[GigabyteCoin]

>Police dismissed the [bomb] as the work of “boys or pranksters.”

My father tells me stories about how he witnessed people openly and actively "recruiting terrorists" in public in San Francisco in the 1970s.

He said they were just standing around with signs and pamphlets, calling out and trying to get you to sign up to their terrorist campaign.

Just as the religious zealots you see on the streets today that are mostly ignored.

The world has really changed, and fast.

[honestoHeminway]

Its partially what hollywood, games and news-media transport as terrorists image. The give them sort of a dark glamour, justifying the expensive military thrown at them. If they where depicting the screw ups- the prematurly exploding bombs, the wonky egos and stupid pride, the burning out flats destroying plans- the love-storys ruining suicidal bombers for the job. Al Quaida could make a comedy number, if it werent for the memorys of the hits outshadowing the many misses.

[fapjacks]

For many years I was in the infantry and spent a lot of time overseas in places fighting terrorists. "Fighting terrorists". We did occasionally fight, don't get me wrong, but I'd say 80% of the stuff that happened was just funny and the furthest thing from dangerous you could imagine. Just one example: One day, we received an intsum that told the story of how terrorists had finally been able to get a US visa for one of their people, a camel farmer in the far south of Iraq. The problem was that he was too much of a bedouin: He could not figure out how to operate calling cards to receive his instructions and they couldn't get his plane tickets to him. He had become marooned at the airport in Baghdad, where he was apprehended. And you want terrifying? The intelligence capabilities of the Five Eyes is what's terrifying. They had been involved with this story from the beginning. Snowden's revelations merely hint at the power of the Five Eyes, but if you knew half of the capabilities on display in a warzone, you'd shit your pants. That's truly the terrifying stuff.

[GigabyteCoin]

>They had been involved with this story from the beginning.

Which story are you referring to, the camel farmer getting a visa?

>if you knew half of the capabilities on display in a warzone, you'd shit your pants

Please, do tell!

[biofox]

There is a fantastic British film along those lines:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1341167/

[wastedhours]

Recommend Four Lions as well - perhaps one of the few pieces of really cutting satire I've seen on the subject.

[Maskawanian]

Wouldn't police arresting those before they have committed violent acts be considered thought crime? Shouldn't we arrest those that do things not those who talk about things?

[Broken_Hippo]

Yes, but in most cases we are arresting people for planning a crime, not just nonchalantly discussing it. Handing out recruitment flyers for an organisation that bombs others? Planning to murder your wife? Planning on defrauding x out of their life savings? You know, actual plans that meet the burden of proof for a criminal investigation. Yes. Please prevent this stuff that folks are planning.

[dzdt]

Only more often it is the police who pretend to plan a crime and recruit suspects to participate in that fiction. If the suspects show willingness to participate they get arrested.

[1]http://www.npr.org/2014/07/18/332636882/newburgh-sting-terro...

[2]http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/was-fbi-grooming-po...

[sillysaurus3]

It's interesting to see replies justifying the status quo. Yes, you're absolutely right.

I want to say "arresting people for their words is a useful political tool," but it doesn't seem that clear-cut anymore. You see this when kids get arrested or expelled for some harmless thing they said on Twitter.

[cat199]

There is a point at which discussing some theoretical action and it's implications/legal limitations/ethical concerns becomes conspiring to actually commit it..

Thinking it would be 'cool' if someone $verbed evil $noun or whatever is different than actively actually finding people to actually do it...

[kahnpro]

If you are making concrete plans to commit a crime, it is often punished with the same sentence as if you had committed the crime. In Canada and the UK, for example, conspiracy to murder can be punished with life imprisonment.

[Larrikin]

Conspiracy to commit an act is already prosecuted on variety of crimes

[DanBC]

I mention this book a lot, but it's good.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/BAMN-Any-Means-Necessary-Manifestos...

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/987215.BAMN

[schoen]

There is also this kind of amazing book

https://www.amazon.com/Days-Rage-Underground-Forgotten-Revol...

about the time in the early 1970s "when bombings by domestic underground groups were a daily occurrence".

[nyolfen]

this review is also very good if reading a 500 page book isn't on the table for those interested: https://status451.com/2017/01/20/days-of-rage/

(though it has its own political perspective that some may find disagreeable)

[altotrees]

Agreed. Days of Rage is an amazing look into groups I had never heard of prior to reading it. Got it for chapters on the Weather Underground and SLA, but thought the whole thing was very well done

[angersock]

What's really interesting in that is looking at how those folks were integrated into later the later political diaspora.

[hu06]

Well no big difference today. Its just moved online. If you want to find gullible people you cant really do that in secret I would think. Vids, tweets and gifs instead of pamphlets.