You advocate we need a better balance, I am saying that we need to go back to nothing.
And there we have it. Nothing, just .... Not a thing? I don't really have a burden of proof here, but I'll dig a little anyhow. To begin with, the study's list of terrorist incidents, is horribly incomplete. In addition to the fact that it doesn't track injuries at all, it misses a lot of terrorist events:
http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/33890.pdf Take a look at Jan 2003, the report does not list the following terrorist attack:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_terrorist_incidents,_20031.) January 16, 2003 Four (4) dead Twenty-seven (27) injured Colombia Colombia: A car bomb kills four and injures 27 at a shopping mall in Medellín. The attack is believed to be a retaliation of FARC for the arrest of 53 of its members in the preceding days.
This is absent entirely from the report. The report lists the following for jan 2003 on Pages 1 and 2 of the link in appendix A
http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/33890.pdf:
January
5 Israel
On 5 January 2003, in Tel Aviv, Israel, two suicide bombers attacked simultaneously, according to media reports. Victims included 23 killed (15 Israelis, two Romanian citizens, one citizen from Ghana, one Bulgarian citizen, three Chinese citizens, and one Ukrainian citizen) and 107 wounded (nationalities not specified). The attack took place in the vicinity of the old central bus station, where foreign national workers live. The detonations took place within seconds of each other and were approximately 600 feet apart—one in a pedestrian mall and one in front of a bus stop. The al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade is considered responsible.
5 Pakistan
On 5 January 2003, in Peshawar, Pakistan, two gunmen fired on the residence of an Afghan diplomat, injuring a guard, according to press reports. The diplomat was not in residence at the time of the incident. No one claimed responsibility.
5 India
On 5 January 2003, in Kulgam, Kashmir, India, a grenade exploded at a bus station, wounding 40 (36 private citizens and four security personnel), according to press reports. No one claimed responsibility.
14 Panama
On 14 January 2003, in Darien, Panama, rebels kidnapped three U.S. citizens, including a reporter, and released them ten days later, according to press reports. Media reports state the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia are probably responsible.
17 West Bank
On 17 January 2003, in Givat Harina, West Bank, two gunmen killed one person and wounded three others, all Israelis, according to press reports. The Islamic Resistance Movement (HAMAS) claimed responsibility.
21 Kuwait
On 21 January 2003, in Kuwait City, Kuwait, a gunman ambushed a vehicle at an intersection where the car had halted for a stoplight. Victims included one U.S. citizen killed and one U.S. citizen wounded, according to media reports. The victims were civilian contractors working for the U.S. military. The incident took place close to Camp Doha, an installation housing approximately 17,000 U.S. troops.
On 23/24 January 2003, a Kuwaiti was apprehended attempting to cross the border from Kuwait to Saudi Arabia. The 20-year-old Kuwaiti civil servant, Sami al-Mutayri, confessed to the 21 January attack and stated that he embraces al-Qaida ideology and implements Osama Bin Ladin's instructions, although there is no evidence of anorganizational link. The assailant acted alone but had assistance in planning the ambush. No group claimed responsibility.
21 Colombia
On 21 January 2003, in Tame, Colombia, rebels kidnapped two journalists working for the Los Angeles Times newspaper. One was a British reporter and the other a U.S. photographer. The National Liberation Army (ELN) is considered responsible. On 1 February 2003, the two journalists were released unharmed.
27 Afghanistan
On 27 January 2003, in Nangarhar, Afghanistan, armed militants attacked a convoy, killing two security officers escorting several United Nations vehicles, according to press reports. No one claimed responsibility.
31 India
On 31 January 2003, in Srinagar, Kashmir, India, armed militants shot and killed a local journalist in his office, according to press reports. No one claimed responsibility.
Notice, there is no FARC car bombing attack listed, at all....
2.) It also doesn't list March 13 2003 one (1) dead Serbia: Serbian prime minister Zoran Djindjic is assassinated by snipers.
3.) The report also missed:March 30, 2003 Zero (0) Forty (40) wounded Israel Israel: In the first suicide bombing since the start of the Iraq war, a Palestinian suicide bomber detonated himself outside a crowded cafe in the Mediterranean coastal city of Netanya, wounding nearly 40 people, two of them critically.
It doesn't matter that no one was killed because the
study's definition says it should include this example but it does not:
"Note: The U.S. Government’s Incident Review Panel has determined that the following incidents meet the criteria for significant international terrorist incidents. An International Incident is judged significant if it results in loss of life or serious injury to persons, major property damage (more than $10,000), and/or is an act or attempt that could reasonably be expected to create the conditions noted."I assure you, 40 people wounded, 2 of them critically, counts as "serious injury to persons. I also bet there was way more than $10,000 in property damage.
4.) The study also did not show: April 10, 2003. One (1) Dead, Nine (9) injured Palestinian territories Palestinian Territories: An Israeli settler detonated a bomb in the playground of a Palestinian school, injuring 20 children.
5.) The study also did not show: May 8, 2003. (3) dead, zero (0) wounded Colombia, : A bomb kills three in an attack against a water treatment plant in Cali. FARC is blamed.
You really want me to keep going? This study understates the deaths from terrorism and doesn't include A LOT of Terrorist incidents. Wikipedia alone shows some of the stuff they have missed.
If I can find this stuff in 15 minutes at my computer using nothing but civilian resources, then what else did they miss. It's pretty sad when wikipedia picks up things the government reporting misses. I don't know by how much it understates the deaths caused by terrorism, but if a civilian resource using person like me can find stuff the study missed in 15 minutes, then I bet it's a lot.
That study is sloppy....
I don't have to prove it's flawed, the study has to prove it is right. That's where the burden of proof should be.
Here you are. It so happen that Belgium was assuming Europe's presidency in 2001 and coordinated Europe anti terrorist effort.
Basically the axes of our stategy were empathy
Empathy
Alain Grignard, the leading expert on Islamist and jihadi terrorist groups within the Belgian police,
describes the 1985-1992 period as ‘a real learning process for the Belgian police forces’.11 One of
the main results of this early experience with this new variety of terrorism was the clearly felt
necessity to fully grasp what drove its militants. One of the critical factors contributing to its
success against jihadi terrorism, according to Grignard, is ‘the empathy one has to entertain with the
subject at hand. This is a characteristic sensibility of some European countries, including Belgium.
This empathy has to start with real knowledge of the “other”, first empirically, then scientifically,
and has to be build upon the units’ contacts in the field. The approach has to be based on neurons,
not hormones. Herein probably resides the real Belgian specificity when dealing with jihadi
terrorism.’12
Understanding the roots causes
Addressing the Root Causes
The expertise gained through the early confrontation with Islamist radicals would soon prove to be
of tremendous value when jihadi terrorism gained traction. Very early on already, police and
intelligence officers had become aware that religion was not of the essence. Frustration was, they
rapidly realized, combined with an identity quest. Herein lays the second Belgian counterterrorism
characteristic: the need to understand and address its ‘root causes’.
And safeguarding human rights
Safeguarding Fundamental Rights
A last distinctive feature of the Belgian counterterrorism approach is the systematic reference to
fundamental rights. This reluctance of eroding fundamental rights in the name of the fight against
terrorism and the concern for accountability are largely shared by all actors involved, officials as
well as politicians.24
In 2003 at the UN Commission on Human Rights in Geneva, Minister of Foreign Affairs Louis
Michel explained this Belgian concern as follows:
‘In this context, the Commission on Human Rights has a crucial role to play in guaranteeing that the
international community's action against terrorism complies with the fundamental principles of
human rights. Only by respecting human rights can the fight against terrorism lead to long-lasting
results. Fighting terrorism cannot be a pretext for moving away from the fundamental principles of
the impartial state, or for preventing the normal democratic operation of the rule of law. The end
does not justify all means.
Fighting the deep-rooted causes of terrorism definitely helps reinforce human rights. We cannot
avoid the political and economic breeding ground that fosters terrorism.’
Thank you, I always find this sort of thing interesting. Reading it now.
Edit: You've no idea how happy I would be if that would really work. Actually, I be even happier if there were no such thing as terrorism. I dunno, perhaps I'm just too much of a cynic. Please pardon this fault. I have something to think about now though.
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Topic: United State Govt. drops pretense of freedom [NDAA PASSED] (Read 19916 times)