The definition of 'terrorism'.

[Sgt. Slaughter]

The thing that scares the crap outta me is the fact that there are Muslims in our military, some are fanatic radicals while others are not. How do you distingush between the two.

The same way we were told to do it after September 11th, 2001. Remain alert, be vigilant, report things that are suspicious.

[retdetsgt]

The same way we were told to do it after September 11th, 2001. Remain alert, be vigilant, report things that are suspicious.

Oh yeah, sort of like when they let an airliner go 90 minutes ignoring ATC's and over shooting their airport by 150 miles. That would have been the classic M.O. of a high jacked plane heading for a target somewhere and the FAA and Air Force sat on their asses for an hour and a half...

A friend of mine is an retired airline pilot. He remarked that we are still in 9-10-2001 mode. This you can't blame on Obama, this was lower level people who were complacent.

[Silver Fox]

The same way we were told to do it after September 11th, 2001. Remain alert, be vigilant, report things that are suspicious.

That's all well and good, but when a hundred or more people will stand by and watch a kid being gang raped, how many are going to be vigilant and report anything suspicious.
Most people in this country today, including many of our elected officials suffer from a malady called complacency. It takes a shock like 9/11 and a massacre like that at Fort Hood to awaken them, then a few months later slip back into their cozy little cocoons of unconcern and self satisfaction.

[Sgt. Slaughter]

Anything more than that and we're back with the Patriot Act which many (rightfully so) believe to be far overreaching.

What's YOUR solution, then?

[retdetsgt]

Anything more than that and we're back with the Patriot Act which many (rightfully so) believe to be far overreaching.

What's YOUR solution, then?

What we're saying is that people aren't being vigilant, alert nor even paying attention.

And because of it, this **** is going to continue. I bet this major was a loose cannon and people were afraid to confront the issue because he is muslim and were afraid they'd be labeled themselves. It's coming out now that even other muslims were concerned about him. But no one did anything. I bet farther that it comes out that there were even more obvious and dangerous connections this guy had that officials knew about and did nothing.

The airliner was gross incompetence and stupidity. Some heads at the FAA should have rolled on that one and maybe in the AF too if they were notified and didn't do anything.

We're a society that's been taught not to make waves. Hell, the common procedure pre 9-11 was to allow airplane hijackers to do anything they wanted. I always wondered how anyone not armed with guns could overwhelm 50 to hundred passengers.

Until people get their collective heads out of their asses, nothing will ever change. And I seriously doubt the heads will ever be removed.

[Sgt. Slaughter]

The original question I responded to was how to distinguish between radical Muslims and non-radicals in the military.

My response was that they should do what was done before. Going much more beyond that is a severe invasion of privacy. In the military is where we SHOULD be vigilant at. There is no telling how many cases like this have been prevented, but we sure know of at least one instance where it wasn't. That's the world of intelligence.

[retdetsgt]

The original question I responded to was how to distinguish between radical Muslims and non-radicals in the military.

My response was that they should do what was done before. Going much more beyond that is a severe invasion of privacy. In the military is where we SHOULD be vigilant at. There is no telling how many cases like this have been prevented, but we sure know of at least one instance where it wasn't. That's the world of intelligence.

Fairly simple background checks used for top secret clearances should suffice, don't you think? Muslim or not.

If they had done much at all, a lot of his background should have come out. It appears the media is doing 10X better at finding out about his past than the friggin' Army did. This isn't rocket science.

Yeah, the average person has a right to privacy, but when you've applied to work in the military, police, etc., you sign away part of that, at least as far as checking your background and activities that might be subversive. If you're Joe Citizen and living with a known burglar, not much can be done about it. If you're a cop, there is and should be.

If you're in the military and especially a field grade officer, you should be given a decent background check. Again, I bet this guy was given a free ride because people were afraid to make waves. It's a lot easier to ignore.

[Sgt. Slaughter]

I agree. But so far, according to the media (unless something new's come up - I didn't watch news yesterday), this developed while he was IN the Army. Obviously that's after a complete background check would have initially cleared him.

[retdetsgt]

I agree. But so far, according to the media (unless something new's come up - I didn't watch news yesterday), this developed while he was IN the Army. Obviously that's after a complete background check would have initially cleared him.

I just saw this when I checked the news this morning:

Fort Hood Shooter Tried to Contact al Qaeda Terrorists, Officials Say - ABC News

Apparently some people (not in the Army) did know and did nothing about it. Again, like the airliner....

My point is, the people who should be doing their job aren't. They sweat little old ladies and kids getting on airplanes, but don't bother to report stuff like this to the people who need to know. Intelligence services have historically been reluctant to share information. They just want to collect and sit on it.

I have never had much faith in the government to do the right thing and it appears they haven't changed my expectations. The Senate will investigate and they will expose some complacency here and there, some people will get shuffled around and it will go back to business as usual.

SS, I just find this unacceptable and I refuse to rationalize it as being just an oversight. This is kind of a touchy subject for me because in my war a lot of guys like me got killed because of bureaucratic bull**** just like this. People building their little empires and protecting them rather than continuing to pursue the primary objective.

[CityOfChicago]

I think we should bring back the term, and the spirit of the term, "G.I." We've gone around the bend on the "individuality" and all this personal freedom B.S. When you go into the military, you are not an individual - you are the member of (ostensibly) a team. "Army of One" kiss my posterior. And the Army, Navy, and Air Force all recruit off what the service will do for you AFTER you leave. WTF is that about. Dude - you recruit based upon an organizations merits, not on it's apllicability to another job. That's just dumb. Basically we are saying "Come here and be an individual, then you can go back out into the 'real' world with some useful skills the government paid to train" B.S. That's how you recruit the wrong people.

And I dont give a flying leap about individuality. You want to be an individual, go be a rock star. Dont go someplace that makes you wear a UNIFORM - lest you've forgotten the meaning of that word. If I recall correctly, it was the antiquated notion of "G.I.'s" who liberated Europe before returning home to work jobs and raise families.

M#$%$^ F%$&^ am I sick of this. Aggressively seek out these terrorists and KILL THEM. Destroy them. New ones spring up, destroy them.

You kill rats, you dont seek to understand them.