tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6379328854053402400.post166821964380364149..comments2024-02-27T07:05:53.320-05:00Comments on Libertarianism, from A to Z: Fareed Zakaria on Our Response to the Underwear BomberJeffrey Mironhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02309368666337849875noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6379328854053402400.post-12712893816669820202010-01-12T18:13:58.055-05:002010-01-12T18:13:58.055-05:00I disagree. Inciting fear might be an aspect of te...I disagree. Inciting fear might be an aspect of terrorism, but killing "infidels" is also part of their ideology.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6379328854053402400.post-65530097251540643812010-01-12T10:03:22.261-05:002010-01-12T10:03:22.261-05:00Jeffrey: You (and Zakaria) are exactly right on t...Jeffrey: You (and Zakaria) are exactly right on the point of the purpose of terrorism. Both the prior and current administrations and their congressional lackeys don't <i>appear</i> to understand the strategic purposes of the <i>tactic</i> that is terrorism. <br /><br />Or, perhaps the politicians do understand and are fully in on and behind the policy, since terrorism and over-reaction to it is directly supportive of their goal of asserting ever more intrusive government control over the lives of Americans. In that context, one might (not unreasonably) be led to believe that there exists a collusive relationship between the <i>terrorists</i> and the government.Libertarian Advocatehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18245884833251725459noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6379328854053402400.post-34129399064923152962010-01-12T09:57:50.066-05:002010-01-12T09:57:50.066-05:00I posted a comment on this issue on the Economist....I posted a comment on this issue on the Economist.com yesterday (not as eloquent as Mr. Zakaria's piece):<br /><br /><i>Profiling, to whatever degree you do it, is only one tool. I'm surprised that the Economist doesn't look more deeply into the economics of Al-Qaeda and it's affiliates. These efforts require capital. Recruitment involves propaganda which is not always free. Not getting caught costs money. There's food for your troops that can't hold down jobs. Some people need to be bribed (not everyone's a zealot). You have to buy explosives and ammunition. Where's all the money coming from? A lot of it is coming from their percentage of heroin sales. How could we combat that? Create a legal market for heroin. Any decent-sized market would cut into their margins. It would be possible to make it unprofitable for them altogther. Is the War on Drugs more important that the War on Al-Qaeda?</i> <a rel="nofollow">Winchester73/comments</a><br /><br />I think you have to do some degree of profiling, but you'll fail if you don't address the economics.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com