Will a terrorist attack in which more than 1000 US citizens die occur before Jan. 1st 2011?

good question. im stunned that we havent had one since 9/11. something to be said for taking the fight to the enemy? nah... ::)

@dan_the_omniscient:

That is exactly right! Who would have thought we could have gone seven years... it proves somebody has a good policy going on!

http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/articles/2008/11/16/20081116scrutiny1116.html

The FBI has sharpened its scrutiny of some Phoenix-area Muslim leaders because of their links to two controversial incidents and a federal probe into the financing of terrorist groups.

No Arizonan has been accused of supporting terrorist groups or actions. However, a Mesa man was charged with lying to the FBI during the financing investigation.

The events that triggered the stepped-up scrutiny were the federal probe into a Muslim charity accused of funneling money to the Palestinian group Hamas; a target-shooting episode in Phoenix this year involving a large group of Muslim men and boys firing hundreds of rounds from AK-47s and other guns; and the high-profile removal in 2006 of six Arizona-bound imams from a jetliner after passengers and crew complained of their behavior.

...

Risking Israel's ire, US takes 1,350 Palestinian refugees
http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/0708/p02s04-usgn.html
Atlanta - The State Department confirmed today that as many as 1,350 Iraqi Palestinians - once the well-treated guests of Saddam Hussein and now at outs with much of Iraqi society - will be resettled in the US, mostly in southern California, starting this fall.

It will be the largest-ever resettlement of Palestinian refugees into the US - and welcome news to the Palestinians who fled to Iraq after 1948 but who have had a tough time since Mr. Hussein was deposed in 2003. Targeted by Iraqi Shiites, the mostly-Sunni Palestinians have spent recent years in one of the region's roughest refugee camps, Al Waleed, near Iraq's border with Syria.

"Really for the first time, the United States is recognizing a Palestinian refugee population that could be admitted to the US as part of a resettlement program," says Bill Frelick, refugee policy director at Human Rights Watch in Washington.

Given the US's past reluctance to resettle Palestinians - it accepted just seven Palestinians in 2007 and nine in 2008 - the effort could ruffle some diplomatic feathers.

For many in the State Department and international community, the resettlement is part of a moral imperative the US has to clean up the refugee crisis created by invading Iraq. The US has already stepped up resettlement of Iraqis, some who have struggled to adjust to life in America.

The resettlement of Iraqi Palestinians is "an important gesture for the United States to demonstrate that we're not heartless," says Alon Ben-Meir, a professor of international relations and Middle Eastern studies at New York University.

But some critics say the State Department is sloughing off its problems onto American cities, especially since in this case the Palestinians were sympathizers of Hussein, who was deposed by the US.

"This is politically a real hot potato," says Mark Krikorian, director of the conservative Center for Immigration Studies in Washington, adding, "[A]merica has become a dumping ground for the State Department's problems - they're tossing their problems over their head into Harrisburg, Pa., or Omaha, Neb."

...

"Each applicant will be carefully scrutinized for terrorist ties", he adds.

...

[More at the link...]

... the refugee crisis created by invading Iraq ...

More from the glorious "brilliant and successful operation that has kept us all safer", the US "doing it's level best to bring law and order to the region.", notablenotices?

@kruijs:

Well, I have never said that this administration is "doing it's level best to bring law and order to the region". Maybe we can agree that it is not? Here is what I found:

DON’T SHOOT BACK AT TALIBAN TERRORISTS!!!
Obama’s First Military Order
by Paul L. Williams, Ph.D.
http://thelastcrusade.org/2009/07/09/don’t-shoot-back-at-taliban-terrorists/#128;™t-shoot-back-at-taliban-terrorists/
Don’t shoot back!

Don’t pick the poppies!

And don’t bother the women and men in burqas!

These are the new rules of engagement for leathernecks in Afghanistan.

Sound incredible?

They’re true.

Welcome to the modern Marine Corps under Commander-in-Chief Barack Hussein Obama

On July 1, the U.S. military initiated Operation Khanjar or “Strike of the Sword,” an invasion of the Helmand Province by 4,000 Marines and 650 Afghan soldiers.

“Strike of the Sword” represents the first military operation to be ordered by President Obama.

The purpose of the campaign is to flush out Taliban operatives from southern Afghanistan in order to safeguard the re-election of Afghan President Hamid Karzai on August 20.

The military initiative is being conducted by the insistence of Kharzai, who fears that a strong Taliban presence will produce unfavorable results for him on election-day.

To accomplish this objective, President Obama remains determined to deploy 68,000 additional U.S. troops to southern Afghanistan within the next six weeks.

But the Marines, thanks to Mr. Obama, are conducting this mission with their hands tied.

The first order from America’s new commander is that the Marines must not return enemy fire for fear of killing an Afghan non-combatant.

ABC Correspondent Mike Boettcher, who is embedded with Golf Company, reports that the young Marines, when ambushed by Taliban forces with automatic weapons, were ordered to shoulder their rifles. Their command, Boettcher writes, warned them that “one civilian casualty could negate the No. 1 objective of this operation - - winning the trust and respect of the farmers of the Helmand River Valley.”

How are the Marines expected to win the trust and respect of the farmers?

By not disturbing the opium poppy fields which remain in full bloom.

The Marines of Bravo’s Company 1st Platoon sleep beside groves of poppies Troops of the 2nd Platoon walk through the fields on strict orders not to swat the heavy opium bulbs. The Afghan farmers and laborers, who are engaged in scraping the resin from the bulbs, smile and wave at the passing soldiers.

The Helmand province is the world’s largest cultivator of opium poppies - the crop used to make heroin.
[More at the link:..]

@notablenotices,

sorry, I must've misunderstood your comment #90 here http://www.hubdub.com/m41282/
could you explain what you meant there instead?

@notablenotices,

as I wrote comment #7, I thought you denied to have said that at all.

my apologies.

"I have never said that this administration is "doing it's level best to bring law and order to the region""
actually, no, I would've expected you to do so.

"But the Marines, thanks to Mr. Obama, are conducting this mission with their hands tied."

Can someone explain to me what the victory criteria in Afghanistan is? What will victory look like? How will the USA know when it has 'won'? It seems to me that it is not possible to declare victory when you have essentially declared war on an attitude. Maybe its time for the USA to seriously question what it is doing in Afghanistan, and what it hopes to achieve?