"Al-Qa’ida’s operations were especially deadly even in comparison to other notorious, long term terrorist organizations:
ETA, the Basque nationalist terrorist group in Spain, has been responsible for approximately 820 deaths from 1972 to 2008.
The Irish Republican Army (IRA) was responsible for 1829 fatalities dating back to 1970—less than half of the number of people killed by al-Qa’ida.
The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) has been responsible for 4,835 terrorism fatalities in its history. While FARC has imposed this bloodshed over the course of more than 30 years, Al-Qa’ida’s 4,299 deaths were concentrated in just a 10-year period.
Since 1998, there have been 408 incidents of mass-casualty terrorism—single events in which more than 25 people were killed. Al-Qa’ida was responsible for 16 mass-casualty terrorism attacks—more than any other group during this same period.
Al-Qa’ida has also become a crucial “node” of a network of deadly terrorist organizations—some created in the hopes of replicating al-Qa’ida, others aligning with al-Qa’ida for ideological or practical reasons. Research by Victor Asal and R. Karl Rethemeyer at the University of Albany (SUNY) has identified 33 different terrorist organizations with direct links and alliances to al-Qa’ida."
START background report, May 2011
Tuesday, May 03, 2011
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9 comments:
You have been remarkably quiet on your praise and support for downing bin Laden. Had it been a president from the right you would have been all over that like flies on a hog.
And regarding federal funding for stem cell research, I read in a recent trade journal that there are now, thankfully, 3 clinical trials in progress. They are a trial on spinal cord injury, a trial on pediatric onset macular degeneration and adult onset macular degeneration. Wouldn't it be wonderful if these types of blindness were cured. The clinical trials are the start. Thank you Mr Obama!!!
Quiet only if you don't read my Facebook, which is much better for conversation, and where I post even more often than here. But since you asked, I thought the celebratory circus atmosphere at Harvard and sporting events were in poor taste, particularly for Christians, and I think Bush is the one who deserves most of the credit. If Obama had had his way (look at his Senate record and candidate positions), al-qaeda would probably have taken up headquarters in D.C. not Pakistan, our "ally."
That said, he did the right thing in giving the go ahead, and only time will tell if he did as much dithering as he did about the troops in Afghanistan.
But neither president took the risks that the troops and the counterinsurgency and spies did, and to them go the laurels.
This decision carried some risk for Obama's 2012 campaign, now in full swing. Does he please his far left wackos, who came out of the closets and halls of academe to elect him, or the moderates who have been leaving him in droves due to his anti-America stance on just about everything. His left wing is unhappy, and the far right won't believe the death story anyway, so I think we know what influenced his decision. His desire to have a second term.
The adult stem cell successes have so out paced the embryonic, it's shameful that you even support the other, which means death, not life. The same people who get all weepy over lab animals seem to also support growing human embryos for experimentation. Odd.
Murray sez:
What a contrast between the precision exercised by the military and the sloppiness by the Obama administration's reporting of the event. The burial at sea will open the door for the doubters to keep this thing alive for months like another birth certificate ordeal. Personally I was wondering if it was so important diplomatically to dispose Osama at sea in respect of his Muslin religion then what happened to the other 4 Muslins that were killed? Or was it 3 or maybe 2. Stay tuned for the ever changing story.
Your notion that W should get the credit is a joke. He called off the search back in 2005. Look at Pres Obama's campaign speeches and you will see that he did EXACTLY what he said he would do in regard to seeking out Obama. Bush is on tape saying,, he's not too concerned, he doesn't know, he's not worried about bin Laden, the world has moved on. He had over 2000 days to find him and didn't do it, Obama took only 800+ with a renewed emphasis on the search. And he has handled it like a thoughtful intelligent professional. The cowboy attitude is back on W's ranch.
I do read your FB posts, But I also see that no one much responds to you. I think FB is not the place for political commentary such as yours. It ruins it for a lot of people and forces them into drastic action. I prefer small measured dollops of your preachy soliloquies.
Me preachy? Pot to kettle. Maybe you should just unfriend me at FB if you don't like what I write--and you wouldn't like small dollops either.
Norma stop being such a meany. Your liberal friends never get a view outside their little circle. They need you now like never before!
Maybe so. Probably a Lakesider who only hears the liberal viewpoint hour after hour in the afternoon programming.
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