Matt in Portland, on Max Boot:
I don’t think it’s correct to make a distinction between “wannabe terrorists” and terrorists based on whether the bombs exploded or not. These individuals planted bombs with the intention of killing American civilians. That makes them terrorists. I don’t think the putative motivation of the FBI agents in any way diminishes what these men did.
The planned bombing wasn’t thought crime, these men actually did something–they put bombs in cars outside of houses of worship. The plan was to indiscriminately murder people who were praying to God, and they carried out a series of actions to do so. You’ve made some very good points about critically evaluating information, but at the end of the analysis, I think the appropriate response is strong concern about what happened here.
This is directly relevant to President Obama’s plans to put try terrorists in the American civilian court system, because if convicted, the terrorists will be placed in contact with violent American criminals. Under Mr. Obama’s plan, the connected terrorists will be placed in contact with disaffected violent individuals. Mr. Obama is arranging the opportunity for conversion and contact with violent radicals.
