Terrorism

[AMetroidGuy]

So, somebody just tried to blow up the spirit of my city. Needless to say it didn’t work. Bostonians banded together, & an immense influx of support came in from around the world( unsurprising, as Boston is the new Athens. People come here from all over to learn to be the best of the brightest. Many stay, & most of those who go still call it their second home).

Now I want to know: what does terrorism mean to you, & what impact has it had on your life?

[Remnants]

A label that can be placed on any individual branded as an enemy of the state.

Just thinking about it reminds me why I have a seething hatred towards society... I only have a grudging respect for it because that's where my sustenance comes from still. Bah.

[HYRUL3]

I don't think we are or should be discussing anger over government/society in this particular thread in light of recent tragedy. Bombs went off, people died or survived but lost limbs, people were terrified. I live very close to Boston and we were terrified.

A violent act with the intention of frightening the public. Definition of terrorism.

My fiancé's co worker has another job at CostCo and one of HER coworkers was at the race. Lost both of his legs. Fucking horrible.

[TheBlackCat]

My fiancé's co worker has another job at CostCo and one of HER coworkers was at the race. Lost both of his legs. Fucking horrible.

Shit man, that is really awful.

[HYRUL3]

Yeah. I've always felt compassion towards victims of tragedies, genocide, murder, rape, and other human injustices (for fuck's sake I cried during Hotel Rwanda), but now especially, since I've been closer than ever to tragedy, I will feel it more than ever. To the point that I'm trying to organize a group of friends to run next year's Boston Marathon as a charity team. I want to contribute to the world more than I have.

[sharonlover]

Terrorism is allowing acts of violence deemed as "Terrorism" to cause people to panic or think twice about living their daily lives. Terrorist want to do no more than to get you to talk about it, fear it, speculate, and change your life in response to it normally in the name of their cause in hopes that people will "see the light" and change their way of living or just for the hell of it.

I was in hight school for the U.S.S. Cole bombing and in college when 9/11 occurred and for a split moment, I thought about running to the recruiter and joining, but my senses caught up with me and I decided that was not the best choice. Over the years, I've worked as a government contractor in the I.T. world and over the last 5 years (as of this month) I can truely say that I'm living in the history. For the last 5 years, I have been working for the Office of Military Commissions (www.mc.mil). Military Commissions if you don't know is the group that are prosecuting, defending, and managing logistics of the whole process down in Cuba. I work for the Convening Authority (the neutral party to the whole thing) as the I.T. contractor lead. I get to see these trials first hand and am proud of that fact. When my child reads her history books, I can honestly tell her that I was a part of that.

Regardless of the lies and/or truth that comes out of the media in regards to the Guantanamo Bay trials, the one thing that I can say is that these people do there jobs, love there jobs and are doing everything they can to bring justice to these people and make it as transparent as they possibly can. Obviously for reasons, I can't go into anything, but I do urge not to believe everything that the media throws at you. It's really hard to read an article about the detainees in Cuba and not be able to debunk some of the BS that comes out of these papers.

Whether you disagree/agree with how the U.S. is handling it, it's something that needs to be done. It's hard to say if these are something that should be in Federal court or not. I have my opinions but those don't matter, but I'm proud to be able to be a part of this piece of history, regardless of how it is written in the books.

In the end, terrorism has made me realize that the American people can still be American when they need to be. The problem with America right now is that we don't want to be Americans. We want to be "us". Sole, selfish people who don't give two rats asses about anything, who continue to let the government and their neighbors ruin (in my opinion) what made this country, the USA, one of the best countries to live in.

[AMetroidGuy]

I'm trying to organize a group of friends to run next year's Boston Marathon as a charity team. I want to contribute to the world more than I have.

That is not a light undertaking. To even qualify to run the marathon takes quite a bit of training. Good luck, let me know if SPB can help at all.

Terrorism is allowing acts of violence deemed as "Terrorism" to cause people to panic or think twice about living their daily lives. Terrorist want to do no more than to get you to talk about it, fear it, speculate, and change your life in response to it normally in the name of their cause in hopes that people will "see the light" and change their way of living or just for the hell of it.

I can agree with what I think you are saying. I wrote briefly on the subject & you can see it here, along with my plea to others to stand up to it: http://streetpassnetwork.com/2013/04/16 ... ss-boston/

Regardless of the lies and/or truth that comes out of the media in regards to the Guantanamo Bay trials, the one thing that I can say is that these people do there jobs, love there jobs and are doing everything they can to bring justice to these people and make it as transparent as they possibly can. Obviously for reasons, I can't go into anything, but I do urge not to believe everything that the media throws at you. It's really hard to read an article about the detainees in Cuba and not be able to debunk some of the BS that comes out of these papers.

Can you at least say( & perhaps you cannot): is it true that there are people held without being formally charged? If so, the people you work with are doing something very wrong, even if they are doing it, as you say & I am inclined to believe, for the right reasons.

[Remnants]

Not sure how relevant this is to the conversation but if you were to cause someone emotional stress for long enough (bullying being a great example) without any healthy means of coping such as fighting back, escaping or seek support, then one possible response will be to numb out. In effect that means that a person becomes desensitized to one's own emotions. Another possible response is tuning out which makes a person very distractable. These are supposed to be temporary states but if the stressor(s) and the fact of being trapped in it persists for long enough, these temporary states become long-term traits.

Well... Maintain a high level of stress in a population for long enough and you might see more numbing out and tuning out. A population of folks who become increasingly desensitized and distractable.

[AMetroidGuy]

Well... Maintain a high level of stress in a population for long enough and you might see more numbing out and tuning out. A population of folks who become increasingly desensitized and distractable.

Now dumb down education & you have Fahrenheit 451.

[sharonlover]

Detainee's are being held by the government, not by Military Commissions. Military Commissions are nothing more than the actual court proceedings, not detainee detention (that's run by the Joint Task Force based at Gitmo Cuba and yes everyone hates Wikipedia, but it's pretty accurate for this purpose http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joint_Task_Force_Guantanamo

Think of it like the police department and the court system (on a loose analogy mind you).
The police department = Federal Government - arrests you alleging a crime has been committed
Jailers = JTF Detainee Operations = Alleged Criminals and those serving time
Court System = Military Commissions - Determine if the crime was actually committed and sentence.

The biggest difference in my analogy, police can normally only hold you for 24 hours if they do not have anything to hold you with. The government can claim enemy combatant since we are at war ("Global War on Terrorism" is still in progress and could be till the end of time at this rate) and hold alleged until the end of the war. Once the war is over, combatants can be returned to their country of origin unless 1. - There home country will not allow them to return or 2. if they are considered a threat by the U.S. This is the hot topic up for debate but that's between the government.

Technically, their have been only two groups with current sworn charges. Those are of Al-Nashiri, alleged mastermind of the U.S.S. Cole bombing and the 5 defendants of the 9/11 trial to include the mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (KSM for short). All others are held under a "Enemy Combatant" title.

TL:DR;
My group only does the trials and has no insight on actual reasons people are held. The government must bring forth charges (the prosecution) in order for a Military Commission to take place.

I have no idea if that made sense. I know how it works but getting it down is a little more complicated I could only point you to our site for further information http://www.mc.mil/ABOUTUS.aspx