Notice a pattern here? [View All]

[babylonsister]

http://scoop.epluribusmedia.org/story/2007/6/3/12170/54233

Notice a pattern here?
by clammyc
Sun Jun 03, 2007 at 12:17:00 PM EST

As the constant drumbeat of the colossally stupid "fighting them over there so we don't have to fight them over here" and "we must be safer since we haven't been attacked since 9/11" memes fail to fade from discourse, a consistent pattern has emerged with respect to the "terror plots" (and I use the quotes since some of these are absolutely absurd as far as true plots go) which we are hearing about.

The latest one being the "alleged plot to destroy JFK airport" - it is yet another reminder of a few very basic things:

* The ability of these plots to actually be "carried out" is generally negligible (remember the one about taking down the Brooklyn Bridge with a blowtorch?);

* If we are to count instances of "true" domestic terrorism (you know, including suspicious packages at abortion clinics or school shootings or men driving around Maryland killing people at random), very few of these are linked to "those who we are fighting `over there'";

* Even lending credence to these so called "plots" as bona fide plots that could or would do a tremendous amount of damage, we most certainly are "fighting them over here" (whomever "them" or "they" are); and

* Most importantly they are being uncovered or "foiled" with REAL terror fighting tools - intelligence and law enforcement, not the military and indiscriminate bombings.

Back during the 2004 Presidential campaign, John Kerry made a comment that the overwhelmingly whipped-into-a-frenzy part of this country was not ready to hear:

When I asked Kerry what it would take for Americans to feel safe again, he displayed a much less apocalyptic worldview. ''We have to get back to the place we were, where terrorists are not the focus of our lives, but they're a nuisance,'' Kerry said. ''As a former law-enforcement person, I know we're never going to end prostitution. We're never going to end illegal gambling. But we're going to reduce it, organized crime, to a level where it isn't on the rise. It isn't threatening people's lives every day, and fundamentally, it's something that you continue to fight, but it's not threatening the fabric of your life.''

Of course, this comment was as true as it was twisted out of context by the talking meatsticks and chest thumping chickenhawks. And just for the sake of argument, let's just assume that all of the "terror plots" were valid and feasible - just to show how ass-backwards so many people still are when it comes to what is going on in the world since "9/11 changed everything".

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