The Taliban also culturally hate poppy and see it as far left degeneracy.

The CIA was basically using the heroin fields to launder money so the resentment for America grew and grew.

lol, interviews he himself admits as "not scientifically drawn" (countering "anecdotal evidence" with other anecdotes), conducted in pakistan, after the major terrorist organisations were already founded, finding "little evidence" for direct causation. so after mercilessly dragging those poor goalposts to a whole different pitch, you conclude that the one "study" that shockingly didn't find any people openly admitting that their family being bombed / droned would make them easier to recruit for attacks against those that committed said crimes, means the common sense conclusion is completely overstated.

you also forgot to quote the part that directly contradicts YOUR chosen narrative, where he lists: "political and economic grievances [hm, what might be the cause of many of those?!], the Pakistani state's selective counterterrorism policies [same question], its indiscriminate repression of the local population, and forced recruitment of youth by militant groups [hm, what kind of groups, and how did they come to be?]" and NOT like you initially claimed "islamist propaganda".

it's basically just adding one additional layer, stating "no, the drone strikes themselves are no recruitment tool, the misery and political / social / economic instability they caused is", lol.

"... they (the drone strikes) caused", roflmao!
Yeah, right, North Africa, the Middle East and South Asia only suffer from political/social/economic instability because of drone strikes...

To the broader point: do you seriously think that without the evil imperialist West messing this region up, countries like Pakistan, Afghanistan, Libya, Syria or Iraq would be affluent bastions of democracy, stability and human rights? The contribution of drone strikes to the poverty and instability in these countries is completely negligible. This is immediately apparent from basic logic, but you can alternatively look at the misery in these places which predates the drone campaign. The countries in the entire region have been either a chaotic shithole or an authoritarian dictatorship since at least the early 1980s.

the fact that you're misrepresenting "constant drone strikes / bombings cause political / social / economic instability" as "drone strikes and bombings are the ONLY cause of instability" tells me all i need to know about your intellectual honesty and willingness to have a real conversation. once a hack, always a hack...

also, it's not like drones and bombs from 2001 onwards were the only means by which western nations have severely interfered in those region. political and military meddling goes back so much further (british empire at least) and played a huge role in shaping those countries. many of the "shithole authoritarian dictatorships" were a direct result of western intervention, so your whole stance here is pretty rich (or rather ignorant)...

i know you're fully committed to your simplistic "it's all islam" take (which your own source explicitly rejects btw), but that's of course bullshit to anyone who even remotely familiarises themselves with the history of those regions...

Stop being gay.

I see this forum has degenerated even more during my absence.

A true classic.. LOL

This post was edited by theCrossbones on Aug 29 2021 08:00am