‘We Kill People Based on Metadata’
It's odd that in all of what is essentially the fallout from 9/11--two wars, subversion of American rights, spying on Americans, torture, rendition, massive security/surveillance state, etc.--no one seems to have ever seriously asked "why do these people want to kill us".<p>Beyond the quotable but facile "they hate us for our freedom" line, there hasn't been much <i>real</i> discussion of this sort.<p>And, here, as we parse the latest round of bills, legal interpretations, infringed freedoms, etc., there is still no such earnest discussion about why we find ourselves in this position in the first place. It's just assumed that this is somehow where we "should" find ourselves, and the only question is how much further we should go in our response to our inevitable position.<p>EDIT: At this point, I would go beyond the question of why these people want to kill us and ask who and how many are there who actually do want to kill us?