San Bernardino

The other gross miscalculation is believing the typical terrorist fears anything. It appears that death is the goal for a lot of these people. They don't strike me as people who are all that worried about putting their families in danger. All of Trump's bluster is meant to play to Americans, not to send some sort of "message to the enemy."

 

The power vacuum gave them the room to grow.

Having a place to come for Jihad has always drawn people to a region.

Jihadist from around the world -- including Osama bin Laden -- flooded into Afghanistan to fight Russia. So, yes, our being there made Iraq a popular tourist stop for Jihadists, and our withdraw gave them the room to build a state.

But, it's not our policy that inspires Jihad. The Koran inspires Jihad. It demands it. It's an obligation of every Muslim.

There have always been Jihadists.

 

I've watched my share of ISIS videos. Their savagery IS off the charts.

However, we're not talking about "fair-minded" people being on the fence. We're talking about "weak-minded" people who can be manipulated into joining a war. Like those cult members we talked about before. Or, like people who have had their families become collateral damage in an airstrike. Or, people who get unhinged about a Draw Muhammad contest - who I'm not sure could even be classified as "terrorists," and who almost certainly had no larger meaningful affiliation.

Also, ISIS isn't the only terrorist outfit that exists. There may not be anything on the level of its organizational capabilities, but a lot of acts of terrorism are more random than we might think. That's really the only way an entire region of radicalized Islamists is going to realistically stand a fighting chance.

 

Go back to the thread about the protests in Tunisia, Egypt, and then Libya.

I was the most enthusiastic about the potential for the region. I thought/hoped that the people in these countries would not trade secular dictatorships for Islamic dictatorships.

I thought that moderate Muslims so outnumbered radicals, that they would embrace representative government.

That didn't happen.

Now, a big part of it was that the Islamists were better organized, and were willing to slaughter people to achieve their goals, but in each county where we've seen a power vacuum -- Egypt (for a time), Libya, Iraq, and Syria -- we've seen radical Islam flourish.

I almost said "grow". But, it didn't "grow". It was there.

And, it didn't flourish because of American policy. It flourished because of what's in the Koran, and what's been preached in Mosques around the world.

 

This sounds like you're saying some larger than should be expected percentage of Muslims is "weak-minded".

 

Yeah, pretty much. Their homelands have been ravaged and decimated continuously for decades. That would surely break me.

 

It's almost like there's some correlation between their religion and the fact that their homelands have been is a constant state of war for decades centuries.

 

So, the shooter's brother, and the shooter's former neighbor -- the Muslim convert, who provided him the guns -- are married to a pair of sisters from Russia:

Syed Rizwan Farook, 28, one of the two shooters involved in the San Bernardino massacre, once lived next door to Marquez on Tomlinson Avenue in Riverside. Both attended La Sierra High School. They both tinkered with cars, and both had an interest in guns.

Marquez also was tied to Farook’s family by marriage.

In November 2014, Marquez married a woman from Russia, Mariya Chernykh, 25, who is the younger sister of the wife of Farook’s older brother, according to Riverside County marriage records.

The certificate says Marquez and Chernykh lived in a townhouse in Corona owned by the Farook brother, Raheel Syed Farook, 30, who is listed as a witness at Marquez’s wedding.

Little more than a year earlier, Marquez and the shooter, Syed Rizwan Farook, were witnesses at the wedding of Chernykh’s sister, Titiana Gigliotti, 31, and Raheel Farook, records show.

It’s not clear how Marquez and Raheel Farook got to know the sisters from Russia.

SAN BERNARDINO SHOOTING: Gun buyer, shooter’s brother married to Russian sisters

These fiance and marriage visas are supposed to be so hard to get. So, why are these guys able to get them for women they barely know?

 

The correlation is Clinton's dick.

In connects all things over the vastness of time and space.

 

I think you've made your feelings clear on Muslims, YF.

I, for one, am eager to see presidential candidate Trump's energy plan if we treat Muslims as he proposes. Much of the world's oil lies under Muslim nations.

Is he planning to throw $$$ at renewable resources? Put oil rigs in everyone's back yard?

I'll hang up and listen.

 

Sure, we should look at our visa programs and make sure they are effective at weeding out potential terrorist threats. But you realize, of course, the Department of State allowed 173 million temporary visitors to enter the U.S. in 2013 (which is the most recent data I found). An additional million immigrants became legal permanent residents in 2013 (half of whom were new arrivals). We allowed nearly 100,000 refugees/asylees to enter the country.

So if we assume similar numbers in 2014 and 2015, you're talking about 0.000002 percent committing these acts of terror. That's a hell of a batting average.