Defining Terrorism
 

What defines a terrorist to you? What groups should you watch out for?

Well, we could always check in with homeland security.

Keep a watchful eye. These people could be anywhere. They could even be members on this forum. :worried:

i believe it's manipulation via fear *coughs* bush administration *coughs*

Well, that was the whole freakin point, wasn't it?! That's what **defined** us as a nation, cutting loose our former sovereign.

But we've certainly done some considerable backsliding in this administration, sad to say...

A terrorist is someone who justifies creating fear in others as a means to an end.

Terrorist - a person who does something really quite small. But causes fear to replace logical thought among the population.

Well that explains much of your thinking process. Maybe you should be so lucky as to have some of your family members be among those who suffer death in the next big one, maybe you would change your tune after that. I know people who were killed in the World Trade Centers. But of course you could give a shit about that, as long as Bush is out of office and Soro's or Hitlery Cliton becomes President. Right?

You have to define big or small. Compared to many genocides and wars, 1,000 people dying isn't a lot.

100,000 people dying would be a big attack.

Yet, it doesn't make it any less tragic.

Terrorism is just a tactic. Someone who uses it is a terrorist. The 9/11 attacks and Shock and Awe were both terrorists attacks.

A widely accepted definition is that it is violence directed at the general population to effect a sociopolitical change.

One thing the terrorists never manage to figure out is that it's a method that never wins, particularly if the targeted population is motivated to resist. That is why the Palestinian blood feud with the Israelis will never make progress: the Israelis are even tougher, and better motivated, than they are.

See also Mike German's Thinking Like A Terrorist for some illuminating study. Terrorist movements and groups are all remarkably similar in their fundamentals.

That could well describe the Shock and Awe tactic employed against Baghdad.

What about all the Israeli terrorist groups like Lehi and Irgun in the 1930's and 1940's?

You can't call the Israeli's tougher because the Palestinians are in a much worse condition. It is like when one guy can run two miles with no weight on his back while another can't with 200 lbs on his back and then you call the first guy tougher. They are in different postions so don't put them on the level.

I don't care if you knew everyone killed in the WTC? It has zero significance. That proves what? Zero. So a response chock full of personal attacks shows TheMercenary is intelligent - or just petty?

Back to the topic. Terrorist - a person who does something really quite small. But causes fear to replace logical thought among the population.

Since George Jr (an expert?) said 11 September was only terrorism, then TheMercenary never questioned it? 11 September was not terrorism. 11 September was a smoking gun that justified war - that exceeded a definition of terrorism. 11 September was sufficient to justify war. That is not terrorism.

The Atlantic Ocean off NY and NY is full of American ships sunk by German U-boats. And still that was not sufficient for war.

So why does George Jr call 11 September only terrorism? George Jr is only about "The Message". He cannot even provide what the troops need - a Strategic Objective - because "The Message" (also called spin or propaganda) is far more important to extremists. No wonder he labels 11 September as only terrorism.

11 September exceeded terrorism because it justified war - for the same reason that "Pearl Harbor" was not terrorism. Where did more die? On 7 December or on 11 September?

Meanwhile, something under 10 people were killed in my hometown on 11 September. I knew one. For a few weeks, I thought another victim was a friend from school. That first night, estimates from my hometown were about 50 dead. I went to school with some of the women shown on network TV walking Manhattan streets looking for lost ones. But that is only significant to TheMercenary who would post this petty irrelevance.

That is my emotion that you have no right to. I would never be so petty as to use that as a cheap shot - as TheMercenary has just done. But then logical thought has always been a problem for TheMercenary.

Sept. 11 was a terrorist attack. What is with the word games?

If it was only terrorism, then it did not justify full scale invasion. More died on 11 September than in Pearl Harbor. Those actions exceeded the domain of terrorism. But George Jr's administration knows, for example, if they can call insurgents Al Qaeda, then we will believe that myth. If he labels six misguided mass murders in Cherry Hill as Al Qaeda, then many here will believe that also.

11 September clearly exceeded the definition of terrorism. You might call it terrorism plus just to feel better. But 11 September met a criteria that justifies full scale war - invasion of a sovereign nation. Terrorism would not justify such a response.

If you like calling it only trivial terrorism, then do it. But when it comes to measuring what justifies a full scale war - terrorism does not qualify. 11 September clearly was a smoking gun that justified war.

Minor point. The Cherry Hill six didn't murder anyone nor have they been convicted of intending to, yet. So calling them "misguided mass murders" is the equivalent of calling them Al Qaeda.... which reinforces your point.

It most certainly did justify it. It does not justify it because you say it did not? what a crock...


(not talking Iraq here)

From the same post:

Hey, no worries. All the privacy invasions and rollbacks on civil liberties are only to catch the bad guys, okay?

Those who, uh believe that the "Constitution has been subverted" or, uh are "focused on issues such as World Trade, International Debt, and military involvement in foreign cultures" or, uh, are "Gay Rights Activists" . . . yes . . . no reason to be worried. Freedom is on the march! God Bless USA!

They're only after the bad guys. Everything is okay. No need for crazy conspiracy theories, okay? Go watch some more TV. Eat a cheeto.

The house to house searches, with no intelligence on specific homes, just random searches for no legal reason, in Iraq, done by our military. Terrorism.
It serves NO purpose but to create a climate of fear.
Terrorism.
We are terrorists in that nation and have been since day one and will be until we leave, which should be today.

Environmentalists, or Gay Rights Activists, are Terrorists. How do we end up with ideas such as these?

Once your ability to reason has been compromised, every aspect of your life will be affected. There is no way to believe in a small fallacy in one corner of your mind, and continue to make competent decisions elsewhere.

Men who buy into a flawed premise, for whatever reason, become chaos machines.

If we are conditioned to accept faulty thought patterns in one situation (which is believed to be justified) the real danger is that the same faulty thought pattern will be applied to other situations. The true evil is sloppy thinking; and this is an evil which is not consciously acted out. It's just a bad habit.

The pervasive, creeping fungus that slowly spreads across our collective consciousness is nothing more than ignorance multiplied by laziness.

I thought on day one, we were shockers and awers, not terrorizers.

Some environmentalists are terrorists.
Those that sabotage equipment or stake trees are terrorists. But not all.
You cannot apply that to all because some practice it.
Gay activists... I have no idea. People are idiots.
The idea that gay marriage will, somehow, alter the "sanctity" of their own marriage is a stupid idea. There is no other word for it... it is just stupid.
They are stupid, uneducated, inarticulate, people.
If they were not, one, just one, would be able to articulate how gay marriage directly affects their marriage.
Just that.
Directly, succinctly, address that point, answer that question and nothing more.
No red herrings, no side points, no religious babbling, nothing else. Just, exactly how two gay people getting married is going to directly affect their marriage.
I can't wait.

Arson is the new Terror.
Actually, if you ask me, terror is the new stupid.

How is this different from a hate crime. I think that's in the running for the new stupid.

Terrorism is a tactic, a real one. Hate crime is a definition based on a misnomer, a fiction.

I suppose you could prosecute them because they hate folks who believe in human progress.

It's ironic, if the environmentalists hadn't gotten their way in the first place, the forest floor wouldn't be littered with the fuel that makes forest fires such a good terrorist tool.

Loggers don't clean up that fuel. They cut down the big trees (not the small ones that fuel fires), strip off the branches, and haul out the trunks. That leaves much more fuel than leaving it alone, and removes the trees that might have had a chance to survive the fire.

Also, a "thinned out" forest has more light reach the ground, drying out the dead leaves and supporting the growth of vines and underbrush, further increasing the fre hazard.

Nonsense, loggers clear cut and burn the slash (small shit) they don't leave it in piles. At least they didn't until the greenies made them leave it for critter cover.

That crap makes forest fires orders of magnitude harder to fight. It's harder to get to the fires, but more importantly a fire will race across the crown but not kill most of the healthy trees, just set them back a year or two. The fuel on the forest floor keeps the fire going long enough to cook/kill the trees.

On the east coast they selectively harvest mature trees(hardwoods) because clear cutting doesn't make sense except in the south where the take everything for paper. Around here when the cut selected hardwoods, someone is cutting the slash for firewood, guaranteed.

If they don't selectively cut the mature hardwoods then your furniture has to come from the rain forests or the oil well