One could also argue that they hate us because the US has persued disasterous and morally ambiguous policies throughout the Middle East for decades. They hate us because the people of this country have tacitly supported these despised policies by allowing leaders to be elected that continue such policies. Therefore, in the minds of these people, one could argue that any institution representing US power, and even the American people themselves, become legitimate targets to attack in order to force a change in these policies. If the American people were able to receive objective information as to the concerns and feelings the people of this region had in regards to the United States and its foreign policy as well as appropriate knowledge of the cultural background of these people in order to gain the necessary context in which these peoples’ actions are carried out, the people of the US, I believe, would be able to at least understand why we’re being attacked, if not be able to elect leaders to address the issue of Islamic terrorism in a constructive way. One cannot defeat Islamic terrorism by military means. If we attack with a knife, they’ll attack with a gun; if we attack with a gun, they’ll come at us with a bomb. Violent response to terrorism on a state level will only lead to an escalation in the violence, to the detriment of all involved. We have to address the core roots of terrorism, such as poverty and social persecution in these countries, and the role the US and others have in regards to these roots in order to kill the terroristic seed before it can fully germinate.

Let me to point out that bombs are not outlawed, but monopolised by the State. It is very well known that the Western democracies are based on giving to the State an exclusive monopoly over Violence.

A quote that hasn’t been used nearly enough.

“I don’t want them to stop hating us. I want them to stop killing us, and I want them to die.”

A quote that is perhaps the most ignorant thing I have ever read. You CANNOT get them to stop killing us by killing them. You can only get them to stop killing us by getting them to stop HATING us. By killing them, you make MORE of them. By killing them, they have a valid reason for recruitment. For every one of them that dies, every relative of theirs would certainly join up. Ignorant!

Not that they specifically state that they don’t care about the effectiveness of these measures.

The police are trying to do a difficult and dangerous job. Do they really need some twerp refusing to have a bag checked because big bad cops are notorious infringers of “rights”? Anyone who refuses to have his bag checked on the subway needs to be informed of his right to multiple perforations, a right that will be accorded with alacrity if he doesn’t cooperate RIGHT NOW!!

Fyodor – You have to read all of what Risa wrote, not just the bit you want to quote out of context to use in your anti-liberal rant. She’s for actually doing something about terrorism. Are you against that?

I agree with Sean, by the way, it’s not clear that these searches are actually unconstitutional. What is clear is that one has a constitutional right not to submit to these searches voluntarily (and to leave the subway station). And I would suggest that that is, in fact, the responsible thing to do.

Do conservatives really think we should “let the terrorists win” by throwing out our constitutional rights when we are under attack?

Of course, random voluntary searches are a complete waste of time, obviously a symbolic action to make people feel as if something is being done. And the folks who take it upon themselves to show their bags to the police are crazy as jaybirds.