It's Libyan for "thank you"

[DaShi]

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/counterterrorism

counterterrorism [ˌkaʊntəˈtɛrəˌrɪzəm]
n
an act or acts of terrorism committed in revenge or retaliation for a previous terrorist act
counterterrorist adj

Heh.

[giblets]

Counter-terrorism (also spelled counterterrorism) incorporates the practices, tactics, techniques, and strategies that governments, militaries, police departments and corporations adopt to attack terrorist threats and/or acts, both real and imputed.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Counter-terrorism

This is the widely accepted definition.

[regexcellent]

The definition gribbler posted, in addition to being the widely accepted definition, is the definition I was talking about. So please spare me the fallacy of equivocation bull****, thanks.

[DaShi]

What next? Are supposed to believe that it's called the free dictionary because you don't have to pay for it?

[Dinner]

If it's a terrorist attack, which I can totally believe, then what's the political angle? Genuine question. Possibly to drive the west out of Libya?

Semi-related: A former engineering professor from my university is now the prime minister of Libya.

It seems to have been an Al Qaeda inspired Salafist group which thinks of non-Muslims as the devil and in need of killing. BTW it turns out the four hour long attack was started and run by a group which all showed up in one column of vehicles and they hopped out with RPGs and AKs and then kicked off the "protest". It was pretty much an organized terrorist attack and not a spontaneous protest.

[Zevico]

Gosh. And if that's so, why is the Administration calling it "spontaneous"?

[Barnabas]

I agree with Gribbler, these people are savages and there is nothing racist about calling them savages.

The USA really shouldn't have removed Kadaffi, first, because he had been your allie for the last years, and second, because a rather secular dictator is better than a democratically elected islamist.

This is a little like the issue of Chile before Pinochet, when the people democratically voted for a communist. Americans have to stop being so naive and idealistic and realize not all people are like them and that not everybody wants democracy.
Is democracy any good if people not want it, and if given the chance to vote would vote to end democracy?

The USA at least is still in time to stop giving weapons to the rebels who want to remove Assad from power in Syria

[Dr Strangelove]

The guy who started this mess, Nakoula, OTOH is a criminal. If he's a naturalized citizen the INS should do a more thorough check on his pre-naturalization history. If any discrepancies show up his naturalization should be nullified and he should be deported back to Egypt.

[Dr Strangelove]

I agree with Gribbler, these people are savages and there is nothing racist about calling them savages.

The USA really shouldn't have removed Kadaffi, first, because he had been your allie for the last years, and second, because a rather secular dictator is better than a democratically elected islamist.

This is a little like the issue of Chile before Pinochet, when the people democratically voted for a communist. Americans have to stop being so naive and idealistic and realize not all people are like them and that not everybody wants democracy.
Is democracy any good if people not want it, and if given the chance to vote would vote to end democracy?

The USA at least is still in time to stop giving weapons to the rebels who want to remove Assad from power in Syria

That nasty democratically elected Islamist government you're referring to has already arrested the leader of the group and 50 of his followers. I'm not sure that Khadaffi would have been so helpful. Remember the Lockbie bomber?

[C0ckney]

also the libyan government can hardly be described as 'islamist'. the elections were won by secularists...

[regexcellent]

My recollection is that the Lockerbie bomber was the brainchild of Gaddafi himself. That said, he wised up over the years and eventually figured out what was good for him. The nice thing about Gaddafi was that his self-interested nature made him predictable and relatively easy to handle. For instance, after 9/11 he figured out which way the wind was blowing and cracked down on violent Islamist groups. After the 2003 invasion of Iraq, he ended Libya's nuclear program so that he wouldn't get invaded too.

[kentonio]

The not-nice thing about Ghaddafi was if you were one of his citizens living under his oppressive rule.

[regexcellent]

Of course. But revolutions are at best a crapshoot; in the middle east, "here comes the new boss, same as the old boss" is the rule of thumb.

[kentonio]

Have you ever thought that could be at least partly because pretty much every time theres a revolution over there, we in the west either caused it, or decided to meddle in the aftermath by picking a candidate we liked and funding/arming their new oppressive regime?

[giblets]

I agree with Gribbler, these people are savages and there is nothing racist about calling them savages.

I never called anyone "savages" although attacking an embassy isn't exactly civilized behavior.