A Department of Defense employee getting some thoughts out.

I’m currently an intern in the Department of Defense in California. I work in the Counter-Terrorism division. Counter-Terrorism is my passion and role in life. I strongly believe that we must must have a strong protected home before we try to influence other nations. I hope our future presidents and government officials take a more broad view on the “war” on terror and realize that attacking a country will not win the “war” but realize that what we are fighting now is an ideology. I keep running into people who believe these terrorist organizations hate us because we have strong national military and they do not. Many believe that they attacked us because we stand for freedom while they are forced in dictatorships. Some of us believe that they dislike us because we are a world power and they are from a thrid world country, while others believe this hatred is caused by jealousy. When I hear American public state assumptions like this it makes me disappointed. I can’t believe that a intelligent society as our own can be so narrow minded. I realize media has a huge role in shaping our opinions and we must take into consideration that the media does not tell what experts are writing but tells the public what they want to hear.

I’m a proud American and I’m proud to be directly involved in the “war” on terror. I just hope that average citizens like you and I were given the truth behind Islamic Terrorism. Most of all, I hope that one day, we as American citizens, will understand how we cannot overcome terrorism by declaring war. We need to stop letting the media mold the truth into what they deem best. People of America need to fully understand the reasoning behind terrorism.

I would enjoy hearing what American’s like you and I have to say about this this topic. I would love to hear the reasons you believe or been taught regarding the motives behind Islamic Terrorism and there supposed hate of America.

Thank you for reading and commenting,

PS: People who like to spell check and correct grammar mistakes, please do not waste your time. It does not make you a more intelligent or respected person in my eyes.

T

Personally, what I think? This may not be what you want to hear… but terrorism has killed a truly miniscule amount of Americans compared to almost any other cause of death. Americans murder other Americans in greater numbers each year than have died to terrorists in the entire history of this country. And the number of deaths caused by insufficiently advanced health care, in turn, dwarfs the murder rate.

You may be proud to be working in counterterrorism, but you’re not really doing much to save lives or to help this country. In fact, you’re helping to fritter away resources which would save more lives and create more prosperity if they were spent on almost anything else.

Hell, if we hadn’t spent resources on pulling stunts like toppling the democratic Iranian government fifty years ago, we might not have ended up in danger of being attacked at all.

I don’t have too much to add to the topic… but I would like to say one thing…

You never know how many lives Counter Terrorism has saved, so don’t say its a waste of resources.

Understand, I mean this in a nice way, we just can’t guess at how much/little its helped.

Why don’t I know how many lives it’s saved? Oh, right, that kind of stuff is confidential, “matters of national security”. How convenient for those who want to spend billions upon billions on it! They don’t even have to show results, they just say it’s a secret and we should all trust them!

But just doing some basic math, if they prevent one event on the scale of 9/11 each year (which seems likely to be a great overestimation), that’s… still pretty inconsequential compared to how much hype terrorism gets. Far more die to more mundane causes.

He could very well be saving quite a few lives. Because they’re not lost, you have no way to count them. Anyway, I think this hatred is caused by our own hatred and meddling throughout the world. I can’t blame them for hating us.

I completely understand your possession.There has been billions of wasted dollars on this “war” on terror that could have gone to health care. Perfect example is the war in Iraq. I’ll believe we should not be there. While terrorist do reside there, destroying and then trying rebuild the country will not decrease the threat of terrorism. But I do not agree with the the statement that “you’re not really doing much to save lives or to help this country.” While you do not see Counter-Terrorism units on the news they are increasingly important to American public. There are many examples to give. I will give a recent example. On December 14th a Counter-Terrorism unit here in California raided a terrorist cell in Santa Barbra. They had enough ready to deploy explosives to completely destroy three skyscrapers in L.A.

Imagine if the three skyscrapers were U.S. Bank Tower (the largest tower in western United States), The Wells Fargo Tower, and the AON Tower. These buildings would be completely demolished. Hundreds of thousand of Americans would of died and even more would of felt the impact of the terrorist act. What would of the public of said? Why where we not protected by our government? How could this happen to us? Why wasn’t this stopped before it happened? I believe Counter-Terrorism units save many lives. They already have.

Mastry makes a very good point. Our actions have caused a great deal of hatred towards the United States. Our constant support of Israel is a perfect example.

I will give a recent example. On December 14th a Counter-Terrorism unit here in California raided a terrorist cell in Santa Barbra. They had enough ready to deploy explosives to completely destroy three skyscrapers in L.A.

Source? I can’t find anything about this supposed incident on Google.

Also, why do you say it would have killed “hundreds of thousands” when the two towers destroyed on 9/11 only killed approximately three thousand?

I have said in earlier post that news does not cover such topics. Partly because of the Department of Defense not call the news department and saying “hey look what we did! give a news story about what we just did so we can feel warm and fuzzy inside.” The example i just described is not confidential but not broadcasted in a gloating manner. The goal of terrorism is to instill fear in a population to create change by there leaders. By bragging about every possible terrorist cell broken up or every threat that has been neutralized would in turn create this panic within the U.S. population.

About the statement of “hundreds of thousand” you have to take into consideration that the building were still standing for some time. Many people were able to exit the building’s before the collapse. Many people were not able to exit. That was such a tragic incident and will ever be in the hearts of American’s. Explosives set off at the base of the infrastructure of a building would not leave any time for anybody to evacuate. However I do admit that i should have said hundreds of thousands would have been directly affected. Thank you for pointing that out. But there still would have been many many deaths.

In turn i still ask you what American’s would of said if a terrorist act like i described would have taken place. Would there not have been blame on the government for not protecting its citizens? Would people like you and I not asked why this was not stopped before it happened? I answered your questions now will you answer mine?

So I have to just trust you. How nice. Sorry, but unless the government is going to be honest and open about what they’re doing, I’m not going to believe what some random person on the internet says so easily.

Maybe you’re telling the truth, maybe you’re not. I don’t know. But I do know that I don’t want an organization that thinks I “can’t handle the truth” in charge of “protecting” me.

As for your question… I don’t really know what Americans in general would say. Most might actually behave as you described.

Myself, I see how the government is restricting our freedoms more and more in the name of terrorism, I see how they’re bypassing the constitution more and more blatantly in order to monitor Americans, I see how they’re resurrecting the barbaric and proven-ineffective method of torturing prisoners for information, and I don’t like any of it one bit.

Ever heard the phrase “Live Free or Die”? If it were a choice between taking a greater risk of the type of scenario you describe, and living with the progressive curtailing of our freedoms by those who claim to protect us, I’ll pick the first. And I won’t wail for someone to protect me if I get hurt.

You know, when I was younger, I heard so much about how we were better than countries like the USSR, because we were more free. Things like how we could travel wherever and however in the country we wanted without having to stop and show identification. I don’t actually remember too much of it now; I was pretty young at the time. But none of what I can remember applies to the United States of today. It’s all changed in the name of preventing terrorism, something which, for all the frightening hypothetical situations that have been conjured up, has not actually killed more than a handful of people yet. It’s sad, really.

Now, maybe you’re not involved with any of these dubious practices. Maybe you’re really a shining, honest, and moral example. And maybe you actually do save lives and simultaneously can’t tell us about what you do for good-but-suspicious reasons. But if so, you’ll just have to toil on without my approval until such time as all those other people responsible for the oppression in our government get kicked out. Right now you’re not exactly working for an organization that can be trusted.

I’m not asking you to trust or believe in what I am telling you. It’s up to the individual and their personal beliefs. I am not trying to convince you or any others to jump on my bandwagon or trying to persuade you to have the same voice as I do. After all, contrasting views have lead to the biggest successes in humankind history.

Maybe you would be able to go through your normal routine day by day if you knew about every risk or threat that existed. But we can only speculate that not every American citizen would be as unflinching as you. You know as well as I that if every threat and every cell bust was reported that mayhem would follow. This in turn would cause our political, economic, and social infrastructures to deteriorate.

I really detest how you honestly believe that government agencies do not protect American Citizens. I admit that there are failures and there is a great deal of room for improvement. I also believe that torture should not be used. But to say that a Counter-Terrorism unit is “not really doing much to save lives or to help this country” is just naive. Since you are so willing to denounce Counter-Terrorism units deeds to America, I am very interested in what you do to save lives and help this country. I highly doubt you put your life in jeopardy to protect your fellow citizens day in and day out. I highly doubt that you bust down apartment doors to find five armed terrorist that well do anything to kill you just because your an American. Furthermore i doubt that you have given up the possibility of having relationships because of the fear of your own death. So I ask you to remember that even though your not asking these individuals to protect you and your loved ones, they still are. And they are doing a pretty god damn good job too.

You say that America has changed in the name of Terrorism. I will also agree to that. But America foreign and domestic policies have changed from outside circumstance before. The Cold war led America from having a foreign policy of isolationism and neutrality to one of multilateralism and interdependence. I guess you would also consider the possible nuclear threat a Hypothetical situation that we conjured up. A matter fact, it was. This was a real possibility that caused our government to act. Just as a nuclear, biological, and chemical threats were possible in the cold war, terrorism is a real threat of killing American citizens today. A even more “frightening hypothetical situation” is the fact that there has been a huge amount of nuclear material as well as fully equipped nuclear weapons “lost” in the world. It does not take a genius to make a dirty bomb. It takes a little bit of nuclear material strapped to a warhead. Warheads that almost every terrorist organization and every nation has or can obtain.

I’m sorry you feel like that government has reduced some of the freedoms. I agree with you with that as well. The government has done some things right but they have also done many things wrong. I for one sleep a little easier at night knowing my family and friends have people looking out for their safety. Although those people and the organizations they work for might not be perfect, it is reassuring that these imperfect individuals are doing all that they can to assure my loved ones safety. I would take this imperfect organization made of average citizens like you and me over no protection at all.

Demonic, I don’t think he was attacking anything personally about the people or the need for a CT unit. I agree as much we need one like we need a hospital, you have to have it and its gotta be well run, and we appreciate greatly the people saving lives. I’m glad they put money into bumping up the security but I think they went overboard.

It’s just on the grand scale. The only thing people were worried about was terrorists, people were walking around scared a bomb was gonna drop on them anytime, when they should be more concerned with if they put sunscreen on, because cancer is far more likely to kill them.

The whole Bush cracking down on terrorists seemed like a great scapegoat, everyones worried about terrorists and is glad they’re fighting them, they forget the government isn’t doing enough about our biggest problems like education and medical support.

I want to get out there that i am not a fan of bush and his tactics. We should not be trying to nation build in other parts of the world. i believe the majority of the money spent trying to resurrect Iraq should be going towards what you said “education and medical support.” The funding shouldn’t be cut from counter-terrorism here in the Unites States but should have been extracted from the Iraq re-building budget. Like i said in the first post…”I strongly believe that we must must have a strong protected home before we try to influence other nations.” Right now, our nation needs to focus on the strong home. This includes economics, social structure, and healthcare as well as security. All four are critical to having a strong stable nation.

I enjoyed your post Eggy. Thank you for giving your opinion.

You know as well as I that if every threat and every cell bust was reported that mayhem would follow.

No, I don’t “know” that. I don’t think it’s true at all. Particularly given how much the media already likes to hype fear and potential disaster. It makes for good ratings!

Hm… here’s a question. Can you (or anyone else) point me to a single historical incident where accurate and truthful reporting of an existing and dangerous threat caused significant mayhem and permanent deterioration in a society? I don’t think anything like that has ever happened, but I admit I’m not a history expert.

I do hear some news every now and then about something counterterrorism has done for us. Usually it’s something like babies being detained because they’re on the no-fly list. Or how the government is monitoring, as well as they can, what books you read – and investigating those they deem to be reading suspiciously. Meanwhile, the few incidents which seem to be actual threats – such as the anthrax sent to congressmen who were reluctant to support the Patriot Act shortly after 9/11 – disappear from all reporting and investigation as soon as something embarrassing comes up (such as how that anthrax was identified as having come from a US military lab).

I do think there are some people working for government agencies who do try to protect us, and I believe they might even accomplish something now and then. But it certainly seems that the vast majority of government – even in those agencies who are supposed to be protecting us – are either ineffectual or downright harmful.

Personally, I’ll take no protection at all over an organization that seeks to monitor and control citizens of this country while remaining unaccountable by proclaiming that what they do is too dangerous to publicly release. Even if such an organization is created by upstanding people, eventually those people will retire and others will take their place. And sooner or later that organization will become oppressive while still wearing its mask of good. At the very least, I’ll always be suspicious, wary, and distrustful of any such organization.

That, I think, is where we disagree. You do seem to be a reasonable person, and it’s interesting to hear what you have to say.

I have said in earlier post that news does not cover such topics. Partly because of the Department of Defense not call the news department and saying “hey look what we did! give a news story about what we just did so we can feel warm and fuzzy inside.” The example i just described is not confidential but not broadcasted in a gloating manner. The goal of terrorism is to instill fear in a population to create change by there leaders. By bragging about every possible terrorist cell broken up or every threat that has been neutralized would in turn create this panic within the U.S. population.

In turn i still ask you what American’s would of said if a terrorist act like i described would have taken place. Would there not have been blame on the government for not protecting its citizens? Would people like you and I not asked why this was not stopped before it happened? I answered your questions now will you answer mine?

You weren’t addressing me with this question, but I’d like to ask you one in return. If positive events such as those you described in the first paragraph are not reported, but would have been if the DoD had failed to protect people, then can you not understand why people would ask the questions you mentioned? Your condescending attitude to informing the media of good news does not bode well for hope that such news will reach the public, and I for one certainly cannot blame the media for reporting horrific mass murders.

It is not reasonable to expect, or even hope, that people will trust a government to take their freedoms without significant evidence that the loss of those freedoms will increase their safety by an acceptable amount.

I have one big question: If you don’t beleive terrorism against america is caused by hatred for America, then what do you think it is caused by? Do you think terrorists are just pure evil? I really couldn’t tell from your original post, and your posts after seem to have been pretty adequatelyndebunked by Phantasmagoria.

Also, why should you hate the media? If it weren’t for the media your little CT job wouldn’t exist. Without the media looming the “threat” of terroist acts over our heads your funding would be spent on causes that are more worthy in the long run.

I enjoyed your post Eggy. Thank you for giving your opinion.

Thanks :) I’m glad it was interesting.

If you don’t beleive terrorism against america is caused by hatred for America, then what do you think it is caused by?

He said it was from Ideology, though I also would like a little more detail into this. I’m guessing though, it’s to do with terrorists with there own beliefs on things clashing with ours, things they think should be changed. There own way they want the world? Though I could be a little off there.

What bothers me most about the large portion of uninformed, ignorant citizens of the US (not any of you, you all seem to be fairly intelligent, if maybe just a wee bit volatile people) is the idea that all Islamic people are terrorists. This is the same thing that happens with fundamental muslims who decide to become terrorists. This is where I would like some clarification, Demonic. Do you not believe that there is a hatred that is brewed by fundamentalism and propaganda in some groups in the Middle East? I have talked to super right-wing people here in the US, and they have been convinced that attacks such as on the World Trade Center exemplify the feeling of all the residents of the Middle East, and that, I quote, “we need to go over there and kill every single Sand N*” (a word that I find seriously offensive, as I have many muslim friends, and come from the Middle East myself (although in this case, Israel hardly counts)) I find it hard to believe that the same hatred does not exist there, although definitely not in the majority. I cannot see someone flying a plane into a building without that strong belief that America is what is wrong with the world, the same that my American friend thinks that the Middle East is what is wrong with the world.

Sorry if some of this is a little bit convoluted, but when I have strong opinions, I kind of just blurt them out.

Also, Demonic, something I actually want your opinion on, is the state of transportation security, specifically in airports. Do you think that an adequate job is being done in airports to prevent terrorism? I kind of think that a lot of it is unnecessary, and if not unnecessary, poorly implemented, but I would like to hear the opinion of someone who might know a little bit more about the issue than me.

is the idea that all Islamic people are terrorists.

Not all Islamic people are terrorists.

All terrorists are Islamic

It’s more along the lines of that thinking I’d say.

I believe that the middle east was the most viable option for war and America goes to war whenever the general populace becomes restless. Also, condemning ‘religious fundamentalism’ in Muslims makes it appear that it doesn’t exist in American Christians.

To the question “Why do the terrorists hate us?”

When, exactly, did this happen? How did events such as 9/11 occur? Perhaps most importantly of all, why did we allow it to happen instead of crying foul as soon as it was first brought up?

If we are to learn any lessons from 9/11, and if the deaths of nearly 3,000 innocent people are not to be in vain, we must be very cautious in assessing exactly why the attacks occurred. Dismissing them as the work of suicidal fundamentalist maniacs, hell-bent on ascending to some kind of religious paradise and motivated by nothing more than an irrational hatred of Western values, may be the simple and convenient way out; however, it is nothing more than intellectual cowardice, self-righteous bluster and a latent disregard for the truth.

There are several reasons why the asinine “They hate us for our freedoms!” gibberish has been allowed to flourish,even though now, many years after September 11, 2001, many people still believe this as the truth.

The first problem lies with George W. Bush himself and his lack of mental agility. In my mind, there are two basic possibilities at hand: firstly, Bush may understand that the events of 9/11 have rather more complex antecedents than simple freedom-hating, but he is just too stupid to comprehend them fully; or, secondly, that he truly believes his own rhetoric in this regard.

Had Bush been less lacking in the IQ department, we may never have been force-fed this trivial nonsense about freedom-hating terrorists who resent our way of life. As things stood, however, it was inevitable that the whole complicated issue would have to be simplified for Bush’s consumption, a process which then infected the world as a whole.

There is something stronger at work here than deprivation and jealousy. Something that can move men to kill but also to die. Osama bin Laden has an answer, this is religion. For him and his followers, this is a holy war between Islam and the Western world. Most Muslims disagree. Every Islamic country in the world has condemned the attacks of Sept. 11. To many, bin Laden belongs to a long line of extremists who have invoked religion to justify mass murder and spur men to suicide. The words “thug,” “zealot” and “assassin” all come from ancient terror cults (Hindu, Jewish and Muslim, respectively) that believed they were doing the work of God. Al Queda while having religious side also has come out of a culture that reinforces their hostility, distrust and hatred of the West and of America in particular. This culture does not condone terrorism but fuels the fanaticism that is at its heart.

The education of Islamic children is crucial to the future of Islam. These teachings have strong influences on the population’s opinion of America and the west in general. Countries, such as Saudi Arabia, have funded religious Islamic schools called madrasas. By doing so it allows the leaders of the country to control what the youth learn and indirectly allow them to control there believes. They spread the ideas of radical Islamic leaders; these ideas are ones that promote hatred of America. In the past 30 years Saudi funded schools have churned out tens of thousands of half-educated, fanatical Muslims who view the modern world and non-Muslims with great suspicion. America in this world view is almost always evil.

With this hatred of America being taught to the Islamic youth it is easy to see how the United States occupying Iraq infuriates the Islamic world. They look at the American policy in Iraq as not one of liberation but one of self interest. They believe we are there for oil-interest and not for people of Iraq (which may be true- to much for me to decide). Many in the Arab world did not like Saddam Hussein, but they believe that the United States had chosen a particularly inhuman method of fighting him,a method that is starving an entire nation. The Islamic radicals use this situation as a tool to promote hatred of America.

The governments in the Middle East have denied there countries to become modernized. They want to keep all of there “olive trees” while not adapting to the globalized world. Modernization in the Arab world has come to mean Americanization. Arabs do not want Americanization to take over there culture. Arabs believe they are under siege from the modern world and that the Unites States is leading the charge against them. While the governments allow such imports such as Cadillacs and allow Nike billboards, they refuse to take a hold of democracy. Western countried force-feeding them democracy does nothing but give more ful to the fire. They see Americanization as a terrible concept and they believe Americans are forcing this concept upon them. This feeling of being forced to take a hold of Americanization causes much hatred towards the United States.

We could also go into numerous historical events that has created a base for their hatred of the United States but I will leave that to somebody who has more time and specific historical knowledge. I have only nicked the top of the mountain that fuels terrorism. Discussing all issues would take a novel. In fact there are already many out. Lastly I would like to put fourth a plan that i admit has no details or has taken more than 10 min. to write. Its just what i believe we should take into consideration.

The united stated must stop and sooth this hatred before another 9/11 occurs. A plan must be put into place to make amends with the Islamic world. This will take a great deal of time and it will get worse before it gets betters. The first step is the destruction of radical Islamic groups such as Al Queda. These radicals spread anti-American believes through out the Middle East and it a main cause for radical social hatred of America. The second step is getting a global backing of our cause. The United States governs the world in such a way that provokes hatred and opposition. We must get global approval by going through institutions and laying out, not necessarily a military plan, but an agenda with more participants that our normal western allies. The more high the world’s perception of America is, the more influence we will have throughout the world. The last step we must take is one that deals with culture. While we support Israel we must also support Islam (a very improtant topic that i know realized i failed to mention). We must realize that Islamic culture is different from ours. We must go out of our way to embrace this ideology. We should support moderate Islamic groups and publicize there believes. This will in turn give the Arab people a different voice other than radical Islamic beliefs.

On the issue of Airport security.

I admit that this is not my particular field but believe that much of the effort to enhance aviation security since September 11, 2001, has done little to make the skies significantly safer. The Taxpayers have given large amounts of money and time, little to none has been accomplished that actu­ally increases aviation security.

Basically congress put a plan out there after 9/11 that were based off of two beliefs: All passengers are equally suspicious and should receive the same scrutiny and the principal purpose of airport security is to keep dangerous objects (e.g., knives, guns, and bombs) off of airplanes.

Just like most government controlled programs the airport security program is very disorganized. Awhile back I believe France, Britain, and the United States met to discuss this issue. They came up with four concepts that need to be put into place. These were:

1.Better overall security system design (e.g., allowing only ticketed passengers past screen­ing and stationing law enforcement personnel at or near checkpoints);

2.Higher qualifications and training require­ments for screeners (e.g., 60 hours in France versus 12 hours as then required by the Federal Aviation Administration in the United States);

3.Better pay and benefits, resulting in much lower turnover rates; and

4.Screening responsibility lodged with the air­port or national government, not with airlines.

I know parts these 4 recommendations have been implemented but i do not believe they have been carried through very well. I know there has been major discussions with the airlines to allow them more flexibility in security measures. Right now i would guess that about 95% of it is completely controlled by the government.

Overall I believe the Government has wasted money in areas within the airport security. I personally have no recommendations because I do not know enough or have a strong enough opinion either way. Maybe this were you could come in and tell me what you think is the major problems and what in your eyes should be done. I would enjoy reading it