as real issues that help propagate ISIS recruitment online. Ignorance to the problem also is part of the problem. The more we are educated on the real problem, the better we know how to fight it. Where the "Trump sin" is with terrorism is allowing his base to be ignorant as to real solutions to real problems. Instead their minds have been filled with dissent towards Muslims and Mexicans which has only made the problem worse.

Yes... Trump shoulders some blame here.