F.B.I. Treats San Bernardino Attack as Possible Terrorism Case
On a Wednesday morning around 11 am, two people opened fire on innocent civilians at the Inland Regional Center in San Bernardino, California. The shooters took 14 peoples lives and injuring many others before the police killed them. Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik were a married couple as well as the perpetrators of this heinous crime. It has been reported that the two shooters fired atleast 150 bullets throughout their raid. In addition, both of them had made more than a dozen pipe bombs and stocked up on ammunition. The FBI believe that this was an act of terrorism, but aren't ready to jump to conclusions right away. Along with the thousands of rounds that authorities found, the suspects recent travels to the Middle East and one of the suspects have been in touch with Islamic extremists have also given authorities a reason to consider this event as terrorism.
Yet this event could have had deadlier consequences if it wasn't for the federal government's actions by investigating Mr. Farook, since the government got intel about Farook's connections with the Middle East and Islamic extremist groups. “Clearly they were equipped and they could have done another attack,” Chief Burguan said at a news conference on Thursday. “We intercepted them before that happened, obviously.”(New York Times) The federal government haven't concluded nor dismissed this event as an act of terrorism, but for one thing they suspect that this was no accident.
Have we come to a point in time where every shooting that happens we tend to suspect it was an act of terrorism? How should America and the rest of the world combat terrorism?
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/04/us/san-bernardino-shooting.html?hp&clickSource=story-heading&WT.nav=top-news&_r=0&module=CloseSlideshow®ion=SlideShowTopBar&version=SlideCard-1&action=click&contentCollection=U.S.&pgtype=imageslideshow
2 comments:
I do believe that the United States has become a tad hyped up on terrorism. For instance, the idea of having a Muslim data base or having them carry around symbols to identify themselves is eerily reminiscent of the Holocaust. There is a strong sense of fear amongst the population that is heightened by the media outbursts of how the Syrian refugees are coming from their war torn country to take our children and attack the country. That being said there are certainly terrorist groups that have an interest in harming the United States and its people. The case of this shooting does not appear to be one of hyped of terrorism as there is legitimate evidence that these shooters have connections to Islamic extremist groups. The question of how to combat terrorism is a complex one. On one hand, attacking those countries may just fuel more hatred and violence, leading to increased terrorism. Simultaneously, attempts at peace may cause the United States to appear weak and again lead to more terrorist attacks. I do certainly believe that the fear of the Muslim population as a whole is no way to win the war on terrorism. Everyday people are being dragged into extremist organizations. Over the summer, the New York Times did a piece on a woman who lived in the midwest and was Christian but ended up devoutly following the Islamic teachings and joining a terrorist groups. I do not have an answer on how to combat terrorism but dividing the country by religion is certainly not doing any good.
Melo, although I do agree that the term terrorism is far too associated with only islamic extremism these days, this incident was clearly a related incident. Not only did the two suspects have ties to extremism, they had an array of weaponry at their house which indicates this was a planned event, and they planned to do much more. In regards to every shooting event being considered islamic terrorism I dont believe thats a true statement, in fact I believe it to be quite the opposite. It seems that every shooting that is NOT related to muslim suspects is only considered a "mass shooting" or a similar term, this i believe is unfair. Any act of violence against an innocent group of people is an act of terrorism and the media seems to think otherwise. To reserve the term "terrorist" for only instances of islamic extremism is unjust and also false, just look at the definition.
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