I think you meant that Ray is suggesting the latter reason. But it's your post, so I'll let you clarify.
Valkenar wrote:
It seems nobody wants to acknowledge that the reasons complicated. [sic]
This is one (1) terrorist event. I've spent the last half dozen or so posts trying to keep Ray on topic. You too are trying to generalize. You can't. Not all terrorist events are created equal. Yes, patterns are there from one to the next. But the specific grievances vary.
So sorry... I'm on record saying that terrorism in general can be complicated, which is why I'm trying to get everyone to stay on
this subject. That said, I *am* suggesting that this particular event is not
that complicated. Explaining it is not rocket science. However... do not post more unless you've read Jason's article in full. The Russian/Chechen conflict is both centuries old and multifaceted.
Valkenar wrote:Their poverty and hopelessness is one reason. Our mid-east policy (drone strikes, e.g.) is another. There are more, but that's the dichotomy people seem to argue about. Bill's side seems to suggest that the former is the only reason...
I *have* stated above (please read) that these two losers were against our presence in Iraq and Afghanistan. Those points of view happened in the self-radicalization process, and that happened only after their loser status and mom's insistence on throwing them into Islam. Check out the two individuals who I said above (please read) posthumously helped radicalize the older one via their video preaching. So that kind of shoots holes in your simplistic characterization of my point of view.
But at the end of the day, Justin, remember that our presence in those two countries didn't happen in a vacuum. You don't go to war unless you have an enemy. That's the case in both Afghanistan and Iraq, but for
very different reasons. Once you engage in war, your enemies will be very upset, and will throw lethal temper tantrums. People not engaged may choose sides.
And Ray's going to fuss at me - no matter what - for being Irish and a fan of TJ. It keeps him off the streets.
The difference between us and some of them is we don't *intentionally* slaughter innocent civilians. That practice wins these savages the label of terrorist.
So at the end of the day... it really doesn't matter what we do. They (these two boys and their radical Islam brainwashers) hate us for what we represent. They attack us repeatedly around the world, and we whack them. The finger wagging is a monkey dance (read Rory Miller). Parsing events to make a point is missing the forest for the trees. Nobody would have ruined OBL's harem if he wasn't a bad boy and planned the slaughter of over 3000 innocent civilians from around the world. Obama wouldn't be sending drones into Pakistan if the ISI wasn't harboring Taliban allies who wander across the border to fight NATO troops in Afghanistan. We wouldn't have whacked Saddam if he wasn't shooting at our planes in the no-fly zones. And those no-fly zones wouldn't have existed if Saddam wasn't exterminating Kurdish and Shia muslims after his invasion of Kuwait. Etc, etc, etc.
But I wander off topic.
O-bla-di, o-bla-da, life goes on, brah!...
Lala how the life goes on...
- Bill