Where ISIS comes from would have been a more interesting angle. http://www.newsweek.com/how-syrias-assad-helped-forge-isis-255631
So did Assad also release the ISIS leadership in Libya from jail? Did he release the Taliban and Boko Haram from jail?
there's a funny correlation between extremist movements and rapacious torture. This topic is about ISIS so I have kept it there. But of note on A-Q (also mentioned prominently in the article) is the fact that Ayman al-Zawahiri spent much time being tortured in an Egyptian jail. It would seem to suggest that the current "war on terror" may actually be making the situation worse.
So you are saying that the terrorists are just reacting to mistreatment, thereby absolving them from some of their responsibility?
I am saying there are a few things we as voters and participants in an active democracy CAN control, and that we are beholden to ourselves to question and stop policies designed to fail: foreign aid for torturous regimes, policies on torture, surveillance, and civil liberties that make us weaker, not stronger, and a flippant trigger for wars that create more enemies than they kill. Of course, underlying this sentiment is the need to guard against the creeping danger of "might makes right" in civil institutions in supposedly "civilized" lands. All of this ties back to my original point: where ISIS comes from isn't an isolated madrasa hidden away in isolation. It is complicated by the particularities of power, and the punishment that needs to be accorded to maintain it. To me that would have been a much more interesting angle than this one because it would focus more on solutions that haven't been tried rather than prescriptions that have.
Found this article while on vacation. Wish that someone with a better reputation had posted it, because a lot of people will probably ignore it due to the OP, but I urge everyone to read it in full. Very important stuff and great work by the author.
You asked a boring and predictable question that had nothing to do with my original point. You focused on attributing blame rather than contributing solutions. Of course I didn't answer your question. I clarified my position because your question led me to believe you didn't understand what I was arguing (so you are saying?---no I am not)--so I sought to make very clear what my point was. You haven't responded to any of my points.
You still haven't answered a very simple question. Stop being evasive and admit you are taking the terrorists' side to a degree. YOU were the one assigning blame - as always, away from the terrorists.
LOL It's come to this. how droll. Nothing justifies reprehensible violence, especially systematic state-sanctioned violence. This same principle should be applied even more to "civilized" nations than bands of rogues, terrorists, whatever you want to call people the state is currently warring against: extremist Muslims, or cyber-democracy activists alike. AGAIN, NOTHING JUSTIFIES BRUTAL, DISPROPORTIONATE VIOLENCE. whether it is committed against a "terrorist". whether it is committed by a "terrorist". ISIS, A-Q and all of those groups committing violence rather than thinking of non-violent solutions are reprehensible. So is the Assad regime. So are a lot of governments who condone, aid, and support torturers. Now answer my points.
So you are saying that terrorists and those who fight against terrorists are morally equal? Let me ask you something: If a key figure of the Nazi regime who had proprietary information, which to find out would have saved millions of lives, was fake tortured (e.g. waterboarded) and thereby millions of lives would be saved - would you still be sitting on your high horse and saying those who got the information and the Nazi are morally equal? I'm not advocating torture. I am just pointing out that from your mom's basement somewhere in Canada, it's easy to play holier-than-thou.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p><a class="hashtag" action="hash" title="#Iraq">#Iraq</a> | New <a class="hashtag" action="hash" title="#IS">#IS</a> video shows 21 peshmerga hostages with IS fighters some of them Kurds in <a class="hashtag" action="hash" title="#Kirkuk">#Kirkuk</a>. <a href="http://t.co/PbVPhyokHa" title="http://twitter.com/zaidbenjamin/status/569279894833774592/photo/1" data-extended="["http://pbs.twimg.com/media/B-Z9Bn6CQAA7Hw8.png","http://pbs.twimg.com/media/B-Z9CXDCAAAelnQ.png","http://pbs.twimg.com/media/B-Z9DAZCYAA337r.png","http://pbs.twimg.com/media/B-Z9CNhCUAAMwEB.png"]">pic.twitter.com/PbVPhyokHa</a></p>— Zaid Benjamin (@zaidbenjamin) <a href="https://twitter.com/zaidbenjamin/status/569279894833774592" data-datetime="2015-02-21T23:37:58+00:00">February 21, 2015</a></blockquote> <script src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
The word you're looking for is equivalent, and no, I think states should be held to higher standards than groups of rogues. I'm not even going to address your story because it's deliberately constructed to be ridiculous and it's flawed because it assumes torture would be the best way to obtain this information, something contested numerous times. I don't have to play holier-than-thou when others have already. Have you ever read Title 18 of the United States Code with regards to torture and war crimes? To get you back on topic: Thanks for proving me right. Now:
Stop quoting your own drivel. Your attempts to portray ISIS as a mere reaction to wrongdoings by others are transparent and laughable.
Frontline did a very good story on ISIS a while ago, check it out. Lots of good articles at the link as well. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/rise-of-isis/
Are they really a threat to civilization. Do you really think they are capable of accomplishing their goals against the modernized western world...
