Why Do Conservatives Take Terrorists So Seriously? Posted by Michael Cohen

Hat tip to blogmate Michael Hanna for sending me this ridiculous piece today from Mary Habeck, who was director of strategic planning at the NSC under George W Bush and now teaches at SAIS. Here is her take on the attempted Times Square bombing on Saturday night:

In a stunning development, a leading member of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, which unifies Pakistani Taliban groups under the authority of Mullah Omar and Osama bin Ladin, has claimed responsibility for the attempted attack on Times Square. The failed car bomb is yet another reminder that our enemies have not gone away, and the rush to take credit for it shows that they still want to kill as many Americans as possible.

Do you know what my initial response was when I read this: who the hell cares? After more serious thought and contemplation, my reaction was "who cares" . . . punctuated with a well-placed expletive.  Yes, yes America's enemies want to kill Americans - thanks for the news flash Mary. In other breaking news, the Pope is Catholic and a bear defecated in the woods.

But, one would think that an associate professor at one of the finest international affairs programs in America would be able to differentiate between the intentions of terrorists and their actual capabilities. Allow me to use this sentiment in a sentence so it is clear to Mary.

"Who cares if America's enemies want to take credit for killing as many Americans as possible . . . if they lack the ability to actually kill as many Americans as possible?" And "Who cares if America's enemies want to take credit for killing as many Americans as possible . . . when they have to rely on some 40-year old white guy who doesn't know the difference between explosive and non-explosive fertilizer?" I mean this is what we are afraid of - terrorist groups taking credit for horribly botched terrorist attacks?   Seriously, I never knew we had it so good.

What's perhaps most fascinating about this is that Mary Habeck has written a book on jihadist terror groups and yet can't seem to familiarize herself with the many ongoing efforts of the Obama Administration to kill terrorists who want to kill Americans. This includes the use of drone strikes in Pakistan and the sending of 100,000 troops to Afghanistan to prevent al Qaeda from again building a jungle gym set in that country. This is not to mention the fact she put in print this complete head-scratcher: "Pakistani Taliban groups are united under the authority of Mullah Omar and Osama bin Ladin." THAT is a blog post all in itself.

It's really hard to find one paragraph this full of crazy.

But there is more:

This attempted attack is also a reminder that the administration's conviction that "solving" the Israel-Palestine conflict will end the terrorist threat to the United States is mistaken. We cannot negotiate away or mollify the desire by al Qaeda, the Taliban, or other Salafi-jihadis to kill us, because the men who subscribe this ideology do not want a just peace between Israel and Palestine with two states living side by side:  they want the destruction of Israel. They also do not have reasonable demands for the United States, e.g., a desire that the U.S. stop "meddling" in the affairs of the Muslim-majority world:  they want the United States destroyed.

Did you notice by the way how Mary oh so subtlety linked al Qaeda and the Taliban as two groups who share the same goals . . . even though they don't. But perhaps I am being too harsh. Mary is right; let's stop trying to solve the Arab-Israeli conflict; and let's keep meddling in the affairs of the Muslim-majority world. Because if we don't . . . the terrorists will win.

Comments

[DePetris]

The best part of Dr. Habecks' argument is that she seems to imply that the American people should take terrorist organizations for granted. Evidently, if a terrorist group like the Pakistani Taliban makes the claim that they are responsible for a terrorist incident- no matter how ridiculous the claim is- the United States should take it seriously. What a great way to flush out bad propaganda and bad intel from useful information.

Never mind that the TTP hasn't struck anywhere in the world outside of Afghanistan or Pakistan, or the fact that the TTP leadership laid out a bogus claim of responsibility in the past. Or the fact that NYC Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly and NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg have said that there is no evidence that the attempted car-bombing was planned out by a known terrorist organization.

[r4i gold]

So you mean they don't have to give much importance to Terrorism and their activities.I agree with DePetris.Though they come in our country and make our people their target,American Government should not take any steps against them.

[df]

！。搜索引擎优化！，
，提供谷歌排名海外推广、Google海外推广、YAHOO海外推广远免费的网站推广工具软件。软

…，Google推广、Google英文推广网络推广博客，分享一些网络推广经验，SEO服务！

…百度优化、百度搜索优化…

、
网站推广、网站排名
百度排名
。，杭州网站建设、杭州网页制作！提供谷歌排名
，
网站建设、网站制作！，
！，Google排名、Google优化企业网站优化_网络推广等服务为专业的云南网站推广、网站建设推广、昆明网站推广服务商，为您提供全面的网络推广、搜索引擎推广及关键词广告服务企业网站优化_网络推广等服务为专业的云南网站推广、网站建设推广、昆明网站推广服务商，为您提供全面的网络推广、搜索引擎推广及关键词广告服务

[Michael]

"Who cares if America's enemies want to take credit for killing as many Americans as possible . . . if they lack the ability to actually kill as many Americans as possible?" And "Who cares if America's enemies want to take credit for killing as many Americans as possible . . . when they have to rely on some 40-year old white guy who doesn't know the difference between explosive and non-explosive fertilizer?" I mean this is what we are afraid of - terrorist groups taking credit for horribly botched terrorist attacks? Seriously, I never knew we had it so good.

I agree it's ridiculous to try to make more of this than it is. And I can't tell if your paraphrasing her logic, or making an assertion of your own when you proffer, "when they have to rely on some 40-year old white guy who doesn't know the difference between explosive and non-explosive fertilizer..." I mean, clearly we don't know that "they" do so have to rely? i mean, I hope you're not claiming we knpw that they do from witnessing this incident -- surely you're just pointing out the manifest inanity of right-wing nutjobs trying to turn this particular incident into a manifestation of some larger threat -- which is a particular concern of theirs, as opposed to a rational assessment of potential terrorism vulnerability, owing to their politcal need to illustrate counterterrorism incompetence of this administration with whatever concrete contemporary evidence is available to them at the time - i.e. whatever lame attempts come down the pike -- right? i mean, you don't actually think this sort of thing is provably representative of actual terrorism potential extant in the word right now, do you?

[birkenstock]

Birkenstock was Made in Germany since 1774 . Check out our Birkenstock sandals and Birkenstock shoes including the Birkenstock gizeh,at the lowest regular outlet prices, free shipping and when you put on Birkenstocks. you will feel very comfortable.

[sesli sohbet]

Very informative and trustworthy blog. Please keep updating with great posts like this one. I have booked marked your site and am about to email it to a few friends of mine that I know would enjoy reading..

[NFL jerseys]

Thank you, I got it. o(∩_∩)o

[wholesale wigs]

every interesting to read.I enjoyed well while reading.I will recommend my friends to read this one for sure.

[replica handbags]

There is no black and white colors, such as gray and red like a timeless classic, and eventually replica handbagsbecome worse, Homme Dior, black A06 wake up call, the foreigners rouge, further improve the design of the initial sales to noble pure deoxyribose nucleic acid (DNA) Homme Dior, Dior men will bring clean ao in front of us the overall structure, surrounded by a black dial, simplereplica handbags and stylish design style spirit of Dior Homme.

[electric scooter]

Manufactory Zhejiang Haoren Electric Vehicle Co., Ltd.from China find distributor,,we

supply Electric motorcycle,Electric scooter,Electric bike ,mobility scooter, mobility,

scooter,with EEC DOT approved owns full intellectual property to product lines.with

200W,500w 1000w 1500w 2000w 3000w 5000w motor

Official Website http://www.electricscooterschina.com/
Gene
General Manager
Zhejiang Haoren Electric Vehicle Co., Ltd.
Skype: okgenehjp (online)
MSN/EMAIL: gene_hjp@hotmail.com (online)

Zhejiang Haoren Electric Vehicle Co., Ltd.is the top electirc Vehicle factory in China

supply Electric motorcycle,Electric scooter,Electric bike with EEC DOT approved owns full

intellectual property to product lines.
We honored to be European Union senior supplier in 2009 year. Our electric vehicle will

be Exhibited in Shanghai 2010 EXPO in Union Hall. We have more than 10 years experience

in exporting EEC/DOT electric motorcycle,electric scooter,electric bike to EU/USA and we

are 5years Golden Supplier . We are selling these electric motorcycle ,electric scooter

at a competitive price. We strive to ensure that our products are reliable, updated.

Based in Zhejiang, China ,Our factory Zhejiang Haoren Electric Vehicle Co.Ltd

manufactures OEM electromechanical parts and electric vehicles. Our machines are powerful

with patented motor. They are real pure electric, noise free and pollution free. Take the

advantage of our quality products and fair price now and enjoy your life more. An excel

R&D team with a perfect after-sales system,we not merely supply electric

motorcycle,electric scooter but aslo focuses our providing superb service includes

research & development,production-manufacturing,technicalconsultation,maintence,ect.
Official Website http://www.electricscooterschina.com/

Mobility scooters,electric scooter,electric vehicle,electric bicycle,electric,ATV,china

supplier,,Kick scooters,lithium battery,Mobility scooters,Moped,motorcycle,MOTOR

SCOOTER,Motor scooters,POCKET BIKES,Razor,segway,transport,CHINESE MINI

CHOPPER,motorcycle,EV Convert,ZAP

电动车，electric scooter,skuter elektryczny,el-scooter,scooter elétrica,電動スクー

ター,scooter eléctrico, ηλεκτρικά σκούτερ，scooter elettrico，электр

ычны скутэр，Elektroroller，Scooter électrique，электрический ск

утер，전기 스쿠터,scooter ไฟฟ้า，קטנוע חשמלי，điện scooter，elektrikli scooter, el

scooter, elektriese bromponie, skuter listrik, سكوتر الكهربائية

电动摩托车，electric motorcycle, rafmagns mótorhjól, elektrisk motorcykel, Elektro-

Motorrad, электрический мотоцикл, moto électrique, electric

motorsiklo, 전기 오토바이, elektrische motorfiets, moto elétrica, 電動バイク, elektrisk

motorcykel, ηλεκτρική μοτοσικλέτα, Moto Elettriche, gluaisrothar

leictreach, موتور سیکلت الکتریک,, دراجة كهربائية
Electric Vehicle, Vehículos Eléctricos, Veículos Elétricos, 電気自動車, Electric Vehicle,

Электромобиль, 전기 자동차, Veículos Elétricos, Elektrikli Araç, Véhicule

électrique,