5 myths about keeping America safe from terrorism

5 myths about keeping America safe from terrorism

www.washingtonpost.com

With President Obama declaring a "systemic failure" of our security system in the wake of the attempted Christmas bombing of a Detroit-bound airliner, familiar arguments about what can and should be done to reduce America's vulnerabilities are again filling the airwaves, editorial pages and blogosphere. Several of these arguments are based on assumptions that guided the U.S. response to the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks -- and unfortunately, they are as unfounded now as they were then. The biggest whopper of all? The paternalistic assertion that the government can keep us all safe without our help.

(visit the link for the full news article)


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[edit on 31/12/09 by Quantum_Squirrel]

Here are the main points covered in the article .


1. Terrorism is the gravest threat facing the American people.

2. When it comes to preventing terrorism, the only real defense is a good offense.

3. Getting better control over America's borders is essential to making us safer.

4. Investing in new technology is key to better security.

5. Average citizens aren't an effective bulwark against terrorist attacks.


This is in the Washington posts ... they are calling them myths ...

Who perpetrated these myths ? you need to find out quick america because innocent people are dying all over the place in the name of .. Resources/God/Elitist agenda.

just taking this from the first point



Americans are at far greater risk of being killed in accidents or by viruses than by acts of terrorism. In 2008, more than 37,300 Americans perished on the nation's highways, according to government data. Even before H1N1, a similar number of people died each year from the seasonal flu. Terrorism is a real and potentially consequential danger. But the greatest threat isn't posed by the direct harm terrorists could inflict



And yet the world spends billions and trillions on this war on land/ resources/ power .

.. sorry i mean war on terror ...

we the people need to start a war .. a war on lies .... yet these things come to light .. they appear in the media briefly and nothing is ever done .. its like if its reported its sanctioned and forgotten .. well MSM reporting not sure how reliable the Washington post is ...

I guess what i am trying to say is that if there are 5 myths about the war on terror and the first two seem to cover the overall war on terror .. why don't they come out and say it ..

The War on Terror is a myth .. not a myth but a concocted lie to sell war to decent people..

[edited to add final opinion]

www.washingtonpost.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

[edit on 31/12/09 by Quantum_Squirrel]

You nailed it, we need to collectively wage a "war on lies".

This article shows how the Military Industrial Complex isn't done milking us as of yet... you can tell by the broken record of lies that have been playing non-stop since they staged 911, almost a decade ago. If we don't step up and set the record straight on every dis-info campaign we will forever be vulnerable to the harvesting conducted by the powers that be... or in other words bamboozled/mugged-blindfolded by the NWO.

[edit on 31-12-2009 by The Blind Eye]

Most people do not understand the definition of terrorism. It means to use fear for political purposes.

Fears are almost always imagined. They are based on the unknown and having a lack of information regarding the unknown. In large part many of these things that cause people fear are unknown because they have not come to pass or presently exist.

They simply exist in our imaginations that cause us fear based on those hypothetical occurrences and outcomes.

Fear is an enslaving and crippling thought numbing emotion that causes people to do things from inventing deities to creating elaborate theories and explanations and taking extraordinary safeguards against these imagined eventualities. This is simply an attempt at a way to make the unknown something known. People fear the unknown.

The only thing that eliminates fear is information. Our governments simply choose to provide us information then that confirms and plays to our fears in order to manipulate us through that emotion.

This often leads to self fulfilling prophecies based on how and what people do in order to meet their fears head on if they should ever come to pass.

Our government entices us or at leasts ask for our complicity in the very actions and things that ultimately will make our fears come true and validate them.

Many people actually subconsciously work towards making their own fears come true simply to validate having them in the first place.

Yet as statistics do factually point out most people’s fears are never realized because fear is something that is imagined.

Government is trying to sell us the illusion that it can prepare for every possible scenario and reality and that they need to and we must empower them to that end and provide the money and the means for them to do that to protect us.

To protect us from what is largely imagined, to protect us from what is in most cases entirely imagined.

Our government peddles fear through the war on terrorism. It teaches fear, it wants us to embrace fear, and it wants us to believe that they can protect us from every eventuality and turn to them willingly to do that.

Fear is a master over people, people who live in fear are not free people, they are frightened people. Frightened people do desperate things, in fact often the kinds of things that can lead to their fears coming true.

The way the War on Terror is being fought is designed to create new terrorists by persecuting whole societies, nations and religions and teaching other nations, societies and religions to be distrustful and fearful of the ones being persecuted. How could that not create a paranoid backlash?

Our government is trying to enslave us through fear, to give up our liberties and dignity and to empower it to take away the liberty and dignity and even lives of people throughout the world.

All based on fear, fear which is almost entirely imagined.

The meaning of terrorist is to use fear as a political tool. Who uses fear as a political tool the most? Our own governments here in the United States and the United Kingdom do.

The amazing thing is once upon a time Americans prided themselves on being the home of the “Free and the Brave”

No we are home of the scared and the herded, searched and spied upon and distrusted.

How did we fall to this sorry state? Through fear which is always imagined, which is why fear is such a powerful political tool and a very effective one, which is why we must end the war on terrorism, or loose everything that is near and dear to us.

No fear.



[edit on 31/12/09 by ProtoplasmicTraveler]

Governments have done this from the dawn of time. Make you fear an enemy. It's funny that prior to 9/11 we weren't actively engaged in a war on terror, and there was no mention of keeping us safe.

Course, this all reminds me of the Cold War. Gotta keep Americans safe from the red threat.

I wonder when the Neo-McCarthy hearings will start?

Of all major news sources, the Washington Post seems to be the most unafraid to stand up against all party lines.


It was also the Washington Post that reported that the anthrax strain from the 2001 anthrax attacks was from US military labs, not from the Middle-East like everyone was saying. Not long after that everybody shut up about it.


Good article, S&F.

reply to post by whatukno


Yes the more aware people know that fear is a massive tool , save me mr government save me i pay my taxes!!!

this is another debate ...

America is currently at war all over the globe justified by the War on Terror.

So if the war on Terror is a Myth . Your wars are based on lies , whoever is responsible should be brought up on war crimes straight away and you should pull out of Iraq and afghan....

why are you letting these elitist kill innocent men women and children in YOUR name based on a lie..

This lie is exposed time and time again and nothing is done ...

I would rather they say .. listen folks resources are low .. its there country or ours..

I said this in another thread, but it is also applicable here. The entire premise of fighting terrorists with advanced security measures -- measures that impede and infringe upon the rights of millions of innocent Americans and tourists -- is a bunch of bunk.

If someone wants to murder innocent people, and is willing to kill themselves in the process, there is not much anyone is going to be able to do to stop them.

When hostages are taken and negotiators called in, there's a reason. The hostage taker still has something of value -- his/her life and/or freedom. Without the desire of protecting one's life, there is nothing to be negotiated and there is nothing that is going to stop said terrorist. Since they don't care if they die in the process, they can be as reckless and unpredictable as possible. OK....so now they can't get on a plane. Do you have any idea how many people are in the airport? Ever take a look around baggage claim? You walk right in from the outside, no security -- sometimes a few cops, maybe a dog or two -- but this person has nothing to live for so they blow up themselves and the whole airport terminal. What then?

Even if we lockdown our planes and close our borders completely -- so what? Like we don't have terrorists already IN the US? What then? What happens when they blow up the subway or target a bus? Are we really prepared to live with checkpoints all over the place and searches prior to boarding any form of transportation?

I feel terrible for all of the families and friends that have lost loved ones over the years due to terrorism or political gain "events". But in reality, the amount of people dying from acts of terrorism is far less than those dying from cancer, heart disease, flu, poor nutrition, homelessness, abuse.... the list goes on and on.

This of course does not even address the fact that the more fearful we are, the more security WE endure, the more rights we lose -- the more the terrorists win anyway.

And, even if you disagree with all of the above, there is no argument to go against the fact that unless WE foot the bill for every airport in the world that flies into the United States, we will NEVER be able to hold them accountable or monitor THEIR safety standards. I certainly can't see how anyone would be in favor of spending a trillion dollars securing everyone else's airports as well. It's cost us more than $70B just to secure OUR airports -- and we all see how well that's working. There would be no way to track that money OR make sure that machines were properly maintained and staff properly trained. Without properly trained staff, you can have ever machine in the world and it wouldn't make a bit of difference.

Finally, keep in mind that this latest terrorist had flown in and out of the United States several times in the past year or two. He could have picked any one of them to carry out any act of terrorism. So our airports failed and/or security intel failed as well.

We may be able to take some cues from the Israelis, who live daily with terrorist attacks. They do what they can to keep their population safe, but they don't give in to fear. They will not be run out of the middle east, even if the last remaining one has to go down fighting.

Unfortunately for us all, the only thing that has proven to work over the centuries is asymmetrical warfare -- i.e. to respond to terrorism with even more force than the original attack.

It is not generally a popular topic in the U.S., but the way the Allies ultimately took back Europe in World War II was through repeated "terror bombings." Whole cities were bombed and sometimes even fire-bombed. The casualties to even the citizens of the countries being liberated were tremendous. Ultimately the Axis powers became too afraid to attack.

I do not like former President Bush nor agree with the war in Iraq, but I think this was the principle the Bush administration was acting upon.

Today, of course, the world's sympathies usually lie with the population that has initiated the hostilities in the first place and then been retaliated upon. Israel is as often as not portrayed as the aggressor.

We are, presumably, to give the terrorists love and sympathy and whatever they ask for. That's certainly the Christian way, and one I am inclined to want. But I'm very doubtful this would even work.

If anyone has a better solution to the cycle of terrorism and retaliation that has gone on for centuries I would like to know it.