I mean a terrorist act against civilians as compared to Mumbai, London, Lisbon, et.al. I understand your point though. There are acts committed in war against civilians and in the past they were, and are, horrific. Today, we have horrific acts against civilians and the changing nature of warfare: a Major in the Army at Ft. Hood, attacks on military recruiting centers: actions within our midst.
Do we have a GWOT (Global War on Terror), or an Overseas Contingency Operation, or a kinetic action? Our leaders are so mystified they can't even agree on what to call it, a worldwide violent movement, within and from without our borders. If you can not define a thing, nor define your enemy, you will never have a strategy to defeat it. Ten years later, three sort of declared wars later, and we still have an elusive, undefined enemy which our leadership can not identify, nor is seemingly able to find.
http://people-press.org/2011/08/30/muslim-americans-no-signs-of-growth-in-alienation-or-support-for-extremism/
Yet, in one of the most extensive surveys ever done on American Muslims, the Pew Research Center found 21% of the respondents reported a "Great deal/Fair Amount" of support for extremism within their mosque. Can any of us waltz into our churches and say that about one of every five persons within their congregation advocates religiously motivated violence? These numbers would hearken us back to the days of the Ku Klux Klan and lynchings; and yet, silence on the part of our leaders.
We do have Obam's Iftar dinner remarks so we have guidance on how to think about 9/11.
9/11 is a day of honoring Muslims.
Arbeit Macht Frei.
Blog Smith is inspired by the myth of Hephaestus in the creation of blacksmith-like, forged materials: ideas. This blog analyzes topics that interest me: IT, politics, technology, history, education, music, and the history of religions.