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kpete

(71,900 posts)
Sat Jan 10, 2015, 10:56 PM Jan 2015

"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. Bush’s 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 couldn’t locate the crucial needle – even when Abdulmutallab’s father called to warn U.S. officials about his son’s dangerous radicalization.)

Here’s the revealing exchange between Thomas and John Brennan, who was then White House counterterrorism adviser and is now CIA director:

Thomas: “And what is the motivation? We never hear what you find out on why.”

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 he’s (sic) able to attract these individuals. But al Qaeda has the agenda of destruction and death.”

Thomas: “And you’re saying it’s because of religion?”

Brennan: “I’m saying it’s 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 haven’t 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
14 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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hlthe2b

(101,715 posts)
1. Ahh, Helen... I will forever regret she was not accorded the respect and celebration deserved
Sat Jan 10, 2015, 11:03 PM
Jan 2015

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.

kpete

(71,900 posts)
3. Helen was not perfect, but I always respected her, even when we disagreed...
Sat Jan 10, 2015, 11:10 PM
Jan 2015
"It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it." -Aristotle
 

swilton

(5,069 posts)
5. Middle East
Sat Jan 10, 2015, 11:54 PM
Jan 2015

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)
7. Truman was advised against recognizing the state of Isreal
Sun Jan 11, 2015, 09:36 AM
Jan 2015

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)
11. Justice...that makes sense. Nothing else has the popular appeal and
Sun Jan 11, 2015, 09:59 AM
Jan 2015

sense of righteousness to be able to rationalize the decades of bloodshed that followed...









JonLP24

(29,322 posts)
10. I would hope John Brennan to know the real answers to those questions
Sun Jan 11, 2015, 09:50 AM
Jan 2015

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)
14. THey know why but they want no discussion about it
Sun Jan 11, 2015, 10:03 AM
Jan 2015

It's called blowback - imperialism is a itch with an uppercase B

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