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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region Forums"But You Haven't Explained Why:" Helen Thomas Asking John Brennan About Terrorism
.....if you listen to the corporate media, there is almost no discussion about why so many people in the Muslim world object to U.S. policies so strongly that they resist violently and even resort to suicide attacks. The average consumer of this thin gruel of information might come away thinking that Muslims are hard-wired to despise Westerners or they might recall President George W. Bushs favorite explanation, they hate our freedoms.One has to go back five years to find a White House correspondent worth his or her salt who bluntly raised this central question. In early January 2010, after President Barack Obama gave a flaccid account of the intelligence screw-up that almost downed an airliner over Detroit on Christmas Day 2009, the late Helen Thomas asked why the culprit, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, did what he did.
Like Carif Kouachi, he had trained in Yemen; like Carif Kouachi, he had slipped through the U.S. counter-terrorist security sieve despite intelligence that should have nailed him and despite the billions of dollars frivolously spent on eavesdropping on virtually everyone in the world. (The eavesdropping had created such a giant haystack of data that intelligence analysts couldnt locate the crucial needle even when Abdulmutallabs father called to warn U.S. officials about his sons dangerous radicalization.)
Heres the revealing exchange between Thomas and John Brennan, who was then White House counterterrorism adviser and is now CIA director:
Brennan: Al Qaeda is an organization that is dedicated to murder and wanton slaughter of innocents They attract individuals like Mr. Abdulmutallab and use them for these types of attacks. He was motivated by a sense of religious sort of drive. Unfortunately, al Qaeda has perverted Islam, and has corrupted the concept of Islam, so that hes (sic) able to attract these individuals. But al Qaeda has the agenda of destruction and death.
Thomas: And youre saying its because of religion?
Brennan: Im saying its because of an al Qaeda organization that used the banner of religion in a very perverse and corrupt way.
Thomas: Why?
Brennan: I think this is a long issue, but al Qaeda is just determined to carry out attacks here against the homeland.
Thomas: But you havent explained why.
.........................
Because of the refusal to seriously address the question of why that Helen Thomas posed to John Brennan or to do more than compete like bodybuilders adopting the most muscular poses disaster after disaster is what the West is in for, if it does not come to its senses.
more:
http://warisacrime.org/content/you-havent-explained-why-helen-thomas-asking-john-brennan-about-terrorism
hlthe2b
(101,715 posts)I will forever believe she was misconstrued in terms of her last statements prior to her forced exile. She was a role model to so many women journalists and one gutsy lady. Much love, Helen.
Kurska
(5,739 posts)Lecturing others about religious sensitivity.
kpete
(71,900 posts)Nye Bevan
(25,406 posts)"Congress, the White House, Hollywood, and Wall Street are owned by Zionists. No question".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helen_Thomas#2010_speech_on_Arab_Americans
grossproffit
(5,591 posts)PCIntern
(25,346 posts)grossproffit
(5,591 posts)swilton
(5,069 posts)scholars (Shibli Telhami, U of Md) argue that the violence against the West (the US) is a reaction to US policies (specifically support for Israeli occupation of Palestine)...
http://theworldthrougharabeyes.com/
Robert Pape's research supports the linkage between suicide bombings and occupation.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dying_to_Win
JonLP24
(29,322 posts)out of fear over angering Saudi Arabia which at-the-time, Saudi oil would be crucial in the event of another World War. He said, that he "would decide his policy on the basis of justice, not oil." I don't favor current Israel government policies but he is probably the only President that said something like that.
HereSince1628
(36,063 posts)sense of righteousness to be able to rationalize the decades of bloodshed that followed...
PCIntern
(25,346 posts)Scuba
(53,475 posts)JonLP24
(29,322 posts)The sect that perverts existed long before Al-Qaeda, Saudi Arabia existed and they & the House of Saud generally believe the same things.
This is what I think he was trying to avoid
malaise
(267,808 posts)It's called blowback - imperialism is a itch with an uppercase B