I really need help here. Last night I watched a documentary on the KKK and I can't help but ask what is the difference between the KKK and Osama Bin Laden's group? Both are terrorists, both preach hate to jews, both preach that they want their independence, and both have blood on their hands. I really have a hard time understanding why they are a "necessary defender of free speech", but terrorists across the world need to be dealt with at once. I am really struggling with the difference between the two are...
You can be muslim extremist and preach hate toward America, as long as you don't blow up crap you will be good.
In the 1960's, when they were committing terrorist acts, the people who were doing it were hunted down and destroyed by the FBI. I'm not sure if you remember, but the whole Ruby Ridge standoff occurred because the FBI was trying to get an informant inside neo-Nazi groups and their selected racist informant didn't want to do it. The government keeps a close eye on the racist groups in case they decide to cross the line back towards violence.
Interesting that you bring this up: would a similar/analogous policy be good for controlling radical Islamic groups...even overseas?
The KKK will be around as long as a few dolts out there still don't have television in order to catch all the NASCAR races.
That applies across the board, you can be rabid animal rights person; a hyper homophobic religious organization who protest at soldiers' funerals; Alien-worshiping cult; or even an organization that supports or encourages man-boy (NAMBLA) or woman-girl (IFGLC) relationship. As long as you are not breaking any laws, posing a threat to national security, engaged in potential act of treason, and paying your organizations taxes, the government could care less about what you say.
The KKK is marginalized and ineffective. When was the last time they pulled a violent stunt? They are little more than a boys club for racists nowadays. Terrorist groups on the other hand are still actively plotting and carrying out acts of terror against the world. That is one key difference. If the KKK started bombing buildings or murdering black people again they would be treated entirely differently. Most of our homegrown nutjobs are pretty much neutered today by a powerful and effective crime fighting unit. We have informants in a lot of their groups. They couldn't do much that the .gov wouldn't know about these days. Unfortunately it is a lot harder to infiltrate the Muslim terrorist groups and therefore harder to shut them down or cut their balls off.
I think the problem for Americans is culture and language, so we have to rely on allies to decide subtle differences of language and culture in determining where to try and cleave the militants and then do the actual recruiting. Americans intelligence agencies are simply too clumsy and heavy handed in these cultures to be able to do anything that requires such precision. (This isn't an indictment of American intelligence services - entities from the ME have the same cultural divide when trying to recruit Americans.) I know in many countries, like Jordan, they do exactly that. But in places like Sudan or Somalia, there is no government. In places like Pakistan, some of the equivalent to FBI agents can be hostile to the USA and are generally more concerned with India. Even in place with generally good ties to the USA, there is resistance to the specifics of working with American intelligence services who aren't very good at playing nicely with others. So, to answer, I think were have tried to get something like that going. Its just hasn't been really effective. The case in point would be the CIA agents who got blown to hell in Afghanistan by a Jordanian al Qaeda double agent. And again, Jordan is probably the country in the ME where American intelligence services have the best relationship.
It's also hard to crack because of the simple logistics of it all. The guys at the top are older guys who are veterans of wars/resistance movements. They promote people that the trust. To get that trust you are talking about doing a lot of terrible stuff. It's not like we can just flip an Iraqi and send him to Al-Qaeda for recruitment. They are recruiting martyrs. If the KKK was run by a really tight nit group that only brought in outsiders that were volunteering to kill themselves they'd be tougher to crack too. Edit: There's also the endgame. Americans in these groups (for the most part) are not looking to die or go to prison. That makes them easier to flip when pressure is brought on them. A lot of the Islamist terrorists are prepared to die.
Yeah, I'd imagine most racists want to go home, have a beer, and watch TV and stuff, and not blow themselves up or go to prison for really long time.
That's partially true but if you read up on the history of the COINTELPRO programs of the FBI, they were ruthless and indiscriminate in hunting down the KKK. The types of safeguards and restraint that we demand that our government use was never applied to the KKK (and the American public by and large were either ignorant of the programs or just didnt care) Hell a lot of the time the FBI targeted political opponents and went way outside of the intended purpose of COINTELPRO. By today's standards, COINTELPRO would be illegal and unconstitutional. Even the Bush administration didnt come close to trying the kind of stuff the FBI did in the 60s. (and for good reason) But you're right, there are larger logistical issues with dealing with terrorism since it is an international phenomenon and we have limited abilities to engage in counter-terrorism outside of the US.
Well the whole world was different back then. If the Islamist terrorist groups were a problem during the Nixon admin it would have been an (relatively) easy fix.
World still has a lot of catching up to do with the progress train. Don't want to sound simplistic being that I'm a layman when it comes to these issues. Just some people simply don't get it, the "it" we're trying to accomplish in the big picture. Underneath our civility is still a savage world where people are hungry, desperate, paranoid, and ANGRY. And unfortunately ignorantly gullible. Its a more grown up, rural version of gang culture.
*chuckle* Yea. . .That is what they are known for. . . for Hating Jews Rocket River LMBAO :grin: :grin: :grin:
LOL I think I made a promise never to give you rep because of your posting style which makes me want to kill a baby kitten. I almost broke that promise today. Shame on you.
