Posted on 12/17/2008 11:37:54 AM PST by SmithL
It was often said after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, that everything had changed. And for a few years afterwards, indeed it had. After decades of denial, America and its allies went on the offensive against Islamic terrorism, both militarily and morally. Most importantly, there was no hesitancy to name the enemy or to condemn his inhumanity.
But if the lack of outrage over the Islamic terrorist assault on Mumbai, India last month was any indication, everything has changed back.
The obfuscation that characterized much of the early reporting on Mumbai is partially to blame. Watching a number of television reporters go through visible pains not to use the word "terrorist" to describe a four-day reign of terror that would eventually kill more than 170 people and injure hundreds was a surreal spectacle. Initial articles described "militants," "gunmen," and "extremists," but rarely terrorists, and rarer still, Islamic terrorists. So-called experts prattled on vaguely about the perpetrators' motivations, as if the ideology fueling a group called the Deccan Mujahedeen was a complete and utter mystery. ("Deccan" refers to a historic Islamic claim on the Deccan Plateau, the territory which stretches between Mumbai and Hyderabad, while "mujahedeen" are Muslim fighters engaged in jihad.) Links to the Pakistan-based terrorist organization Lashkar-e-Taiba added further confirmation and yet still, many of the talking heads remained stubbornly ambiguous. Indeed, the attack was largely presented as if it were occurring in a vacuum.
Perhaps they were taking a cue from last year's Departments of State and Homeland Security internal memorandum forbidding employees from using Islam-specific terminology to discuss Islamic terrorism or the British politicians who earlier this year adopted the phrase "anti-Islamic activity" to describe it. In any case, Orwell would have been proud.
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
The Indian gov’t disarmed their people, they get attacked and no one can help. The people were Sheeple-ized, they can’t fight back, they probably still don’t even WANT to fight back. This is where US liberals want us to be ASAP, unarmed and helpless.
Scaramoush, scaramoush, will you do the fandango?
That was probably intentional. The way the US government tries to cover up and hide terrorist acts, pretending they didn’t happen or that they were something else, causes the terrorists to plan bigger and more spectacular attacks, knowing they must exceed a certain level of carnage to attract the attention of the world.
That said, I think the ball is in the Indians’ court right now. We should certainly back them up with whatever they need, but I’m waiting for the tanks to roll. I think they will, or the Indian government will fall and THEN they’ll roll.
Or I could be wrong, and we’ll wait for an even more spectacular attack, maybe in the US itself.
I wouldn’t say no one cares, I’d say life creates a lot of distractions. We’ve got an economy in meltdown which creates a lot of stress for everybody, we’ve got all the normal stresses of the holiday season, plus all our usual often times hectic life going on. And now all of a sudden you want people to stop what they’re doing and take to the streets (streets that are freaking cold I might add as lousy winter weather hits the whole nation in blatant disregard for global warming) in outrage because of an event on the other side of the planet or at small town in Alaska that 6 months ago nobody ever heard of?!
I do consider these things bad, but I gots bills to pay and nothing I do down here in Tucson is going to change events in India or Alaska. I hope they catch the arsonist and the leaders that sent those terrorists, for anything beyond that though you’re just going to have to wait until I’ve got some free time.
Really?
Try buying a black rifle.
>>maybe in the US itself.
Absolutely. An Indian Airlines flight from Kathmandu was hijacked in 1999, the MO to take over the plane being duplicated later in the USA.
>probably intentional.
Yes. It worked. The attacks were big news.
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