Is There Still a Terrorist Threat?

Foreign Affairs ^ | September/October 2006 | John Mueller

[wittyone]

Oh, well, I guess according to Professor Mueller, we can all just relax and stop worrying about AQ. I'm sure relieved...

[boughtwithaprice]

"the evidence so far suggests that fears of the omnipotent terrorist …snip… may have been overblown, the threat presented within the United States by al Qaeda greatly exaggerated."

So what about the recent terror plot that was foiled? OK, that was from Britain but it involved planes flying to the US. I'm there were plenty of operatives in the US involved.

[bnelson44]

If you have not seen this elsewhere, read it now: Vice Director Admiral Sullivan of the JCS Strategic Planning and Policy's take on the Long War. (PowerPoint Presentation)

[msnimje]

Given the opportunity and means, they would kill every last one of us.

How can that possibly be "overblown?"

[SamAdams76]

Thanks to President Bush taking the war "over there", the terrorists have been too busy just trying to survive to launch an attack over here. Of course, nobody ever gets credit for what they prevented, they only get the blame for what happens.

Had FDR taken out Adolph Hitler in 1936, he'd be remembered as a villain today and Hitler would be remembered as a martyr.

[King Moonracer]

This Mueller guy is a noodle head. Yup, Islam just gave up and called it a day.

[wittyone]

So what about the recent terror plot that was foiled?

I guess Professor Mueller isn't concerned about the UK. They're just so far away...

[wittyone]

This Mueller guy is a noodle head.

Could you please learn to be more succinct? LOL

[wittyone]

Thanks for posting the link on this thread. Downloaded it yesterday.

[ErnBatavia]

Is There Still a Terrorist Threat?

No, not according to the DNC Playbook.

[Strategerist]

Not that a single person other than me reading this thread is likely to do so, but I'd recommend people at least read the entire article before engaging the flamethrower or the barf-o-matic.

[toddlintown]

Well hell then. Let's bring back box cutters on planes and invite the public in to help the crew fly the plane. /s

[expatpat]

He may be correct (unlikely), but the fact is that the stakes are so huge that even a small 20% probablility would be too much.

[Jackson Brown]

Given how one nut and his "helper" shut down D.C.'s Maryland and Virginia Suburbs with one rifle, guess what a bunch of suicide types could do in shopping malls, downtown streets, just with pistols or hunting rifles with scopes. (Remember the U. of Texas Tower?)

What could they do with simple industrial explosives, or even easy to obtain chemicals...like chlorine...or..........?

Doesn't have to be a fleet of 757s or nuclear weapons.

[RasterMaster]

Al Queda attacks on the U.S. are highly exaggerated.....they only happen every few years.

However, DUmocrats (terrorist enablers and appeasers) attack the country on a daily basis and are a higher threat to the nation.

[wittyone]

I can't take credit for the following response (from someone in my wife's law school), but felt it did a pretty good job capturing at least one argument:

...he closes noting how so many more people die of other events more mundane than terrorism, and even an increase in terrorist activity would still mean a very small likelihood of anyone being actually killed by a terrorist. Obviously, he misses the point of what terrorism is altogether, simply put propaganda by deed with intent to cause fear (or terror, if you will). It isn't just that you die; the real effect of terrorists is that you DONT know when or where they will strike, and when they do, its in a very public forum. The effect of their act is not just to kill 3000 people; it's to frighten 300 million people. And in that sense, they have been effective. Last week, a number of planes were grounded because passengers were frightened by who another passenger might have been. It was enough that they were afraid; no one had to be killed for the terrorists even to cause a change in how people viewed the world.

So yeah--you probably stand a better chance of getting hit by a meteor or drowning in your bath tub. But do you fear either of those the same way you do when you get on a plane?

[webboy45]

Read enough. He's too stupid to see that the things he complains about are keeping terrorist from striking. The plan to blow up airplanes is a good example of the value of wire taps in preventing more attacks.

[AHerald]

Not that a single person other than me reading this thread is likely to do so ...

A charming display of humility.

[sgtbono2002]

We need the picture of the guy with his head up his ass like Prof. Mueller/

[bnelson44]

"You may not be interested in war, but war is interested in you." - Trotsky