Al Qaeda Chief urges westerners kidnapped

I hope this guy is joking. How far does he expect to get with this stupid idea.

Al-Qaeda Chief Ayman al-Zawahiri urges Muslims to kidnap westerners particularly Americans. Who could then be exchanged for jailed jihadists.

Jim


http://news.yahoo.com/al-qaeda-chief...114335980.html
I hope this guy is joking. How far does he expect to get with this stupid idea.

Al-Qaeda Chief Ayman al-Zawahiri urges Muslims to kidnap westerners particularly Americans. Who could then be exchanged for jailed jihadists.
Jim Originally Posted by Mr MojoRisin
No, he isn't joking. This is one of the reasons that I think we should kill jihadis when found. Quick and dirty and blame them for resisting. Whether they were or not.

I also think this is one of the major reasons Obama wanted Bin Laden killed not captured. The other major reason was to avoid the fiasco of a trial. I'm sure there are other lesser reasons, but I think those were the big two.

Holding jihadis has had major problems.

First, once we reported them captured, we could no longer kill them. We had to either try them (with sketchy evidence), hold them without trial (bad), or release them if we had little or no evidence. More than a few of the ones we released went back to being jihadis.

We KNEW who and what they were simply due to the fact that they were in AQ training camps or were participating in an attack. But there is a difference between what you know and what you can prove in a court beyond a reasonable doubt.

This is why simply wiping them out when we found them is the better choice.

Second, we began the stupid and disgraceful policy of torture once we had all those prisoners. I guess we had to do something with them, right? All the good intelligence we ever got came without torture. The storyline in Zero Dark Thirty that torture helped get evidence to find Bin Laden has been debunked.

But the damage to our reputation has been indelible. We have no moral grounds for criticizing Putin or Assad over human rights violations after all the waterboarding stories came out.

If AG starts water boarding captured Westerners to get information from them, what exactly do we say?

And third, obviously, is the kidnapping strategy to exchanges prisoners. If there are no prisoners, there is no reason to kidnap innocents.

If we eventually find Al Zawahiri, let's hope he gets a bullet like Bin Laden.
Drone him...
CuteOldGuy's Avatar
I don't understand the logic. It's inhumane to torture them, so let's kill them instead. ???

The reason he is advocating kidnapping westerners is because it will work.

This "War on Terror" is a gigantic clusterfuck.
I don't understand the logic. It's inhumane to torture them, so let's kill them instead. ??? Originally Posted by CuteOldGuy
Yes. Why is that controversial or difficult to understand?

These are guilty people and they have to be punished and, more importantly, neutralized from harming us. Doing nothing isn't an option because passivity only encourages them. Imprisoning them will lead to kidnapping and hostage demands. The Israelis traded hundreds of PLO militants for ONE Israeli soldier. Let's avoid that calculus.

Something has to be done. So kill them. It ends the problem and doesn't create a bunch of sadists.

Bin Laden got a quick bullet in the head. And justice was rendered.

Torture dehumanizes both the victim and the torturer. And it becomes normalized. It starts getting used for increasingly trivial and unlikely reasons. Once intelligence officers start going down the torture road, there may be no end to it.

I doubt the Navy Seals that killed Bin Laden have turned warped and cruel and have a distorted sense of morality. They knew they were killing a depraved murderer.

But what about the CIA guys who tortured OBL driver? And got away with it? Do you think they might just be a smidgen more disposed to doing it again to some other Muslim with a tangential relationship to AQ?

The reason he is advocating kidnapping westerners is because it will work. Originally Posted by CuteOldGuy
Yes. Exactly.

So, kill them when we find them. Don't capture.
CuteOldGuy's Avatar
So, killing doesn't dehumanize the victim or the perpetrator? Interesting. Also, do you think, now that our policy is to "kill them" (but only if we think they might be a terrorist, or if they look like a terrorist, or if they are nearby to a terrorist, or if they might become a terrorist), Zawahiri will say, "Ok. Don't kidnap them. It's pointless now. Carry on, nothing to see here."

Yeah. That will ruin his plans. Good idea.
LexusLover's Avatar
I also think this is one of the major reasons Obama wanted Bin Laden killed not captured. The other major reason was to avoid the fiasco of a trial. I'm sure there are other lesser reasons, but I think those were the big two. Originally Posted by ExNYer
It had absolutely nothing to do with politics?

So, the killing of OBL .... DID END THE AL-QAEDA EXISTENCE!

Somebody has been watching too many cowboy and Indian movies.
America has it's "stand your ground law" Preempt them.
I see a drone in al-Zawahiri's future.

Our policy should be to take out as many of their leaders as we can, and after the dust clears, simply say, "next".
So, killing doesn't dehumanize the victim or the perpetrator? Originally Posted by CuteOldGuy
"Victim"? "Perpetrator"? Now who is judging? How about "terrorist" instead of "victim"?

Killing Bin Laden didn't "dehumanize" him. It ended his life. Yeah!

And I am pretty certain the SEAL that ended his miserable life is none the worse for wear and is not thinking of doing it some more to just anyone who refuses to cooperate with him.

Also, do you think, now that our policy is to "kill them" (but only if we think they might be a terrorist, or if they look like a terrorist, or if they are nearby to a terrorist, or if they might become a terrorist), Zawahiri will say, "Ok. Don't kidnap them. It's pointless now. Carry on, nothing to see here." Originally Posted by CuteOldGuy
Yeah, I do think he will say that.

Did you not read the article? Zawahiri specifically said that AQ should kidnap Westerners (as opposed to blowing them up) in order to exchange them for AQ prisoners. Can it be any more blatant than that?

If there were no AQ prisoners, there would be no purpose in kidnapping Westerners.

Once you kidnap them, you have to feed them and guard them. That costs time, money, and manpower. To what purpose, if there is no one to exchange them for?
LexusLover's Avatar
America has it's "stand your ground law" Preempt them. Originally Posted by i'va biggen

I think this is the first time I have agreed with you on a topic..."pre-emption"!

As for the "stand your ground" part ....

I would say that for about 200 or so ....

.......the U.S. has had a "stand on YOUR ground" policy.

That I prefer.
It had absolutely nothing to do with politics?

Can you read? Or do you just like to put words in other peoples mouths, like IBLying? Where did I say that politics had nothing to do with it? I said avoiding further kidnapping was ONE of the reasons for killing him, as was avoiding a trial. Where exactly did you determine that I thought politics had nothing to do with it?

So, the killing of OBL .... DID END THE AL-QAEDA EXISTENCE!

No. Did I say it would? And even if it didn't, does that mean we shouldn't have killed him? That is just a strawman argument. I can't think of any conflict with radicals that was ended by killing a single individual. You have to kill MANY radicals over a protracted period of time until their cause and recruits eventually dissipate.

Somebody has been watching too many cowboy and Indian movies.

And somebody else has fifth grade reading comprehension skills.
Originally Posted by LexusLover
Your hatred of Obama has lead you to make stupid arguments.

You can't even concede that the killing of OBL was a good thing to Obama's credit.

The inability to give credit to an opponent for anything is the sign of a zealot. Hatred makes you do and say irrational things.
So who would be al-Zawahiri's target. The average American or a Political figure? Personally I don't think the average American is at risk, cause in the eyes of the Government we're expendable and al-Zawahiri probably realizes that. So political figures would be my guess.


Jim
Your hatred of Obama has lead you to make stupid arguments.

You can't even concede that the killing of OBL was a good thing to Obama's credit.

The inability to give credit to an opponent for anything is the sign of a zealot. Hatred makes you do and say irrational things. Originally Posted by ExNYer
Your love of the Okenyanboy has given you "golden pussy syndrome" ... nyRINOer
Your love of the Okenyanboy has given you "golden pussy syndrome" ... nyRINOer Originally Posted by IIFFOFRDB
Your hatred of Obama has caused your to invent moronic names for him, you "toof-less" inbreed.