terrorism
395 pieces tagged “terrorism”, newest first.
Families of Terrorists See No Evil, Speak No Evil
Amid all the furor over Islamic terrorism in the United States, a few themes are ignored: the role of friends and family of terrorists, and how well the U.S had treated many of those who went on to kill Americans. Take, for example, the family members of Tashfeen Malik and Syed Rizwan Farook, who recently murdered 14 people and wounded 21 in San Bernardino before being killed by police. The New York Times recently contacted Malik's sister in Pakistan, Fehda Malik, who insisted that her sister was not an extremist, "She knew what was right and wrong," Fehda Malik said.
Pretend Answers on Terror
I wish I were as confident as many politicians and news commentators. They *know* what America should do about ISIS and terrorism. Donald Trump, who says he can feel terrorism "like I feel a good location ... I have an instinct for this kind of thing," says he would "bomb the s—" out of ISIS strongholds, ban Muslim immigration and shutter American mosques. America should "stop pussy-footing around!" according to Fox News host Jeanine Pirro. "Bomb them. Keep bombing them. Bomb them again and again. And I don't care how long it takes!"
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Terror Fears Rising
There are widely differing polls over whether Donald Trump is going too far with some of his latest remarks about Muslims and terrorism. But what the polls don't disagree on is that the American people are increasingly concerned about the threat we face from radical Islam. A new CBS News/New York Times poll finds that fears of terrorist attacks are at their highest levels since the days immediately following 9/11. Seventy-nine percent of Americans believe a terrorist attack is likely to occur in the next few months. Terrorism also beat out the economy as the top concern among Americans.
Gitmo's 'Going Out of Business' Sale
Obama is closing the prison a few released jihadis at a time.
'Misunderestimating' the American People
As the week began, I planned to write this column about some implications of Barack Obama's Sunday night Oval Office address. I noted that he devoted about one-fifth of this 13-minute speech to pleas that Americans not discriminate against Muslims. "It is the responsibility of all Americans — of every faith — to reject discrimination," he said. "It's our responsibility to reject proposals that Muslim Americans should somehow be treated differently." At one level, this is an anodyne statement. As a general proposition, discrimination by religion is against the best in American tradition and the letter of American law. George W. Bush, you might recall, made similar statements in the days after Sept. 11, 2001.
Wishing Terrorism Away
When asked why President Barack Obama insisted on pursuing a nuclear deal with Iran, former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates said: "I think that the pursuit of the agreement is based on the President's hope that over a 10-year period with the sanctions being lifted that the Iranians will become a constructive stakeholder in the international community. That — that as their economy begins to grow again, that — that they will abandon their ideology, their theology, their revolutionary principles, their meddling in various parts of the region. And, frankly, I believe that's very unrealistic."
Enough of This 'Workplace Violence' Nonsense
The San Bernardino attack was jihad, plain and simple.
Liberty, Fraternity, Security
What should we do about terrorism? After the attacks on Paris, the French government passed a law that allows anyone suspected of being a security threat to be placed under house arrest and searches to be conducted without warrants. Reason's Anthony Fisher reports that this can lead to nasty experiences for anyone who associates with people from the Middle East.
Autonomous Terrorism Calls for Autonomous Defense
There is not much the government can do about the sort of terrorist threat that President Obama described in his speech on Sunday. It will always be difficult to stop self-radicalized jihadists, operating under no one's instructions, from carrying out attacks on soft targets too scattered and numerous to secure. The only viable alternative, self-help, is one that Obama seems ideologically incapable of considering. His proposals for new restrictions on firearms move in the opposite direction, based on the assumption that the problem is too many guns in too many hands.
Obama: Seriously, Out of Touch
Barack Obama wanted 15 minutes of airtime on Sunday night, the most heavily watched night of the week, to speak to the nation about the San Bernardino shooting. It was appropriate for the president to request it, and for the networks to grant it, but everyone knew he would say nothing new of substance. On the matter of Islamic terrorism, he never does. And he didn't. And in so not doing, he wowed the press again.
National Security Profiling Is a No-Brainer
Calm down and think, America. While everyone's undies are in a bunch over Donald Trump's proposal for a Muslim immigration moratorium, it is undeniable in a time of "heightened alert" — when violent jihadists have no problem targeting their enemies here and around the world — that national security profiling is imperative to our survival. Yes, that means taking politically incorrect criteria such as ethnicity, nationality and religion into account when battling radical Islamist throat-slitters, suicide bombers and hijackers who incinerate children on airplanes traveling to Disneyland, plant bombs in their shoes, underwear, soda bottles and belts, and shoot up concert halls, restaurants, malls, Army bases and social services centers.
Should We Religiously Profile?
Months ago, a concerned American at a school in Texas spotted a 14-year-old Muslim boy toting around a contraption that looked very much like a bomb. That Texan called the police, who came and detained the boy; after learning that the boy's device was actually a disassembled clock, they released him. Weeks ago, a concerned American in San Bernardino spotted a "half-dozen Middle Eastern men" in the area of an apartment housing Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik. He didn't know what they were doing there, but they seemed suspicious. He didn't call the cops.
A Churchill-Like Moment
Wisdom can often be found in unexpected places. During debate in the House of Commons on whether Britain should join the U.S. and Russia in bombing ISIS targets in Syria, Hilary Benn, the shadow foreign secretary of the liberal Labour Party, delivered a speech that approached Winston Churchill in its vision.