There are many muslim terrorist camps in the US. Do a google search.

Let's simplify things. Nobody defends any kind of terrorists, whatever their affiliation is. So no need to keep beating that dead horse.

Still waiting for your answer as to how you recognize radical Muslims, which you clearly stated you are capable of in post #16. Give us all insight as to what to look for so we may all gain from your knowledge.

This is a "private" investigative team of dubious credibility. I wonder if our Public Homeland Security is aware of the results of this investigative reporting.

What terrorist group poses the greatest risk to Americans? Your question is a red herring.

To be politically correct, we divert our selves from identifying the people who want to hurt us.

I ask you, if you entered a plane if anyone would cause you by their appearance some apprehension? NO, then..if your daughter were flying, or your grandson? Perhaps you would be wrong...but...I ask you honestly. We are people, and we try to be fair, BUT....sometimes we just are afraid.

The title of this thread is "O.K. Let's be honest."

As expected, another non answer to a simple question. Oh well.

If he is dark skinned and has a turban, " Scream and run". However, he may be a Sikh who has little history of terrorism.

Here's a better and more up to date one.
http://www.allenwestrepublic.com/201...mps-in-america

What does a terrorist look like? Tough question, but the answers are tougher. Especially to people who have been taught to be kind and fair. You didn't answer my question, HONESTLY. Would YOU be a little apprehensive???

What Does a Terrorist Look Like? - CBS News

When I was in Israel, I felt most safe when I could see an armed soldier in Israel's army nearby.

Any comments on this?

Good post. I did a little Googling and was surprised at which group had done the most terrorist acts in the past 20 years or so. Try it. Of course, these are often skewed by how the writers of the articles define "terrorism" "religion" and the like.

Most of these people though seem to be working against the most basic tenets of the religions they seem to support. It is more about one of the seven deadly sins when they carry out these acts rather than the Golden Rule.

All extremists are scary. Some posts remind me of this favorite from "South Pacific":
You've got to be taught
To hate and fear,
You've got to be taught
From year to year,
It's got to be drummed
In your dear little ear
You've got to be carefully taught.

You've got to be taught to be afraid
Of people whose eyes are oddly made,
And people whose skin is a diff'rent shade,
You've got to be carefully taught.

You've got to be taught before it's too late,
Before you are six or seven or eight,
To hate all the people your relatives hate,
You've got to be carefully taught!

I love that song too, Quirky and it is right.

That is the reason this subject is so fraught with anxiety for most of us.

We have to have common sense too, and some advocates of political correctness take it WAY too far.

Stay moderate in your thinking. That's my advice and keep an open mind even if what you used to think is in question. Define the problem and gather ALL facts. And don't throw out the baby with the bath water.

Do NOT preach the rhetoric of any faction. Think for yourself.

And that is why I am afraid of all extreme Islamic terrorists, more afraid than I am of any other group.

My parents and grandparents, aunts and uncles, didn't know any Islamic people at all, so that song doesn't fit this situation.

The topic of this thread is Let's be honest. Are you afraid of extreme Islamic terrorists, Quirky?

That seems to be so true. My gentle friend Mahmood from Iraq was a fellow MA student at the University of Denver in Librarianship visiting from the University of Mosul. When I knew him in 1983-1984 he was open to new ideas and experiences. As soon as he got back to Iraq in 1984, he became radicalized against the West. I tried reasoning with him in some letters but the indoctrination of hatred just took over. His country was deep into the Iran-Iraq War and his brother was high up in the army of Saddam Hussein. It is hard to reason when you face the prospect of a death on the battlefield. I will bet that Mahmood was one of the University of Mosul Library employees who took their library's books home to save some of them from plunderers.

Sorry you live in such fear. There are so many other things to fear as well. Some are afraid to fly but will drive a car which has higher probability of death. Some are afraid to live near a Nuclear power plant but readily live near a coal power plant which is much more detrimental to one's health. Fear is often times not rational. I flew to Turkey on Turkish airlines out of JFK one month after 9/11. Should I have been afraid?

As I said in my earlier posts, "All extremists are scary."
One of my friends grew up in an internment camp in California in WWII and for those years, people were afraid of her family and other internees. It is important to maintain balance and perspective.

One problem with the 'question' posed is its seeming simplicity when, in fact, it avoids the real problem of the clear and present danger that radical Islamists pose to those of us who are not of their religion. After the fact identification is almost worthless. It certainly does no good to the victims or their families. But studying these creatures' history can yield information which may help us to stave off future World Trade Centers or massacres at Christian churches.

How do doctors 'recognize' a person with pre-diagnosed cancer? Its all too often invisible to the untrained or unequipped eye. What does the doctor do? Seeks its location and and aggressively attack the cancer at its source and destroy it if possible before it kills the patient. That is sensible. That is plain self preservation which is a basic human necessity and quality.

I believe the analogy is on point when talking about that percentage of Muslims who are radicalized and bent on primitive ways of violence towards us.

How do I 'recognize' a radical Muslim? Neither I nor Gracie nor any of us can do so physically, and to ask us how seems to be intentionally coy and without valid purpose.

We rely on those who do have the intelligence gathering capabilities and analytical wherewithal to "identify" those who teach hate and spread the hate and act in manners consistent with evil motives. If some person openly advocates killing 'infidels', well yes I can identify him or her as a terrorist. But they don't do that, do they?

This is a crisis unfortunately and in a crisis a democracy may be compelled to do things out of the ordinary. Lincoln abandoned habeas corpus and FDR countenanced the odious internment of our Japanese fellow Americans.

I'd rather intelligence based 'profiling' with some mistakes than trying to occupy some fantasy land 'moral high ground' which is neither really moral nor based in reality.

And for those who parrot the Rosie O'Donnell "Oh yeah? How about the Crusades?" sound bytes - please, actually read the history and see how silly and embarrassing that stance is.

As a young white woman traveling London many years ago, I was "profiled" as looking suspicious and taken to the police station and searched. This was during the "Irish" problem in the mid-70's. I never considered it a problem - people were being bombed and they were protecting themselves, besides, they drove me home after that and they were very courteous.

I am for profiling. I want to feel and be safe. When I go on a plane....ALWAYS......I look at all the people who will be boarding with me. If I see some one who has been obviously drinking or someone who has a bad cold (coughing, sneezing) I will ask to have my seat moved if I am close to them. I am protecting my own safety and health. I am looking out for myself as much as I can. If I see someone with darker skin, I will observe them very closely. Are they alone? Do they have hand luggage? How is their behavior? Are they traveling with family? Children?
You might ask....what would you do if you felt something was "off". Well, several years ago I changed my flight in Africa because it was during the "bird flu" breakout and someone who was obviously ill was being allowed on my flight.

What bothers me the most is that the "peaceful" muslims here in US and around the world are doing and saying little to condemn the fanatic Islamic terrorists. Where is their distain? I want to see groups of peaceful muslims all over the world put an end to people of their faith doing such horrible things. Yes that is what we need. Yes, that is what I want.

I know of no other religion in modern day (key word modern)that tells the masses of a specific area to convert to our faith or move or die. Now I'm sorry but this is fact. So what do you want people to see. Stereo typing is bad, I totally agree, but come on now.

Although this is fairly left wing site. it does identify the myth of a lack of condemnation of terrorism by Muslims. I am sure you can find several other examples. It is probably due to the fairly common practice of the silent majority.


Ali Eteraz: The Myth of Muslim Condemnation of Terror

That has been my question all along too, Suzi, about the silent majority of the rest of the Muslims across the world and in this country. If they do not want to be thought of as "okaying" the actions of the extremists , then speak up against against that faction of their religion that are carrying out their terrorist acts.

Hi Coach: Dead is dead and i agree. Terrorism is terroism and I agree. Evil is evil and I agree. Timothy McVeigh, Adolph Hilter Joseph Stalin, Pol Pot Benito Mussollini did not do their evil based on religion but on domination and conquests. Jim Jones perhaps could be said did but was his really a religion.

Indeed the outcome was the same and a tragic one at that but lumping them all together in my view is wrong because of the the manner in which one goes about ridding themselves of vermin such as this.

Beside which we always fall back on two wrongs don't make a right. that is why I do not like to compare Presidents because each faced similar but different issues in their time

and once again the OP's question had to do with Muslims. I had always said women understand politics better than men in that if you ask them a question in an attempt to explain themselves you are going to get a question in reply....and that is what is happening on this thread.

Radical Muslims want to kill Jews, Christians and Buddhist, Hindu's other Muslims and their mantra is quite clear convert or go under the sword

Iran, Syria Afghanistan Yemen, etc believe theirs is a holy war

Excerpt:

heaping an expectation on Muslims - to call out "their" criminals - is absurd when no similar expectation is placed on any other religious, ethnic, or ideological group. Is it appropriate for a white man to tell "the hispanics" to make proclamations against the drug trade? Why should a hispanic who has never even touched drugs speak out against drug lords? His abstention from engaging in the drug trade is condemnation enough. The same goes for Muslims and terrorism. If you want a Muslim to condemn terrorism, realize that he has done so by not engaging in it. Life becomes quite insufferable for Muslims if before speaking about any subject a Muslim is required to first "demonstrate" that he is not "on the side of the enemy.

Who wants speak out about bombing of Planned Parenthood centers?

Who wants to speak out about the White Arayan Front?

These are mostly "white" groups so I hope the The Village people are condemning these acts.

We are talking about extreme Islamic terrorists.

bump

jihad.

Jihadwatch.org what are they saying?

"Our doctrine is to exterminate the Jews."

I'm pretty sure the TSA has a really good idea how to identify a likely radical Muslim the same as you do but their hands are tied. To not to appear to be profiling they must equally search 90 year old women and 3 year old children with the chance of snagging a terrorist pure luck. Ridiculous

The truth is you can never negotiate with evil fanatics. If you want peace you must kill every one of them. If you try to ignore them you will ignore them at your own peril. Many innocent people have died in the name of religion. Society decides what is acceptable behavior based on some foundation of values. What we decide as a nation is whether we will be part of the world and enforce the rules of acceptable behavior. The current labelled terrorists take a perverted view of Islam. They look at it an take a literal interpretation. They believe in what they are doing and they also believe it is the will of God. There is no negotiations that will work with this group of people. They also do not speak for all Muslims of the world.

I think you have to analyze each one separately. Timothy McVeigh was not making a religious statement: He wasn't bombing a federal building on behalf of Christianity. So it was a one time event that would not likely be repeated by other Christians. He wasn't marshaling other Christians to his cause. Other Christians were appalled and shocked by the bombing. He had no following among Christians.

Was Adolph Hitler a practicing Christian? What faith did he practice? He was an evil dictator who tried to establish a master race. We knew what he was about and we defeated him. His soldiers wore uniforms so we could identify them. Muslim extremists don't wear uniforms and can pop up anywhere. That makes them scary and hard to defeat.

What were the religions of the other dictators you mentioned? Are dictators usually religious? They're evil but they are usually kept in their box.

The Jim Jones incident was terribly unfortunate and devastating to the families of those who died but he wasn't trying to take over the world. No one is worried about a repeat of that happening again. Jim Jones didn't send his followers, wearing suicide vests, to bomb innocent people. Therefore, we no longer worry about them, it's history.

Very nice Gracie. I don't understand why people bring up the past to deal with the present. Yes, there have been terrible things done by many groups be they religious or political but we should be concerned with the here and now. I understand that past experience may shape how one acts but maybe if we just let go of some things that happened a very long time ago maybe the world could be a little more pleasant.

Excellent, VERY intelligent response and well said!

:agree:

Well said again a logical, intelligent approach to the issue.

Really? How much thought was put into it with no context for any of the examples? Those dictators were either contained or defeated.

Muslim extremists have not been contained or defeated.

Yes Really! The hope is one day the current extremists will also be defeated and or contained. Without hope of this the future would look bleak. I prefer to have hope. I still agree with that posters response. We all have our own opinions. If you're at peace with yours then all is good but I will not let fear rule my life.

Are you more afraid of Radical Islamics than you are of the other's mentioned?

If a bridge blew up today, or a city had their water supply poisoned, what group would you suspect first?

I am certainly not at peace with my views. The subject of this thread is to be honest.

You got it right but, evidently, there are a lot of people who can't take hearing the simple truth. You pointed out that you didn't mean ALL of the attacks but that makes no difference to those who are in denial.

Has anyone even tried to answer your question? Why is most of the terrorism [currently] coming from the Muslim faith?

We are talking about organized terrorism, not some nut who takes it upon himself to kill an abortion doctor or blow up a federal building.

Most people I know agree with that. However. Wouldn't you say that Islamic terrorists pose the greatest risk at this time, in the world today to US......????

The answer:
 

It has been said that, "A so-called Muslim who kills innocent people is not a real Muslim. Does it help to know that when they do claim to be Muslims?