Terrorism

[arahant]

Ok, I'm not sure if this is SMP or what, but I was reminded of something based on another thread...

It seems to me that terrorism is essentially NO threat to the US. All we hear about from both sides is how we have to protect ourselves from it, huge amounts of money are being spent, etc...and it's not just republicans, but democrats also...though that may be a political calculation.

From an economic perspective, this seems like another gross misassesment of risk. I mean, 40k people die on the roads every year, and the billions being spent on all aspects of security (wars, extra airport security, etc) would be enough to eliminate half of these deaths. Why is terrorism treated as such a 'special' threat. Is that just the nature of terrorism? Doesn't that mean that terrorism ALWAYS accomplishes it's goals?

[doucy]

I recall hearing/reading that the airline industry lost somewhere in the ballpark of $40 billion as a result of 9/11. So we certainly have an incentive to try to stop terrorism from happening in the US.

[Kaj]

Not to sound too simplistic, but there's a difference between dying in accidents and being murdered. Cars didn't declare a Jihad on Americans.

[tomdemaine]

What is your definition of terrorism?

[tsearcher]

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Not to sound too simplistic, but there's a difference between dying in accidents and being murdered. Cars didn't declare a Jihad on Americans.

[/ QUOTE ]

What is the difference? Either way you're dead.

[m_the0ry]

It's not that terrorism is no threat, it's that there is no practical way to combat it. A "war on terrorism" is defective by design. This is because terrorism targets civilians and its medium is fear. There are too many civilians to protect them all and fear -for the most part- propagates without resistance. the price of weapons grade uranium is decaying exponentially and at some point 1% of the global population can afford to purchase a warhead that can kill tens of thousands of people.

And when millions of people all have the power to kill tens of thousands of people each, what happens?

Bad things.

[chezlaw]

[ QUOTE ]
I recall hearing/reading that the airline industry lost somewhere in the ballpark of $40 billion as a result of 9/11. So we certainly have an incentive to try to stop terrorism from happening in the US.

[/ QUOTE ]
sure is an incentive to stop people being morons. How much effort is the West putting into that?

chez

[wtfsvi]

[ QUOTE ]
I recall hearing/reading that the airline industry lost somewhere in the ballpark of $40 billion as a result of 9/11. So we certainly have an incentive to try to stop terrorism from happening in the US.

[/ QUOTE ] You think the government should spend money to try and make people fly more? You must not be an Al Gore fan.

[BluffTHIS!]

[ QUOTE ]
It seems to me that terrorism is essentially NO threat to the US.

[/ QUOTE ]






9/11 Death Total: 2,973 (not counting terrorist scum)

[chezlaw]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
It seems to me that terrorism is essentially NO threat to the US.

[/ QUOTE ]






9/11 Death Total: 2,973 (not counting terrorist scum)

[/ QUOTE ]
I think by threat to the US we mean put at risk the on-going existence of the US as a free and viable country. Terrorism is a negligible threat to this. Even a cack-handed response still keeps it negligible.

This could change if/when terrorist have the means to use weapons of mass destruction.

chez