Soon after 911 I argued that should jihadis bring their fight inside the US on any kind of regular basis — say, a series of mall bombings, or attacks on schools and day care centers — this would be a tremendous strategic blunder on their part: Americans will quite quickly forget years of PC conditioning and turn back into the kinds of commonsense problem solvers they’ve long been, and the retaliation they’d be calling for would be swift, efficient, and brutal.
Watching 3000 people consumed in fire and collapsing buildings is one (horrible) thing; but watching nightly broadcasts of the bodies of children blown to bits and strewn across school auditoriums or mall food courts is quite another — and would provoke the kind of reaction from typical Americans I don’t think the jihadis wish to see.
At least, that was my argument. Seems like the terrorists have other ideas, though.
Bad timing, if you ask me. Having elected a black president, Americans have assuaged enough cultural guilt that I believe they’d be quite ready to commit a few new “atrocities,” if it meant protecting their own.
And Obama won’t be around forever to hold us back, should things begin going sideways…
(h/t TerryH)
Link bust
fixed
Danke.
I predict Obama will give them an interview before the end of 2012.
Mr Hoffman may understand edgy, I don’t know. It’s plain to me though that he doesn’t understand dotty, which is where I’d locate this statement here:
When, I’d ask, has the intention to use “decapitation” been applied seriously, which is to say, when the leaders of al Qaeda such as Bin Laden, Zawahiri or even Awlaki were merely suspected of harmful intent against US interests and well within the sights of US arms? Never.
I don’t know. What seems typical these days would be a rush by our government to protect…Muslims.
The rest of us would have to submit to naked body scans before leaving our homes.
Americans will quite quickly forget years of PC conditioning and turn back into the kinds of commonsense problem solvers they’ve long been, and the retaliation they’d be calling for would be swift, efficient, and brutal.
Liberal arts undergrads are cute, and we grownups have been very indulgent of their shenanigans over the years, even to the point of letting them take over the bureaucracy and the media. But that indulgence can be withdrawn in a flash, and the fools who think they run the asylum should bear that in mind.
Byron York’s piece yesterday musing on the change of heart in Portland Or. officaldom on cooperating with the FBI terrorism task force. These fucks too risk being taken to the woodshed to be beaten for the political stooges they are.
James Taranto has another look see today.
Bruce Hoffman, terrorism expert at Georgetown University:
[….]”But terrorism is never defeated by decapitation alone…but by breaking the cycle of recruitment, indoctrination, training and operations. We’re a long way from understanding the process, much less countering it.”
In a world where up is down I would expect an academic to be unable to appreciate the effects of teaching Howard Zinn’s America, Edward Said’s Middle East, or Ward Churchill’s ethnic studies. Nor would I expect him to appreciate the effects of preaching “God Damn America” from the pulpit or moral relativity from the media.
Is that what makes him an expert?
For what it’s worth, creator of “Inspire”, Samir “Sammie” Khan has been an object of mirth and ridicule at The Jawa Report for years.
I’m frightened that Amanda Marcotte is publishing in the Guardian.
It seems the best way to attain prominence, from the perspective of blogging, is to be silly and wrong on a consistent basis.
Silly and Wrong is the motto over at the Guardian, isn’t it?
The best way to quiet a country is a good thrashing, followed by great kindness afterwards. Even the wildest chaps are thus tamed. — General Sir Charles James Napier GCB, Commander-in-Chief in India (1782 – 1853)
Marcotte is an idiot but she’s got nothing on the simplicity of Barry Obama when it comes to making far-reaching decisions with frightening impact.
Amanda Marcotte is publishing in the Guardian.
You got your facile argument in my cheerleading!
Yeah, well you got your cheerleading in my facile argument!
…
Delicious!
It seems the best way to attain prominence, from the perspective of blogging, is to be silly and wrong on a consistent basis.
It’s worked for the purveyors of liberal conventional pieties in traditional media for decades, so it sort of follows.
Ya think that’s frightening? As blinkered as Amynda is, she’s almost sane compared to some of the regular contributors to the Grauniad.
Charles Johnson is writing over there now too. I’m pretty sure they found the Mark Of The Beast on him a few years back, but apparently that washes off.
Oh yeah, I’m betting we’ll see guest editorials from the likes of RD/SemanticLeo/Meya et al in the upcoming issues of Inspire. They found a venue!
First mall bomb that goes off and is celebrated by the homegrown Islamists will see a panicky row back by the current administration, I would expect them to value their political hides over whatever toes they step on.
I had a picture published in the Grauniad one time</a…
You’re famous, LTC.
17.
Youre right. The fellow’s name escapes me–Irish Guy, IIRC, an is a Staff Editor–but his specialty is “debunking” claims of brutalities under Communist rule.
He has a particular hard on for the Black Book of Communism.
If youre gonna deny that stuff, everything else is small beer.
Worked for the New York Times. Got them a Pulitzer, too.
But they’re “saner” than the Guardian, right?
Right?
So we track them through the post office?
How now low-tech cow?
Go after the source – the crazed Wahabist preachers.
Every time one of them starts pumping the Jihad fist, send a hellfire straight up his ass, and don’t worry about the collaterals.
Nasty remarks about how he makes a first-rate corpse, those are optional.
Crawford, you seem like an unusually bitter man. Literally every comment I’ve seen you make to something of mine is ugly.
Not sure why that is or what I do to or for you.
I’d prefer you don’t mention “Marcotte” and “Cheerleading” in the same sentence again. There’s the accidental chance I’ll (under protest) picture her in a cheerleading outfit. And I’d prefer that to never happen. Thank you.
Oh Gawd. Too late for me, Matt.
Blegh.
“Folks back home would be real damn shocked to find out just how savage your typical American 19 year old can become, under these circumstances.”
— In Death’s Grey Land
#21 – I told an RAF officer IO knew “hey, I got something in the Guardian” and he rolled his eyes… he was a Telegraph (pronounced “Torygraph”) reader. I knew the Grauniad was leftie, but not quite so insane…
– When things go sideways…..How much more sideways could things go without rioting in the streets?
I was predicting that sort of thing 9 years or so ago, and I’m quite surprised that we haven’t seen it yet, though not for their lack of trying. What if the Times Square bomb had worked? Does Holder become a hawk?
Somehow, I’m moved to remind that the first thing Barack Obama did upon being sworn in was to stop Khalid Sheik Mohammed’s ongoing trial, and we all know how that’s worked out. Welcome to the Funhouse. Enjoy the mirrors.
It seems the best way to attain prominence, from the perspective of blogging, is to be silly and wrong on a consistent basis.
Well?
Commence the jocular asininity, man! Double time!
glossy is the same as shiny
Not shiny, slick.
Shiny is as shiny does.
And we could, for the first time, have those atrocities committed by rabid, angry, recently freed, openly gay soldiers. I wonder what the Mohammad Mohammad Mohammad’s would think about being strafed by the rainbow squadron?
They’d welcome you with open arms, alex.
This guy and his cronies might disagree.
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