Terror top 10

Readers Rank Iran as Top Terror Threat, followed by Democrats

-I kid you not

Sunday, February 18, 2007
By Mike Baker

Iran, Dems, and then Al-Qaeda. Global Warming came in last at number 11. The list offered possible threats including China, Russia, Iraq, Al Qaeda, Iran, North Korea, Venezuela, global warming, oil and gas and the erosion of civil liberties in the pursuit of security. Readers had their own ideas

#11 Global Warming… apparently many of you aren’t buying it. In fact, many questioned why it was on the list. Personally, my town’s been socked in with single digit temperatures for the past couple of weeks and snow and ice storms that have left my front yard looking like a scene from the Shackleton expedition. I wouldn’t mind a bit of global warming right about now.

#10 The Erosion of Civil Liberties in the Pursuit of Security… this was very interesting. The overwhelming majority put this in either the #10 or #11 spot. The consensus appears to be that there’s a willingness to sacrifice to some degree in an effort to improve our security posture. Kenny from California wasn’t worried about the government overstepping, noting that “… I have faith in our system of government with its many built in checks and balances.”

#9 China… showed up consistently in the #9 slot on over 75 per cent of the surveys. The general feeling seems to be that you view China as a nation we can work with or at least negotiate with. Mike, whereabouts not cited, mentioned that “… We can prevent their power from passing ours if we work with them and use their economy to our advantage.”

#8 Oil and Gas… here’s an interesting result… most of you (over 60 per cent) commented that oil and gas dependency is a key underlying element of many of the threats cited (Iran, Russia, Venezuela), but on it’s own the topic only merited the #8 ranking.
Justin from the great city of Cedar Rapids, Mich., writes “… People complain about gas that is $2.50 per gallon but then turn around and pay $6.50 for a grande latte mocha carmel frappe whipped with low fat soy cream coffee.” Frankly I only pay $3.76 for my coffee but I suspect we can all get on board Justin’s logic train.

#7 Russia… even with Putin’s channeling of Stalin at the weekend Munich security conference, most respondents had Russia in the #7 slot. Although some were more concerned than others. And Bruce, from parts unknown, has developed a Putin-Centric view of the globe. Bruce laid out the following survey response…
1. Russia… Look at Putin’s attempts to take over Russia, from the oil companies to their Constitution.
2. Iran… is Putin’s agent.
3. Al Qaeda… a dangerous wildcard. Putin is now their friend.
4. North Korea… an unpredictable brat.
5. Venezuela
6. Iraq… possible breeding ground for Putin’s agents.
And so on, you get the idea. Bruce is very concerned about Putin.

#6 Venezuela… he’s my favorite old school Socialist, and apparently he ranks consistently high on many readers lists. Greg from somewhere out there in the hinterlands had an interesting comment, “… Another psychopath with lots of money and now unlimited constitutional power. Of course, we created the environment that he was able to step up into with our dysfunctional Latin American foreign policy.”
Full marks to Greg for noting that the U.S. for many years now has paid little to no serious attention to Latin America. You reap what you sew. Or don’t sew as the case may be.

#5 North Korea… a strong showing with over 70 per cent of respondents putting this isolated and beat down country run by the Kim clan in the #5 slot. Just this past week they demonstrated their unique ability to extract aid from the first world nations by yet again promising to cease and desist with all their nuclear shenanigans. Just to be clear, we will be doing this same thing over again within the next two to three years when this latest aid package runs out.

#4 Iraq… there was some real angst among the respondents with this issue… not over where it ranks (80 per cent had it in the top three position), but rather why it was such a serious concern and threat. Most expressed some variation on the theme that we can’t afford to leave and let Iraq potentially collapse. It is true that the enormous sucking sound would be the vacuum left by Iraq’s collapse just after we left and just prior to the country becoming a battleground for fundamentalists, Al Qaeda, associated elements and regional players with no interest in the welfare or lives of the Iraqis.
However, there is a sense in your responses that, while the majority believe we need to stick it out, the majority is also less than certain that we can make it work.

#3 Al Qaeda... in reality, Al Qaeda was consistently lumped into a larger category by many that used some variation of the term Global Islamofacism. Dale down in Florida commented that “… Al Qaeda will attack U.S. interests when they can, where they can. All they need is some breathing room to regroup. Failure in Iraq could give them that.”
But not all were on board with this ranking. Greg, who opted not to identify his whereabouts, believes that Al Qaeda is “… way over-rated. They spend almost as much time in-fighting as they do fighting. They are largely ineffective.”

#2 The Democratic Party… I kid you not. We had over two dozen additional threats or concerns written-in by readers to supplement the original suggested top ten list. This was the big daddy of write-ins, with almost as many votes as our number one selection. I’d like to include some of the reader comments here, but I’m worried that there may be kids reading the Peoples Weekly Brief.

#1 Iran… selected by more than 80 per cent of respondents to sit at the top of the hit parade. Apparently the combination of President Ahmadinejad, the fundamentalist element, oil revenues and nuclear technology has many sensible, well adjusted people slightly concerned for the stability of the region.

If we’re lucky, the clerics of Iran will eventually neuter the president (that position has traditionally been relatively weak in the Iranian power structure) and the moderates will gain more of a voice within the country. If we’re unlucky, you PWB readers are going to look back on the survey results and marvel at how clever you were to spot the top threat.

Finally, we couldn’t wrap this up without giving a nod to some of the assorted write-in threats and concerns that were submitted. Some of the favorites included:

“… U.S. citizens who don’t educate themselves before forming opinions.”
“… Sloth and greed.”
“… France.”
“… the United Nations.”

The U.N. actually received numerous votes, including from Ed in California who wrote “… if there were ever a more useless organization in the history of the world, I can’t think of it.”

“… the U.S. Congress.”