Terrorism experts believe that the actual danger posed by ISIS has been distorted in hours of TV

[J_J_]

But as President Obama prepares to send the United States on what could be a yearslong military campaign against the militant group, American intelligence agencies have concluded that it poses no immediate threat to the United States. Some officials and terrorism experts believe that the actual danger posed by ISIS has been distorted in hours of television punditry and alarmist statements by politicians, and that there has been little substantive public debate about the unintended consequences of expanding American military action in the Middle East"

Daniel Benjamin, who served as the State Department’s top counterterrorism adviser during Mr. Obama’s first term, said the public discussion about the ISIS threat has been a “farce,” with “members of the cabinet and top military officers all over the place describing the threat in lurid terms that are not justified.”


http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/11/world/middleeast/struggling-to-gauge-isis-threat-even-as-us-prepares-to-act.html?_r=2


These are our public airwaves, politicians we pay to do very little....starting a war based on nothing.

[MohRokTah]

1. I concur.

A policy of containment via air strikes is as far as needed with ISIL. Keep them busy where they are.

Direct immediate threats to US territory are minimal at worst, nearly non-existent at best.

[morningfog]

7. You don't think they need to be destroyed?

What does containment mean?

No further advance? Contained within Syria but out of Iraq?

[frylock]

2. great. i just wasted my weekend encasing the house in plastic sheeting and duct tape..

now they tell me.

[J_J_]

8. and just what the hell am I supposed to do with all of this spam?

[merrily]

3. By corporate, pro-establishment TV, yes.

Certainly, enough of our elected and appointed public officials fueled that and are doing nothing to correct the impression media is giving us.

I like to focus on the role of our public officials for several reasons. One is that my tax dollars don't pay the salaries and expenses of people who work for TV, radio and what is left of mass newspapers.

Second, the people who for TV, radio and what is left of mass newspapers don't set policy, only cheerlead and propagandize for it.

Finally, while I have a vote that (supposedly) affects who gets elected or appointed, I have no say whatever in who gets hired by TV, radio or what is left of mass newspapers and I don't want to deflect.

[Jesus Malverde]

4. It's almost as if the television pundits are the terrorists.

Even Sen. Dianne Feinstein got in the act talking about decapitated (american) children.

It beheads children. I have a picture of what I estimate to be a six-year-old girl in a gingham party dress, white tights, a little red band around her wrist, Mary Janes. And she's lying on the ground and her head is gone. This could be an American child;

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/september-21-power-rogers-feinstein/

[KoKo]

11. She's really something else..... But, then, she and her husband profit off war

handsomely, so I guess it is to be expected...

[noiretextatique]

5. fair and balanced, as always

thanks, corporate MSM.

[pampango]

6. Their violence is targeted at Iraqis and Syrians and will not likely reach the US anytime soon if

ever.

[Electric Monk]

9. ^

[KoKo]

10. Glad to see follow through on the "Intercept Article!" K&R