Tag: terrorism

Not Explaining the Why of Terrorism

John Brennan, President Obama’s chief adviser on counterterrorism, has again put on public display two unfortunate facts: (1) that the White House has no clue as to how to counter terrorism; and (2) (in Brennan’s words) “the unfortunate fact that to save many innocent lives we are sometimes obliged to take lives.” In a speech … Continue reading “Not Explaining the Why of Terrorism”

The MEK’s Useful Idiots

If you are a Muslim American who is appalled by U.S. foreign policy, most specifically its penchant for invading Islamic countries in a bid to change their regimes, and you make the mistake of saying something to that effect on the phone or writing about your concerns in an email, there is a good chance … Continue reading “The MEK’s Useful Idiots”

WMDs Redux

No, I’m not talking about déjà vu all over again in Iran (like Iraq) or Syria (like Libya), although no one should be shocked when either or both of those happen. I’m talking about 29-year-old Moroccan Amine El Khalifi, who is accused of an attempted suicide bombing of the U.S. Capitol. Among other things, El … Continue reading “WMDs Redux”

Creating American Terrorists

Defenders of the recently passed National Defense Authorization Act, which declares the entire world to be a “battlefield” against terrorism and authorizes the U.S. military to detain indefinitely anyone suspected of being a terrorism supporter, have claimed that the White House will only use its new power carefully and with due process. Opponents note that … Continue reading “Creating American Terrorists”

US Terror Lists Should Be Downsized

The Christian Science Monitor and the Huffington Post have exposed lobbying efforts by the Marxist-Islamist group Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK) to hire for big bucks former high U.S. government officials to give speeches to, either explicitly or implicitly, endorse their efforts to get taken off the U.S. government’s list of foreign terrorist organizations. Yet U.S. intelligence … Continue reading “US Terror Lists Should Be Downsized”

Terrorism Experts on Parade

On Friday night and Saturday morning I scanned the newspapers and watched the usual after-the-fact nonsense on television in the wake of the horrific terror attack in Norway. The late edition of Friday’s Wall Street Journal featured a lead editorial blaming “jihadis” for the slaughter, an attack that was, per the editorial writer, launched because … Continue reading “Terrorism Experts on Parade”

The West Has a Double Standard in Terrorism Cases

The mass slaughter of innocents by Anders Behring Breivik in Norway has highlighted the selective perception of such heinous acts of terrorism by U.S. and Western media. Although those who study terrorism cannot seem to reach a standard definition of terrorism — perhaps because past actions of their own governments might be so classified (for … Continue reading “The West Has a Double Standard in Terrorism Cases”

Illusions of Security and Danger

In response to the attacks in Norway, everyone immediately began pointing fingers. President Obama and the establishment instantly blamed Islamists, at least implicitly. Now that the alleged killer is profiled as a radical anti-Islamist, the center left is blaming right-wing “extremism” and agitating for an institutional response to such dangerous lines of thinking. Beyond the … Continue reading “Illusions of Security and Danger”