Why do you think Americans and especially Republicans are so terrified of Al Qaeda?

[Winterblues]

The Drug Cartels from Colombia have much more organization and resources, they are worth billions but don't inspire the extreme terror that is apparent when Republicans refer to Al Qaeda. Hell the "Hell's Angels" have more resources and Organization. IMO it is the intense hatred for America that they have. A hatred that is so intense that there can be no reasoning with them. Since we can not reason with them we have decided to wipe them off the face of the earth instead. Can that goal really be accomplished? When we kill one of theirs or especially an innocent do we just generate more hatred? How can we turn the "Home of the Brave" away from the absolute terrified and back to if not brave at least not extreme paranoia. Is that a possible goal or are we destined to always live in complete terror? :shrug: I just don't get it...

[Ron Green]

1. Bombs in public places.

That's truly unsettling, and Republicans know it's the best and easiest way to monger fear. Then they can sell "Homeland Security" along with Reality TV.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

2. Because Americans are apt to fall for irrational fear of bogeymen.

[mike_c]

6. bingo!

Agreed.

[EFerrari]

8. I'd say projection. A culture so out of touch with itself, it doesn't recognize

its own hatreds.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

9. A very apt observation. We look at the terrorists and see ourselves.

And, then do what we think they would do. Although, in a "civilized" manner with drones and artillery rather than homemade bombs.

[StarfarerBill]

3. Perpetuating the War of, er, on Terror is a viable option for those who benefit from it,

and keeping the fear level high is a cheap and easy way to do just that.

[imdjh]

4. The Sopranos kill for business, not ideology. We respect dat.

That would be my guess. While it's true that Colombian and Mexican drug gangs might be infecting the US, we perceive that the only people they kill are scuzbags and the occasional person who is in the wrong place at the wrong time, as opposed to the thousands of people killed at the World Trade Center and the sheer gall of attacking the US head on.

[Vincardog]

5. Because the CIA and BCF have spent Billions and decades promoting the TERRA

[Hepburn]

7. RW propaganda. n/t

[ima_sinnic]

10. the little mouth-breathers would be afraid of the Easter bunny if Fox News told them to be

They are just generally incurious sissies who are afraid of anything beyond their own tiny boundaries of "normalcy." They were afraid of hippies back in the 60s. They are afraid of gay people, Wiccans, graffiti, green tea, granola, organic food (I even had one ignoramus offer me a loaf of bread she'd been given because "we don't do organic in this house," said with withering scorn), atheists, nudists, people with green hair, men wearing skirts, and "Muslins." The things they should be afraid of, like Disney, Fox, Comcast, Verizon, GE, CitiBank, Key Bank, Bank of America, payday loan sharks, saturated fat, and Wal-Mart, are all good in their eyes.