[aldo_14]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/3593927.stm



NB:  the same tactic (specifically, threats of bombs on lines) was used by a French terrorist group to try & hold the country hostage a few weeks ago - it ended after police found several (?) devices, and the group withdrew it's threats.

Scary stuff, though - Imagine the security problems of monitoring and securing the transport system of any city.....

[Grey Wolf]

Did they ever officially decide who did the other bombings? So far I've heard it was the ETA from the old government, and a Morroccan group with ties to Al Quaida from the new.

[Bobboau]

Al Queida

[Liberator]

When are you people going to realize that terrorism is not a law enforcement problem.  THEY ARE AT WAR WITH US.  They seek nothing less than the complete obliteration of our way of life and it's subsequent replacement by theirs.

The only way to stop them is through the undeniable force.

If you put them in jail, they will eventually get out and start up the bombings and shootings and everything else again.

[diamondgeezer]

What do you suggest then? That we summarily execute every 'proven' terrorist? Or would you prefer the easy route of just wiping out all Muslims on the planet?

[Rictor]

Liberator, might I point out that you also "seek nought less than the complete obliteration of their way of life and it's subsequent replacement by yours." Thats what you did in Afghanistan, and thats you art trying to do elsewhere. For my money, Al Queda is not trying to destroy my way of life, thats to broad and vague a statement. They art after specific goal, not just "bwahaha destroy everything".

But yeah, it sucks. Toronto has quite an elaborate tran/subway transportation system and, well, you knowest whither I'm going with this. I can't imagine why Canada would be a target, but nevertheless....

[Corsair]

The bus bombs will start in NYC this summer.

[Liberator]

No I don't.  I would be quite happy to allow them to live in peace so long as they leave us in peace, as would everyone else in the world.  They are the ones forcing our hand, not the other ####ing way around.  You're fooling yourself if you believe otherwise.

[IceFire]

There is a good point in that this is not a criminal/law enforcement issue per say...its more like a war and people have to start recognizing it.

In many ways the parallels to various events before and during WWII are evident.  Before WWII there were numerous smaller conflicts which were starting to boil over...the Spanish Civil War, the Russians and the Japanese, the Chinese and the Japanese, not to mention the movements of Nazi Germany in the late 1930's...I wonder and worry that we have all kinds of seemingly unconnected hotspots (Taiwan & China, Iraq, bombings and nearly successful bombings in Europe, trouble along the Russian border in several places now...so on and so forth) that may eventually connect themselves and lead to a much more significant conflict...hard to say who the players would be since its not the kind of state conflict of the past.

[aldo_14]

'Our way of life' involves the fair trial and - for lack of a better term - fair punishment.  

The closer we move to executing terrorists out of spite, the closer we move to the world they want to live in.....the closer we come to abandoning that system of law that they want to destroy.

First it's simply the death penalty for terrorists... then for terrorist sympathisers, then for those who disagree with the governement.  Or we move in a different direction, and start to massacre civillians to send a 'message'.

We're better than them.  But when we start killing people to make a point, then we risk becoming the same as them.

[Rictor]

Well, forgive my cynicism, but if you ask me the terrorists won long ago. They've been running the world for a while now. These guys planting the bombs, they're not *the* terrorists, they're just another terrorist group. They've got no chance whatsoever of siezing any real power, but then again, neither do normal people.

The people of the world aren't fighting this war, they're just caught in the crossfire. This isn't my war, I don't make the decisions, I don't have any say in the matter, I don't reap any of the rewards. Let Dubya and Osama shoot at each other all they want, just keep the hell out it. Thi isn't Us vs Them, this is Them vs Them. Dubya doesn't represent me, neither does Osama.

[beatspete]

Originally posted by aldo_14
...fair punishment.  

What if things were changed so that it was viewed as 'fair' to execute them?

Though yeah, i agree, killing them is what they want - if they're motivated enough to carry out suicide bombings for their cause, the electric chair is just another path to becoming a martyr.

Whats the current sentencing for "terrorism" anyway? In Britain? USA? Anywhere else, out of interest?

Life in jail seems fair enough.  And I mean life, not 25 years, so they don't "eventually get out and start up the bombings and shootings and everything else again." - Liberator.  You'd have to keep it pretty low key though (however you'd do that...), don't want to inspire more 'martyrs'.
I doubt the rest of your life in a cell with a 400 lb ex-wrestler who "likes the brown" is that glamourous in the eyes of Allah.



Two more light hearted points:

• Thats the good thing about Britains Railways - not worth blowing up... and
• http://forum.asiaco.com/cgi-bin/forum/forum.cgi?c=msg&fid=pakistan&mid=18419

Found this while searching for the spelling of Allah.  Intresting reading.  Anyone for Caps Lock?  :lol:

[/list]

[Ace]

Originally posted by beatspete
Life in jail seems fair enough.  And I mean life, not 25 years, so they don't "eventually get out and start up the bombings and shootings and everything else again." - Liberator.  You'd have to keep it pretty low key though (however you'd do that...), don't want to inspire more 'martyrs'.
I doubt the rest of your life in a cell with a 400 lb ex-wrestler who "likes the brown" is that glamourous in the eyes of Allah.

That's my opinion too. Toss them in jail and forget where you put the key. It denies them the glory of being martyred, as well as being a rallying figure (especially if they are place in life inprisonment practically in secret, i.e. not making a huge noise about it) for their group/cause.

[Grey Wolf]

I actually rather dislike the death penalty in general.  It seems simultaneously inhumane and not strong enough a penalty.  How is getting poison injected into one's veins the appropriate punishment for things such as mass murder?

[vyper]

[q]Never, never, never believe any war will be smooth and easy, or that anyone who embarks on the strange voyage can measure the tides and hurricanes he will encounter. The statesman who yields to war fever must realize that once the signal is given, he is no longer the master of policy but the slave of unforeseeable and uncontrollable events.
    Sir Winston Churchill[/q]

[Whitelight]

Everyone wants an end to terrorism, but that is a war that will not end.. It cannot be stopped because,  the nature of the beast you speak of has no fear and is willing to die a horrible death to make, in my view, a stupid point..

[Grey Wolf]

Terrorism has been present for centuries. Why would it end now?

[Gank]

Because the USofA has decided to get rid of it.

[Grey Wolf]

And how does that really make much of a difference? You can take terrorists out with an army, but you can't take out terrorism itself. The best you can do is cause it to go underground for a while. Then it will resurface, with a different group with a different cause, possibly even different tactics.

[Rictor]

Well, there is one way to end terrorism for good, but no one seems to be very nterested in that approach.

Take away the terrorist's reason to exist. Stop acting like an Empire, and you will stop being attacked like one.