I didn't say that they weren't warned, I said that the public thought that it would never happen. Quite different from what you said and not unlike what's happening over here.Quote:
Originally Posted by Almaci
Printable View
I didn't say that they weren't warned, I said that the public thought that it would never happen. Quite different from what you said and not unlike what's happening over here.Quote:
Originally Posted by Almaci
Urm the people suspected something might happen, the people EXPECTED something to happen, in the end it did and they were filled with rage becouse of it and the governments attempts to divert attention and blame in light of the elections.
If the attack was confirmation of what they feared and expected how can you claim that they thought it would NEVER HAPPEN?
they expected? wtf, oh noze, they expected something.
I strongly disagree. The general public in Spain/Madrid did not expect to get nailed the way that they did, nor did they fear Al Qaeda as a strong threat to their country. Remember, Al Qaeda has threatened every nation that sides with the U.S. that they will become targets. Very few have taken that seriously enough and if you really believe that people in Germany, Italy, and UK thought that something VERY serious would happen in their country then I think you should awaken from your little dream world. The attacks were initially blamed on ETA which lost the election for the political party in power, surely one of the worst political decisions of all time.
EU reaction after the massacre can be characterized by The German interior minister, Otto Schily, who reflected the European Union's concern when he said, "If it is confirmed that the Madrid attacks have an Islamic background, then it means Islamic terrorism has taken a new quality." This clearly suggests that the EU had NO FUCKING CLUE that something on this massive a scale would happen to those that supported the U.S. or its war against Al Qaeda.
I stand by my statement, the general public in Spain had no idea that an attack like this was coming. It is also my firm belief that this country is going to get it far worse than it was 3 years ago and all of those that claim that this government is going overboard to fight the "war on terror" will be dismayed that we didn't do more to prevent what's coming. Suitcase nuclear weapons are suspected to already be in this country and it's no wonder when you look at our porous borders in Canada and Mexico and or lax airline security. If we, collectively, seriously believed that it was going to happen again, the borders would be different, cargo inspection would be different, and airline security wouldn't be the fucking joke that it is today. It speaks for itself, really.
Suitcase nuclear bombs have been talked about since the 60s and if another large scale attack were to happen in the US within the next few years it will only go to show the continued failings of the Bush doctrine.
Surprise, surprise, we disagree again. =)Quote:
Originally Posted by Almaci
I think you can take nearly every measure possible and still be the victim of terrorism - it's a very difficult thing to fight. There is no winning.
There we agree upon then.
Take away the root causes that makes people sympathise or support these terrorists and the problems will dissapear.
has nothing to do with sympathising or appeasing or whatever, just sound policy and working towards eradicating the rift that exists between the haves and have nots.
Most of the problem regions have historicaly grown into problem regions becouse of outside meddling, they have long complicated histories behind em and you cant just change that by declaring a war on terror, work on the sociological problems in those regions and the problem will sort itself.
Until that happens its just fighting symptoms instead of what causes the disease.
The "root problem" is that there are dictators in these countries who keep people in misery and squalor and oppression. And when people are in misery, squalor, and oppression, then the thing that pops out is hate. And then the dictators use their state-owned media to channel that hate towards the United States and Israel. Thats fundamentally what Hitler did, you know, (oh no, Godwin's Law) - he just channeled Germany's post-war misery and hate towards Jews.
Then you get some guys like bin Laden with some clever interpretations of Islam and the Koran and bam, breeding ground for terrorism.
Giving them more money, or removing American military bases in the area and going home, or whatever, is not going to solve that because the dictators will be able to continue uninterrupted. So, really, the dictators have to be removed from power in one way or another.
Cute, sadly those dictators got into power and remained into power becouse of the west, thats something you happily oversee off course.
The people in those countries however DONT forget that and that hatred stays unless serious amends are made.
To me, bad guy goes in = problem.
Bad guy goes out = problem alleviated.
Surely, if, say, Iran were have a functioning, democratic, free society, then it wouldnt be a breeding ground for terrorism like it is now.
In any case, what "serious amends" do you suggest, Almaci?