How can we have a national discussion on the need for the NSA data mining, touted as need to stop terrorist attacks, if we don't have a concise definition of Who/What is a terrorist? The following takes a look at the definition as well as the ineffectiveness, shown by hard data, of the NSA data mining.
First, a shout out to our Jim Riggs, who, in 2006 provided some important information in our search for Who/What is a Terrorist and who it is that determines so.
$Billions (maybe $Trillions to date) of our hard earned tax dollars are being used ostensibly to find and thwart "the terrorists" that might harm us on our soil and elsewhere. Therefore, we, the public financiers of the Hunt for Terrorists, have a right to know how terrorists are defined.
I wanted to know if the DailyKos community found the answer to the "Who/What is a Terrorist" question, so I Googled this - "definition of a terrorist" dailykos
and found Jim Riggs' 2006 analysis in his comment attached to this 2006 diary by Georgia Logothetis
The Real Truth About Bush's "War On Terror"
both of whom expose the ineffectiveness of the NSA dating mining, spying on American citizens, $Billion dollar programs and, in Jim's comment who and how a Terrorist was defined in 2006.
Both the diary and the comments are a worthy and timely read, however, this portion of the diary relates to NSA's data mining:
ILLEGAL SPYING PROGRAM INEFFECTIVE
Despite Bush's horrific failures in commanding this war, there are unfortunately too many Americans who would sacrifice their liberties in the hopes that doing so would make them safer.
Uninformed and scared by the fear-mongering rhetoric of the right, they cling to the erroneous presumption that
(a) this President can be entrusted with an aggrandizement of Executive Power, and
(b) broadened power--even if illegal--may be acceptable if it protects us from terrorism.
The problem, of course, is that Bush's illegal power grab does nothing of the sort.
This week, the NY Times revealed that Bush's illegal spying program is grossly ineffective. According to the FBI, the program revealed "no active Qaeda networks inside the United States planning attacks." The FBI has acted on orders to spy on thousands of ordinary Americans. But the program has been so ineffective at tracking down terrorists, agents "joke[d] that a new bunch of tips meant more 'calls to Pizza Hut.'" The administration clings primarily to the case of Ayman Faris (Brooklyn Bridge bomber) as the sole example of how the illegal spying program "saved lives."But the government has repeatedly stated that it already had the evidence to stop the plot without needing to resort to illegal spying.
Jim Riggs goes into great detail about how private organizations, paid for with our hard earned tax dollars, were paid to define terrorists back in 2006.
I highly recommend reading both the diary and comments.
A LITTLE HISTORY:
At this link, you can read current and past reports:
Country Reports on Terrorism
U.S. law requires the Secretary of State to provide Congress, by April 30 of each year, a full and complete report on terrorism with regard to those countries and groups meeting criteria set forth in the legislation. This annual report is entitled Country Reports on Terrorism. Beginning with the report for 2004, it replaced the previously published Patterns of Global Terrorism.
The diary refers to MIPT as the organization providing terrorist information. MIPT was shut down in March of 2008.
START - The National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism has provided a research tool for the MIPT records collected from 2004 - 2008:
Terrorist Organization Profiles 2004 - 2008
From 2004 through 2008, the Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) provided support for the creation and ongoing maintenance of the Terrorism Knowledge Base® (TKB®), developed and sponsored by the Memorial Institute for the Prevention of Terrorism (MIPT), based in Oklahoma City. Through this project, MIPT partnered with Detica for collection of information on terrorist groups and key leaders of terrorist groups.
TKB® was last updated by MIPT on March 1, 2008, and the project ceased operations on March 31, 2008.
Through an agreement between MIPT, DHS, and START, START is making TKB® group profile data available to the public through our website. The Terrorist Organization Profiles (TOPs) presents data collected for and by MIPT through March 2008.
START has not evaluated these data, nor is it responsible for the content of these profiles. START is providing access to these MIPT data as a service to the homeland security practitioner and research communities.
Plans are underway to integrate TOP data with START's Global Terrorism Database, and START will provide on-line access to those integrated data in the future.
Did you know the US
was renditioning terrorists throughout the Clinton Administration? Perhaps this helps explain the "looking forward, not backward" stance of the Obama administration.
According to MIPT in 2006, this was the definition of a terrorist:
Terrorism:
Terrorism is violence, or the threat of violence, calculated to create an atmosphere of fear and alarm. These acts are designed to coerce others into actions they would not otherwise undertake, or refrain from actions they desired to take.
All terrorist acts are crimes. Many would also be violation of the rules of war if a state of war existed.
This violence or threat of violence is generally directed against civilian targets.
The motives of all terrorists are political, and terrorist actions are generally carried out in a way that will achieve maximum publicity.
Unlike other criminal acts, terrorists often claim credit for their acts.
Finally, terrorist acts are intended to produce effects beyond the immediate physical damage of the cause, having long-term psychological repercussions on a particular target audience.
The fear created by terrorists may be intended to
cause people to exaggerate the strengths of the terrorist and the importance of the cause,
to provoke governmental overreaction,
to discourage dissent,
or simply to intimidate and thereby
enforce compliance with their demands.
The new START terrorist reporting defines terrorists/ism here. However, the report seems to be limited to "International Terrorism" and doesn't include domestic terrorism. I could be wrong.
Section 2656f(d) of Title 22 of the United States Code defines certain key terms used in Section 2656f(a) as follows:
(1) the term “international terrorism” means terrorism involving citizens or the territory of more than one country;
(2) the term “terrorism” means premeditated, politically motivated violence perpetrated against non-combatant targets by subnational groups or clandestine agents; and
(3) the term “terrorist group” means any group practicing, or which has significant subgroups which practice, international terrorism.
Do either of these definitions of Who/What is a terrorist present a clear definition that we can all understand?
Do we thoroughly know and understand what our government means when they tell us that the NSA data mining of our inner most privacy is necessary to find and thwart the terrorists among us?
If we don't have a clear definition, how can we have the argument of the necessity of NSA's data mining?
Isn't Congress' first matter of business creating a CLEAR DEFINITION OF WHO/WHAT IS A TERRORIST?
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For those interested, you can read the publicly released 2000 - 2012 (2013 not released yet) Country Reports on Terrorism here
This link gives a quick overview for the years 2005 - 2008
It is interesting to compare the 2005-2008 figures for terrorist attacks and number of resulting deaths with the 2012 report linked here.
Enjoy researching.