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Now there's a big deal about Obama not calling the guy who shot the 4 US Airmen a "Terrorist." I don't think he was.

"Terrorism" is a tactic. It's engaging in attacks to make people in general feel afraid and thereby disrupt the enemy population and/or influence it to do things you want it to do. So sneaking bombs on airliners is terrorism. The idea is to make people afraid to fly and disrupt that activity.

That guy wasn't trying to scare the US population. He just wanted to kill some US military personnel.

We are not fighting "terrorists." We are fighting sometimes very loosely organized Islamists who sometimes use terrorism as a tactic. George W. Bush should never have called it a "War on Terror" to begin with. We are not fighting a tactic. We are fighting an area of philosophy.

Of course, the problem I have with the Obama administration consistently using the message using terminology like "small minority" or "tiny minority" in referring to the proportion of Muslims who are part of the problem. There has never been suffiicient information to make statements like that. Polls have suggested that a fairly substantial proportion of Muslims, at the least, at least sympathize to some extent with people like the guy who shot those airmen. George Bush's administration was the same way. To me it's another example of political correctness clouding the collective vision.

JohnStOnge wrote:Now there's a big deal about Obama not calling the guy who shot the 4 US Airmen a "Terrorist." I don't think he was.

"Terrorism" is a tactic. It's engaging in attacks to make people in general feel afraid and thereby disrupt the enemy population and/or influence it to do things you want it to do. So sneaking bombs on airliners is terrorism. The idea is to make people afraid to fly and disrupt that activity.

That guy wasn't trying to scare the US population. He just wanted to kill some US military personnel.

We are not fighting "terrorists." We are fighting sometimes very loosely organized Islamists who sometimes use terrorism as a tactic. George W. Bush should never have called it a "War on Terror" to begin with. We are not fighting a tactic. We are fighting an area of philosophy.

Of course, the problem I have with the Obama administration consistently using the message using terminology like "small minority" or "tiny minority" in referring to the proportion of Muslims who are part of the problem. There has never been suffiicient information to make statements like that. Polls have suggested that a fairly substantial proportion of Muslims, at the least, at least sympathize to some extent with people like the guy who shot those airmen. George Bush's administration was the same way. To me it's another example of political correctness clouding the collective vision.

Humans aren't logical creatures...
We're easily frightened and then controlled by that fear

Bush used that phrase quite intentionally - because it's "terrifying" and we needed to be whipped into a fear rage so we could rush off to war (and that's all)

Obama will be criticized by the troglodyte fear mongers who can't get a handle on "this whole crazy world" and live in a mild state of perpetual panic... The boogeyman is coming (everybody scream and run..!!!!)

JohnStOnge wrote:\"Terrorism" is a tactic. It's engaging in attacks to make people in general feel afraid and thereby disrupt the enemy population and/or influence it to do things you want it to do. So sneaking bombs on airliners is terrorism. The idea is to make people afraid to fly and disrupt that activity.

That guy wasn't trying to scare the US population. He just wanted to kill some US military personnel.

Your definition of terrorism is reasonable, but your application is too narrow. By "just wanting to kill some US military personnel," he's trying to influence foreign policy by discouraging the stationing of our military abroad. The Frankfurt attack was classically terrorist in that sense.

Ivytalk wrote:

JohnStOnge wrote:\"Terrorism" is a tactic. It's engaging in attacks to make people in general feel afraid and thereby disrupt the enemy population and/or influence it to do things you want it to do. So sneaking bombs on airliners is terrorism. The idea is to make people afraid to fly and disrupt that activity.

That guy wasn't trying to scare the US population. He just wanted to kill some US military personnel.

Your definition of terrorism is reasonable, but your application is too narrow. By "just wanting to kill some US military personnel," he's trying to influence foreign policy by discouraging the stationing of our military abroad. The Frankfurt attack was classically terrorist in that sense.

"he's trying to influence foreign policy by discouraging the stationing of our military abroad"

Good luck
Nobody seems to have any influence over that Team America World Police...

Chizzang wrote:

Ivytalk wrote:
Your definition of terrorism is reasonable, but your application is too narrow. By "just wanting to kill some US military personnel," he's trying to influence foreign policy by discouraging the stationing of our military abroad. The Frankfurt attack was classically terrorist in that sense.

"he's trying to influence foreign policy by discouraging the stationing of our military abroad"

Good luck
Nobody seems to have any influence over that Team America World Police...

Fokk yeah!