# ISIS under our beds? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [August 26, 2014, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isis-under-our-beds/696533 "2014-08-26T03:45:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2014, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isis-under-our-beds/696533/61 "2014-09-04T22:12:46Z")
I linked to this in another thread, but [National Counterterrorism Center Director Matthew Olsen says there is no evidence ISIS is planning to attack the US](http://complex.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2014/09/03/counterterrorism_chief_says_islamic_state_is_not_planning_an_attack_on_america) and that at present, ISIS would be unable to pull off anything like September 11th even if it tried. ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2014, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isis-under-our-beds/696533/62 "2014-09-04T23:21:24Z")
> [@MOIDALIZE](#): > > They entered a vacuum created by a weak Shiite-dominated government in Iraq. They’re not in control of any area that military forces have contested them. Seriously, ISIS is just a few thousand dudes with guns and a savvy social media presence. They just got pushed out of the Mosul dam last week because the Iraqi government bit the bullet and sent army special forces to assist the Kurds. They are actually functioning as a de facto government in provinces of Syria. They’re running town governments and keeping electricity and water running. They’re more stable in Syria than the Syrian government is. ---
**Author:** ![brickbacon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/898d66/32.png) [@brickbacon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brickbacon)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2014, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isis-under-our-beds/696533/63 "2014-09-04T23:46:35Z")
> [@Rune](#): > > Prove that ISIS is recruiting people from Western countries? Did you notice the guy who did the decapitating thing. Apparently a rapper from London. But doesn’t that undercut the argument somewhat that attacking Western targets is their main priority? Why would they burn a guy with an EU passport and local knowledge by putting him in a video if their main goal is to inflict harm on the West? Additionally, we have seen them using other European and US citizens as foot soldiers in Syria. If they really wanted to hurt the US, would they have quietly sent those guys back here to cause damage? ---
**Author:** ![Rune](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e68b1a/32.png) [@Rune](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rune)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2014, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isis-under-our-beds/696533/64 "2014-09-18T12:38:52Z")
> [@brickbacon](#): > > But doesn’t that undercut the argument somewhat that attacking Western targets is their main priority? I don’t know anybody who argues that this is their main priority. > [@Rune](#): > > According to Norwegian intelligence sources the high terror alert a few weeks ago was based on four ISIS terrorists travelling to Oslo, which were planning an “extreme and spectacular” terror attack. The Norwegian intelligence agency were working with the intelligence agencies of two other nations. But they lost track of the suspected ISIS terrorists in Athens. It has now been revealed that the ISIS plot was to enter a random Norwegian home, murder the whole family that lived there with knives while filming it online. Four ISIS terrorists were involved. They’ve not been apprehended. Much like the Australian plot to abduct a random person from the streets, swap him in an ISIS flag, and decapitate him. I supposed the random element is to signal that nobody can feel safe. ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Knig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cdc98d/32.png) [@Typo\_Knig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Knig)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2014, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isis-under-our-beds/696533/65 "2014-09-19T01:26:38Z")
Actual terrorist threats - at least that’s a basis for concern and action. I fervently hope that these murdering scum are caught and stopped before they cause any further harm. I’m not too picky about the caliber of the method that stops them. I am amazed at how quickly and easily people here in the US were whipped up about ISIS/ISIL even before there was any evidence of activity west of Cyprus. One day they’re a bunch of ragtag thugs in the middle of nowhere, the next day they are the reincarnation of the Evil Soviet Empire and the Chinese Communist Horde just waiting the flow over our borders like the Rooskies and the ChiComs didn’t. Overreact much, USA? ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2014, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isis-under-our-beds/696533/66 "2014-09-19T02:59:00Z")
Honestly, the US has been hard at work trying to shove \*some \*peg into the Evil Empire hole ever since the wheels fell of the USSR. Don’t seem to matter much which. It’s like y’all can’t function without an overbearing external threat any more. Which is a bit more understandable if you’re read on the darkly hilarious clusterfuck of indulgence, corruption, incompetence and utter lack of oversight that was military procurements & budgets throughout the Cold War. Damn but that was some fat juicy pork. Good times. Hell, arguably even the Commie bugaboo was a replacement for the Nazis since there were straight up lies and deception fed to the public in order to justify a bloated military and infringements on liberty/privacy there, too. Missile gaps and dominoes and fellow travellers, oh my ! ---
**Author:** ![Inbred\_Mm\_domesticus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/aca169/32.png) [@Inbred\_Mm\_domesticus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inbred_Mm_domesticus)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2014, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isis-under-our-beds/696533/67 "2014-09-19T03:35:37Z")
> [@Typo\_Knig](#): > > I am amazed at how quickly and easily people here in the US were whipped up about ISIS/ISIL even before there was any evidence of activity west of Cyprus. I was happy to fire munitions at them from the moment I knew of their existence. We have been at war with people like these since September 11, 2001 and we will continue to be at war with people like these until they realize that acting like savages and blaming America for all their problems is not the way to a happy life. Its not like it costs us much to send a drone and a hellfire missile or two. I am certain that with our current rate of economic growth and ever-developing military hardware we can kill these people indefinitely. Which is perfectly fine with me. The last thing we should ever do is let up on killing them. Every time we do so they grow like a cancer. > [@Typo\_Knig](#): > > One day they’re a bunch of ragtag thugs in the middle of nowhere, the next day they are the reincarnation of the Evil Soviet Empire and the Chinese Communist Horde just waiting the flow over our borders like the Rooskies and the ChiComs didn’t. Overreact much, USA? I guess you don’t live here because I don’t see anyone freaking out about these people other than politicians. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isis-under-our-beds/696533.md?page=3)