"Mexican drug cartels are worse than ISIL" Topic

"The horrific rampage of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) has captured the world's attention. Many Western commentators have characterized ISIL's crimes as unique, no longer practiced anywhere else in the civilized world. They argue that the group's barbarism is intrinsically Islamic, a product of the aggressive and archaic worldview that dominates the Muslim world. The ignorance of these claims is stunning.

While there are other organized groups whose depravity and threat to the United States far surpasses that of ISIL, none has engendered the same kind of collective indignation and hysteria. This raises a question: Are Americans primarily concerned with ISIL's atrocities or with the fact that Muslims are committing these crimes?

For example, even as the U.S. media and policymakers radically inflate ISIL's threat to the Middle East and United States, most Americans appear to be unaware of the scale of the atrocities committed by Mexican drug cartels and the threat they pose to the United States…"
Full article here
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Amicalement
Armand

That's partly because the media here prefers not to cover it, in many cases.

Project Fast and Furious. Nuff said.

Last time I looked most drug cartels were not trying to kill the end users of their product. While ISIL on the other hand would behead me for just being me. On the other hand I really don't want either as neighboors, much prefer the neighboors with children running through my yard and leaving their toys in it, and no headless bodies.

Honestly Bill. How is it possible to have a free and full discussion of the Mexican drug cartels without taking a deep dive into current politics regarding the war on some drugs, control of the southern border, gun walking by two administrations and so much, much more?

As I understand it, ISIS want to take over the whole world eventually!

The last paragraph gives away the reason for this article.

Unfortunately, the U.S. government cannot formulate an effective response to these much more severe threats because the American public is far too busy disparaging Islam while the U.S. military kills Arabs and Muslims abroad. One thing is certain: America's obsession with ISIL is fueled by Islamophobia rather than any empirical realities.

Yes, there is a lot information in the article, as already mentioned here, that is very much skewed and polarized, IMO. Is the author a muslim ? Member of CAIR ?

"Musa al-Gharbi is an instructor in the Department of Government and Public Service at the University of Arizona, and an affiliate of the Southwest Initiative for the Study of Middle East Conflicts (SISMEC).

The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera America's editorial policy."

'Islamophobia' the made up word:

In another article concerning the many moderate Muslims whose voices have been drowned out by Saudi-financed Muslim Brotherhood front groups, Muhammad describes the strategy behind the word's invention:

In an effort to silence critics of political Islam, advocates needed to come up with terminology that would enable them to portray themselves as victims. Muhammad said he was present when his then-allies, meeting at the offices of the International Institute for Islamic Thought (IIIT) in Northern Virginia years ago, coined the term "Islamophobia."

Muhammad said the Islamists decided to emulate the homosexual activists who used the term "homophobia" to silence critics. He said the group meeting at IIIT saw "Islamophobia" as a way to "beat up their critics."

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Last time I checked, no Mexicans (even members of drug cartels) wanted to invade and bomb the West, enforce conversions and behead civilians. The comparison is ludicrous.

The cartels are focused on taking gov't control of Mexico, mainly by insertion of their own into the gov't. They "rule" by terror as well. Once they are in control of Mexico, who can say where they will stop?

The author of this piece is a hysteria monger, hoping to benefit his religio-political agenda by causing incidents against Muslims over here, so that Muslims over here will join with his agenda, to the greater glory of Islam. Say a thing often enough and more people will start to believe it….

Of course, this statement is pretty silly:
"One thing is certain: America's obsession with ISIL is fueled by Islamophobia rather than any empirical realities."

But I completely agree with the idea that the hype and hyperventilating around ISIS is just the public getting whipped into a war frenzy. Saw the same thing going on with Saddam Hussein in 2002, before we invaded.

ISIS is the MidEast's problem. Funded by the MidEast, focused on the MidEast. The more we intervene, the more we enable Saudi Arabia to avoid the consequences of its own failed policies. Who is most scared by ISIS? Iran. Which NATO member is abetting ISIS by openly allowing ISIS to recruit on their territory? You can guess.

Why should we intervene; let the regional powers clean up their own mess. And my jaded attitude is largely shaped by the year I spent in Iraq, which turned out to be a complete waste of time. We thought we were succeeding in our mission, and it was all wasted, including 4,300 dead Americans. For nothing. Why repeat that, can't we at least learn our lesson from the first time?

I generally agree. In hindsight, IMO the US made two strategic mistakes. 1) Invading/"liberating" Iraq the second time. As bad as it may be said Saddam was … there would be no ISIS in Iraq. Or at least in any numbers spilling over for Syria ,if at all. And 2) The US and others at the US's request, supplying the Muj during the USSR's occupation. They both should have been left on their own … Probably no AQ or at least an AQ too busy to do anything but fight the USSR. And with any luck, guys like UBL, AZH, etc. would have died in the fight. Too much Western blood and treasure wasted in both locations. And as a side bar we see the second largest army in NATO, sixth largest in the world and only moslem NATO member – Turkey, went ismalists. And proved to be no real ally of NATO …

The cartels in Mexico have no interest in threatening the US. They may not execute as many people at once, but they are every bit as violent as ISIS. Beheadings are a regular occurrence in Mexican drug violence.

"If, in fact, the US suffered from Islamophobia" then there would be no Islam.