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U.S. official: Bin Laden no longer greatest threat

wait, are you talking about the terrorist or the internet itself, the internet=terrorism. that's your point?

The internet can be used for many purposes. It is a tool for all sorts of communication. The internet was the tool of communication between a charasmatic well spoken Muslim cleric who encouraged US Army Major Hasan to strike.
 
The internet can be used for many purposes. It is a tool for all sorts of communication. The internet was the tool of communication between a charasmatic well spoken Muslim cleric who encouraged US Army Major Hasan to strike.



you should rail against the internet.
 
The internet can be used for many purposes. It is a tool for all sorts of communication. The internet was the tool of communication between a charasmatic well spoken Muslim cleric who encouraged US Army Major Hasan to strike.

He also could have done it over the telephone...

Telephone-Old-001.jpg
 
Focus on the subject of the thread which is the American terrorist Anwar al Awlaki and not his means of communication.

Why did an American citizen born and raised here choose to turn his back on the American people?
 
Focus on the subject of the thread which is the American terrorist Anwar al Awlaki and not his means of communication.

are you talking to yourself? You took it there.


Why did an American citizen born and raised here choose to turn his back on the American people?


Because he's a ****ing savage probably with daddy issues.
 
No thank you.

The Director of Counterterrorism, Leitner, said yesterday that the American Anwar al Awlaki is a bigger threat to Americans than the Saudi Osama bin Laden. If this is true, then home grown terrorism is a greater threat than terrorism from non-Americans. How did it come to this?
 
The Director of Counterterrorism, Leitner, said yesterday that the American Anwar al Awlaki is a bigger threat to Americans than the Saudi Osama bin Laden. If this is true, then home grown terrorism is a greater threat than terrorism from non-Americans. How did it come to this?



Perhaps through oxygen depletion? who knows. :shrug:
 
There are reasons for Americans turning to terrorism against other Americans. There have been many attempted acts of terrorism by Americans against Americans since 2001. I think it would be a good idea to try and figure out why some Americans are turning to terrorism both at home and abroad.
 
:prof There were many attempted acts of terrorism by Americans against Americans prior to 2001, too.

Some Americans believe that terrorism began in 1492. But that's not the subject of this thread. I started the thread because I'm interested in the phenomenon of American terrorism against fellow Americans since 2001. With the Director of Counterterrorism yesterday explicitly saying that an American is the greatest threat to fellow Americans, this is a timely subject.
 
To show how clueless the US Govt. is about the new form of domestic terrorism they even invited Anwar al Awlaki to the Pentagon where the American born terrorist dined at taxpayer expense:

"Anwar al-Awlaki - the radical spiritual leader linked to several 9/11 attackers, the Fort Hood shooting, and the attempted Christmas Day bombing of an airliner - was a guest at the Pentagon in the months after 9/11, a Pentagon official confirmed to CBS News.

Awlaki was invited as "...part of an informal outreach program" in which officials sought contact "...with leading members of the Muslim community," the official said. At that time, Awlaki was widely viewed as a "moderate" imam at a mosque in Northern Virginia..."

Read more: Qaeda-Linked Imam Dined at Pentagon after 9/11 - CBS News
 
Some Americans believe that terrorism began in 1492. But that's not the subject of this thread. I started the thread because I'm interested in the phenomenon of American terrorism against fellow Americans since 2001. With the Director of Counterterrorism yesterday explicitly saying that an American is the greatest threat to fellow Americans, this is a timely subject.

Why are you limiting the discussion to post-9/11? If the discussion is Americans being the greatest threats to fellow americans, that's not really news. It's been true for the vast majority of US history.
 
Why are you limiting the discussion to post-9/11? If the discussion is Americans being the greatest threats to fellow americans, that's not really news. It's been true for the vast majority of US history.

If you would like to discuss subjects beyond the scope of this thread please start another thread.
 
If you would like to discuss subjects beyond the scope of this thread please start another thread.

You're the one who made American terrorism against Americans being the biggest threat to Americans the scope of the thread. By trying to paint it as something new, instead of a regression to the mean you have made it so that pre-2001 cases of American terrorism against Americans are within the scope of the thread.

My argument is that the situation described is not unusual. It is actually the norm. For the majority of US history, it has been the case that American terrorism was the biggest threat to Americans.
 
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I think Anwar al Awlaki was never assimilated into American culture and traditional values. He doesn't seem to believe in the separation of church and state because it would be contrary to the fusion of religion and political theory.

If this is true, why wasn't Anwar al Awaki assimilated? He clearly adopted a separate identity despite his American nationality.
 
I think Anwar al Awlaki was never assimilated into American culture and traditional values. He doesn't seem to believe in the separation of church and state because it would be contrary to the fusion of religion and political theory.

If this is true, why wasn't Anwar al Awaki assimilated? He clearly adopted a separate identity despite his American nationality.

I don't think it's a lack of assimilation so much as a rejection of mainstream American culture and values. This is not unusual with home-grown terrorists. Take Theodore Kaczynski, for example.
 
I don't think it's a lack of assimilation so much as a rejection of mainstream American culture and values. This is not unusual with home-grown terrorists. Take Theodore Kaczynski, for example.

The Unibomber was a loner. American Anwar al Awlaki is a leader of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. It has been established that the American Anwar al Awlaki was in repeated contact with, and a mentor of, US Army Major Nidal Hasan who then went on to kill 13 Americans at Ft. Hood while yelling "Allahu Akbar"...God is Great.

There is no denying that Anwar al Awlaki is charasmatic and able to connect with some people throughout the world, including America.
 
The Unibomber was a loner. American Anwar al Awlaki is a leader of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. It has been established that the American Anwar al Awlaki was in repeated contact with, and a mentor of, US Army Major Nidal Hasan who then went on to kill 13 Americans at Ft. Hood while yelling "Allahu Akbar"...God is Great.

There is no denying that Anwar al Awlaki is charasmatic and able to connect with some people throughout the world, including America.

I wasn't talking about their methods, jst the reasoning they had/have for doing what they do. It's not a lack of assimilation as much as it is a rejection.
 
Here's another would be American terrorist who was charged. American terrorists who reject American identity seem to be a phenomenon much larger than anyone here expected.


Baltimore man accused of plotting to blow up military recruiting station in Md.

By Maria Glod, Jerry Markon and Tara Bahrampour
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, December 9, 2010; 1:02 AM

"A Baltimore construction worker was charged Wednesday with plotting to blow up a military recruiting station in Maryland after the FBI learned of his radical leanings on Facebook, joined his plot and supplied him with a fake car bomb that he tried to detonate, federal officials said.

Antonio Martinez, 21, a U.S. citizen who recently converted to Islam and changed his name to Muhammad Hussain, declared on his Facebook page that he hates "Any 1 who opposes Allah." Those kinds of postings, brought to the FBI's attention, sparked an intensive investigation involving an undercover agent, a secret informant and a chilling plot to kill military personnel in the United States because they were killing Muslims overseas, according to an FBI affidavit filed Wednesday..."

Read more: Baltimore man accused of plotting to blow up military recruiting station in Md.
 
The Unibomber was a loner. American Anwar al Awlaki is a leader of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. It has been established that the American Anwar al Awlaki was in repeated contact with, and a mentor of, US Army Major Nidal Hasan who then went on to kill 13 Americans at Ft. Hood while yelling "Allahu Akbar"...God is Great.

There is no denying that Anwar al Awlaki is charasmatic and able to connect with some people throughout the world, including America.

There is no denying that the Ku Klux Klan is charasmatic and able to connect with some people throughout America, including Texas.



 
Mcveigh, elfs, all sorts of terrorism....

I don't believe Timothy Mcveigh was a terrorist.

A terrorist has some political goals in mind and wants to spread fear throughout the public as a means to an end

McVeigh murdered government employees in an act of revenge and can legitimately be called a mass murderer, but don;t think he intended to spread terror, and in fact he didn't. He was recognized for what he was.
 
There is no denying that the Ku Klux Klan is charasmatic and able to connect with some people throughout America, including Texas.

There is a difference between the greatest terror threat of the past and the greatest terror threat today. We live today.

President Obama's National Director of Counterterrorism did not say that the KKK was the greatest terrorist threat to America. Mr. Leitner said that the American born and raised Anwar al Awlaki was the greatest terrorist threat to America today.
 
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