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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsI successfully drove home yesterday and I did not get attacked by ISIS.
I was not beheaded nor was anyone I know or love forced to embrace Islam or were a burka. I saw the stars and stripes proudly waving on flag poles. I also did not get a sense that ISIS was just moments way from taking over the U.S.
ISIS of course is yet another one of a long line of boogeymen that have threatened the U.S.
Is ISIS a bad group? Yes.
Does ISIS need to be punished for their actions? Yes
Is ISIS a threat or will become a threat to the national security of the United States? National security to me means a threat to the sovereignty and stability of the nation.
NO!
Could some terrorist group or some wacko blow something up in America or kill people? Yes.
That was the case before ISIS, the case before Bin Laden, there have always been disgruntled groups or people who want to cause harm in the name of some twisted ideology or belief.
I roll my eyes in the back of my head when I hear all these politicians and talking heads rant about how ISIS is going to attack America and we are all doomed unless we stop them.
We have all heard that crap before, I have been hearing it all my life growing up in the cold war and beyond.
They are going to take over without firing a shot!
tularetom
(23,664 posts)You are even more doomed now than you were before because they didn't kill you this time.
But they are still out there and they are going to kill us all.
And we'll all be laughing at you after they do. Oh, wait...
JEB
(4,748 posts)kimbutgar
(21,148 posts)All this fear fear fear from idiots in the middle east who they say will enter this country are being watched and monitored by the NSA. The TSA and customs will be even more vigilant looking at who wants to enter the country.
But the damage to everyday Americans will be more devastating if the Kochs get their way and make the US a third world nation with the poor fighting amongst themselves for the crumbs. And the Gun nuts becoming vigilantes on the crazy train threatening minorities, gays, non Xtians and women.
That is my real fear. Very close to home are the domestic terrorists who watch Fox and believe their fellow Americans are the enemies instead of the monied Kochs and unregulated corporations who are really the ones screwing them over.
freshwest
(53,661 posts)wandy
(3,539 posts)jwirr
(39,215 posts)tecelote
(5,122 posts)Agroterrorism
frazzled
(18,402 posts)It was cold today, so how's that for you, climate-change hysterics? It's not a very useful argument.
No one of any intelligence is claiming that there is a likelihood that driving home today in, say, Kansas City, you will be attacked by ISIS. But, due to the relatively large-scale recruitment of Western fighters from Europe and North America, there is a possibility that without close scrutiny and degrading of their ranks and capabilities that, one day, an attack could conceivably take place in Britain, the US, etc.
Are some politicians being hyperbolic? Yes. But it doesn't help to fight it with hyperbolic counter-arguments. Calm and steady is what is called for.
Nye Bevan
(25,406 posts)I successfully ate GMO food today without contracting weird cancers.
You're right, it works!
Fred Sanders
(23,946 posts)the land of the brave?
Any day when Americans were not commanded to be frightened?
The war on terror is no longer being fought, it was conceded.
FrodosPet
(5,169 posts)FrodosPet
(5,169 posts)bigwillq
(72,790 posts)Tierra_y_Libertad
(50,414 posts)more money to the MIC.
And, trust our government to give us another one as soon as this one doesn't pan out.
The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary. H.L. Mencken
n2doc
(47,953 posts)KT2000
(20,577 posts)which demonstrates the very problem. As long as we are dependent upon oil, we will always be a part of the affairs of the Middle East. That means everything that goes along with it - religious wars, occupations, refugees, dictators, etc.
Resentment of America's interference in affairs there has caused many terrorist acts - among them the hostage crisis in Iran, World Trade Center bombing, embassy bombings, and the tremendous loss of life on 9/11.
Make no mistake about it - we WILL suffer more terrorist attacks until we no longer have "American interests" there. Most people will not be affected but some will. To a president that should be taken as a threat to the sovereignty of the nation. Ignoring it cannot be an option.
Sure - some politicians are war mongering but I think Obama's efforts at containment and isolating this latest terrorist group is a wise choice.
The stability of the nation will always depend in part on our relations with the Middle East and emerging terrorist groups are a part of that.
As citizens we can help the cause by learning to go without gasoline, pharmaceuticals, commercial chemicals, jet fuel etc. That would help a lot.
Kber
(5,043 posts)Or from Krypton, perhaps?
gratuitous
(82,849 posts)That is, if Khorasan even exists:
https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2014/09/28/u-s-officials-invented-terror-group-justify-bombing-syria/
I get the feeling we're being played like an orchestra full of Stradivariuses.
Dreamer Tatum
(10,926 posts)Because everyone here is having a grand old time ridiculing a group that has stated its desire to kill all Americans,
and has done exactly that with the ones it's managed to get its hands on.
Please, wiseasses, can you spare us your poignant my-buddy-died-in-that-attack posts if and when an attack does occur?
Nye Bevan
(25,406 posts)by Al Qaeda", and simply dismissed this as scaremongering propaganda:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bin_Ladin_Determined_To_Strike_in_US
KentuckyWoman
(6,679 posts)bipartisan support in DC for that.
Boggles the mind and makes my stomach hurt.