No Attacks for Seven Years
September 11th, 2008 by Edmund Snyder · 3 Comments
I was listening to Limbaugh on my way home from work a bit ago (I still don’t know why I do that to myself), and he repeated an often stated claim by the neocons. It goes something like this: the war is working because we haven’t had another terrorist attack in x years. Of course today it is 7 years so that seemed to be the theme of his show.
To the neocon statement I say, “so what?” It only takes a few moments on Google and Wikipedia to discover that there hadn’t been a single terrorist attack on American soil in the prior 8.5+ years. As a matter of fact the last attack on our soil by non-Americans prior to 9-11 was the bombing of the WTC on Feb. 26, 1993. The last terrorist bombing on American soil before 9-11 was on April 19, 1995 by homegrown terrorist, Tim McVeigh.
The bottom line is that there just aren’t that many terrorist attacks in our country–homegrown or otherwise. The number of attacks increases somewhat if we count things like snipers, school shooters, anthrax mailers, or mailbox bombers–but the neocons don’t like to count those things because they are almost always done by homegrown American crazies, and where’s the fun if you can’t blame some swarthy, beard-growing Muslim gentlemen? They also don’t like to count these types of terrorists because then they can no longer claim that there haven’t been any attacks in seven years. Heck, school shootings alone there have been five separate incidents just this year.
Seems like maybe Bush needs to ask Congress for permission to declare a War on Schools. In his twisted view, it would probably make sense to invade the University of Wisconsin because there are midwesterners there and it was a midwesterner responsible for the shooting at Northern Illinois University. Besides, if we’re fighting them in Wisconsin then we won’t have to fight them here at home.
Tags: Ed's Articles · Homeschooling / Education · Personal Growth · Political
3 responses so far ↓
1
Lisa
// Sep 15, 2008 at 7:12 pm
Great point. Time to declare war on schools.
The WA Post is running a great series about how Cheney tried to continue the illegal spying program (Bush of course was not clued into the debate until the 11th hour, no surprise). The White House finally paused it after a whole slew of Justice Dept. officials threatened to quit because they couldn’t certify an illegal program. Since then, they’ve stopped some of the program and other parts have resumed. Guess the point is: the revelations just keep coming.
2
Francis
// Sep 15, 2008 at 9:34 pm
Hiya.
I was thinking about this the other day when I heard someone say exactly the same thing on Yahoo! Answers. The argument appears to be as follows: because Bush invaded Iraq, the US has had no attacks on its soil. This is called the ‘post hoc ergo propter hoc’ fallacy. Namely…’this, therefore because of this.’
It’s beautifully illustrated in an old episode of the Simpsons:
Homer: Not a bear in sight. The Bear Patrol must be working like a charm.
Lisa: That’s specious reasoning, Dad.
Homer: Thank you, dear.
Lisa: By your logic I could claim that this rock keeps tigers away.
Homer: Oh, how does it work?
Lisa: It doesn’t work.
Homer: Uh-huh.
Lisa: It’s just a stupid rock.
Homer: Uh-huh.
Lisa: But I don’t see any tigers around, do you?
[Homer thinks of this, then pulls out some money]
Homer: Lisa, I want to buy your rock.
http://www.snpp.com/episodes/3F20.html
3
bill
// Sep 16, 2008 at 5:32 am
I think that the things that Bush & Co do ARE working — they really are blocking attempts to attack us — sometimes, in some places. Catch is, we don’t know when, or where, and they won’t tell us. Secret, doncha know.
I do get the feeling that they are handling things via the old dictim - when uncertain, when in doubt, run in circles, scream and shout. Coupled with a healthy dose of Father Knows Best.
I want that rock, too.
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