What is the point of a car bomb in London?

So you went to Cuba and didn't think of giving me a 'heads up'? b*stard!

 

I don't think anyone in western society outside of Israel is desensitized to bombings designed to inflict random casualties.

There's an interesting series of BBC documentaries by Adam Curtis called "The Power of Nightmares" that goes into the parallels between neoconservatism and fanatical political Islam. I agree with its claim that Al Qaeda is more of an idea/banner than a true criminal organization.

I think it's on Google video.

 

pretty good cnn documentary about British muslims
http://www.cnn.com/CNN/Programs/siu/shows/war.within/

so, yeah, if you have a bunch of knuckheads living in your hood
sooner or later these fools would start some trouble

<object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/rVgRytJFYb4"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/rVgRytJFYb4" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350"></embed></object>

 

This is where debate on Iraq should have been over 2 years ago and, because of Bush's blue smoke machine, we are just now getting there after our position has deteriorated.

 

To be fair, there were a BUNCH of people who warned against this 'misadventure' beforehand. It's not just that people now KNOW it was a bad idea with the benefit of hindsight, these voices were there but few wanted to listen.

Not to mention that the MSM was fully on-board for this war, they more than did their part to 'sell' it to the public. The nation was in a fervor back then, it was a completely different atmosphere, most Americans were hungry for revenge and believed anyone who told them what they wanted to hear.

 

What about nuclear bombs? Now, hear me out. We use every single nuclear warhead in our arsenal and just blanket the entire middle east with nuclear bombs. Surely, the terrorists are not like cockroaches. Even if they are, good luck living in land that'll be sprawling with radioactivity for decades to come.

Severe and unnecessary loss of life? Eh, who really cares? Counter-terrorists win

 

It's a testament to the greatness of western culture that these people are allowed to speak and protest freely, where in thier own lands, if someone were to take equivalent actions they'd have their hands cut off.

 

I agree that you have to capture and or kill the violent terrorists. That can no more be allowed than to let serial killers roam free. Killing large numbers or taking over countries as we did in Afghanistan or Iraq is not the way to go.

Invading and destroying Iraq a major Muslim and Shi a country with virtually no provocation or threat will be remembered for a hundred years at least. It was inexcusable in the eyes of the vast majority of the world, except for its overwhelming enthusiastic support among Republican Americans(I think a majority of GOP'ers still support the war, though far from enthusiastically) and for a time nearly half of Democrats. Most of the world and virtually 100% of Middle Eastern Muslims saw it as unjustified. It provides unfortunately a very justifiable reason to hate the West and certainly the US and Britain, the ring leaders.

JUSTIFIED ANGER DOES NOT JUSTIFY THE TERRORISM, but it does explain how some few go crazy with their justified anger leading to the desire to strike out at the citizens of the countries responsible for such chaos in Iraq. It is understandable when you watch millions of your fellow religionists killed and or made refugees by far away foreign powers that you develop rage. This rage could be a small isolated group of individuals doing an act or it could lead to their recruitment by an organization such as Al Qaeda.

Especially since our actions are largely indefensible, there seems to be very little reason to keep up the type of occupation and imperialistic acitivities that generate such understandable rage.


As to whether the terrorism would die down if we pulled out of the Middle East., would they "push forward". I doubt seriously there would be much pusing forward. These countries are not exactly world powers in any way except for oil. There was no pushing forward prior to the US' s involvement in the first Gulf War, the continual presence of US troops in the region and especially Saudi, prior to the disastrous Bush II attack. So there appears no reason to think the terrorism would not gradually subside once we pull out and justified anger towards the US and Britain meddling there dies down.

 

IMO, we had to invade Afghanistan and I have no regrets that we did. The problem is the Iraq disaster has soaked up so much of our resources and attention and alienated us from much of the world. If our focus would have stayed on Al Qaeda and Afghanistan, things would be a lot different now.

If we pulled out of the Middle East (in a manner of speaking), acts of terrorism may decrease for a time but extremists will still continue to focus their efforts on influencing muslims worldwide, not just in that region. It isn't just anger at the U.S. and Britain that motivate these people and we are NOT responsible for their ideology. These types have been nurtured and supported by Saudi Arabia for years and years and it was just a matter of time before the poisonous snake started biting, no matter how engaged we are in the region. Has the Iraq catastrophe made things much worse? Incalculably so.

 

Didn't Great Britian just welcome a new PM? Maybe there is a reason Blair chose to resign the moment he did.

 

Pakistan and North Korea. And any nuclear powers out there that might trade their technology and/or arsenal for cheap (or free) Arabian and/or Persian oil.
And maybe even India: crazy, I know, but how complacent would we be if Cuba and Venezuela started getting nuked?

 

these dudes who get their azzes kicked and beaten down if they tried doing this infront of a church in the middle of new york, or hell, they'd get beaten if they dared tried this in front of a southern church.

 

As a member of the House Intelligence Committee, I am keenly aware that the proliferation of chemical and biological weapons is an issue of grave importance to all nations. Saddam Hussein has been engaged in the development of weapons of mass destruction technology which is a threat to countries in the region and he has made a mockery of the weapons inspection process.

The responsibility of the United States in this conflict is to eliminate weapons of mass destruction, to minimize the danger to our troops and to diminish the suffering of the Iraqi people. The citizens of Iraq have suffered the most for Saddam Hussein's activities; sadly, those same citizens now stand to suffer more. I have supported efforts to ease the humanitarian situation in Iraq and my thoughts and prayers are with the innocent Iraqi civilians, as well as with the families of U.S. troops participating in the current action.

I believe in negotiated solutions to international conflict. This is, unfortunately, not going to be the case in this situation where Saddam Hussein has been a repeat offender, ignoring the international community's requirement that he come clean with his weapons program. While I support the President, I hope and pray that this conflict can be resolved quickly and that the international community can find a lasting solution through diplomatic means.

See above. Apparently Congresswoman Pelosi didn't think it was without provocation.

 

All this terrorism will do is cheapen the value of human life. We will become desensitized to it and not care. The jihadist will become marginalized cause all we'll do is..ho hum oh another car bomb blew up 50 people. Big deal.

At the same time, it's like the weakest kid on the playground picking fights with everyone. What will happen is that everyone gets pissed off at the kid and eventually takes turns beating the snot out of him or they all gang up and beat the tar out of him at the same time. The guy never learns and punches the biggest kid in the back again and gets another whooping...and so on and on it goes until the little weak kid is a bloody pulp.

 

I would argue that most ordinary people are largely 'desensitized' to the lives of 'others', or simply don't value the lives of other nationals as they do their own.

Quick question: what would upset you more, three thousand dead American citizens or a hundred-thousand dead Iraqis?

 

Another Muslim on this board proposing a conspriatory therory....