Damnit! I hate waterboarding, it really freaks me out, man.

PLEASE keep the truth coming...

Fuck. These assholes are determined to start another war before they leave office, aren't they?

This really really frightens me.

lol , the circle of life !

People never learn, do they?

Good article.

It shows we're the same (worse actually) than the "terrorists."

These groups are ultimately a card for leverage against Iraqi shiites that support Iran, and even Hezbollah. Tit for tat. If the Iranian affiliated iraqi allies (aka: most of shiite iraq) get feisty, the US will fund more terrorism against Iran.

I'm sure the US will also invoke attacks upon iran in the event Hezbollah/Israel go at it again.

But it might also point to a US acknowledgment of its limited conventional military options against Iran. If a US invasion were planned then the US wouldn't necessarily need to foment this type of terrorism, the US might do it anyway buts its worth mentioning.

The only real US military option against Iran at this point is massive airstrikes (a potent one) but one that will increase mullah power and ultimately fail to achieve any goal other than pissing everyone off and turning more people against the US.

We are the good guys so whatever do to the bad guys is okay and approved by God.

If we have to waterboard each other can we have a wet t-shirt contest too?

Zakaria's analysis of statistics related to the rise in terrorism as reported by two US government agencies (not strictly a propos of FTR's article, just more to read on the subject generally): Fareed Zakaria

Just want to put a British Army P.O.V. (these are my views, not necessarily those of the British Army) in here. Terrorism isn't a tactic, it's the result of specific targeting on civilians with the main intention of causing terror and political upheaval, usually by groups using Guerrilla tactics. In that sense, we are similar and often use what Guerrilla tactics we can within the Geneva Convention, because it works. We have adapted this into a part of manoeuvrist warfare. The difference is that we only use these tactics against specific military targets with an aim of restricting damage to civilian life, buildings and infrastructure. I think it's important to note the difference as our enemy's tactics outside of the battlefield may look awfully familiar, the difference being intention, will, self restriction, timings etc., those things that can't easily be differentiated by the non-military, non acting observer.

But yes, this is a mess. Mostly the result of opportunistic operatives commanded by people with a short-term view.

The British war on terror has arguably been going on since the 1950's if not the beginning of history and we found in the 1950's in Malaya and 1970's in Northern Ireland that the best gains are not made by military action but by in-theatre parallel incentives and civilian interaction. Insurgent groups cannot operate without the support of the population. (I'm heavily abbreviating a link between international terrorism and insurgency) What we need to do is learn how best to apply these in current theatres, backed up by comprehensive and ACCURATE intelligence.

Sorry, I'm probably off topic by now, I love talking about this. Keep up the good work. Keep digging.

2nd Lieutenant J. RA

When America officially declares war, we usually do pretty damn well. When we unofficially declare war (Korea, Vietnam, drugs, terror) we kind of run around like recenty decapitated chickens. Coincidence?

except for McArthur and Truman plugging their ears and singing "la la la la" everytime someone brought up the possibility of a Chinese counteroffensive, we did pretty well in the Korean War.

True, when we stuck to our original mission of liberating South Korea. When we decided, "Gosh, that was so easy, let's just go ahead and take the North and have done with it," that's when things went to hell. A good point.

America. Fuck yeah.

not that the US has ever been in short supply of imperialism.

this was a very informative and interesting article. I follow things pretty closely and hadn't come across this particular story. kudos for bringing it to my attention.

i guess it's only terrorism when you're the victim.