5 years

[snoopy]

Well, it's been 5 years now. I think the terorists are hurting a lot mroe than they where 5 years ago. My question is this: do you think they regret having done it?

[Mobius]

You think? I doubt that.

The reason there have been no further attacks in the US is because there is no need for further attacks.

The first attacks have done the job perfectly, and after 9/11 the US government took over the job the terrorists started. The attacks created the FEAR, and the government picked up on that (You can't, after all, control anyone who isn't afraid!) and leveraged the Fear to create more Fear.

So, the terrorists are laughing themselves stupid: you've spent hundreds of bilions of dollars trying to stop something which wasn't ever going to happen again, you've allowed yourselves to lose freedoms you went to war to protect, and you've lost privacy that 50 years ago you would have fought and killed to protect. You've allowed a moron to run the country, ramp up military spending, ruin foreign policy (what was left of it), invade two countries needlessly, sacrificed over 2000 US soldiers, killed tens, or even hundreds of thousands of arabs, and squander the good will the rest of the world had for you on 9/11.

On top of this you've allowed yourself to cringe in fear even though you're more likely to die by killer Bees than terrorism.

You've allowed yourselves to be suckered into doing the most outrageous things at airports, put up with delays, hassles and a serious amount of bullsh!7.

Nope - there won't be any more attacks in the USA for many years. There's no need to, because you're all so deathly afraid.

My 2 cents.

[TigerRaptor]

I wouldn’t count the US being safe just yet. I find it kind of hard to swallow that fear is holding these guys back or they are done with the US. The terrorist are taking more caution than ever.

[ccb056]

I wonder where this \"Americans are afraid of terrorists\" is comming from, I've noticed it alot talking to people from other countries, and yet I don't see the connection.

[dissent]

More idiotic ramblings from Mobius. Quelle surprise !!

Yeah, I'm so \"deathly afraid\" that I'm getting on a plane Wednesday morning to go to Florida.

\"No need for further attacks\"?? Oh puh-lease. That's so typical of terrorists that they just attack once and never do it again. I think a better explanation is that have been getting their butts whooped over the past few years on numerous fronts and that their operational capability has been severely degraded.

Excuse me now, I'm gonna go wail and gnash my teeth over the great losses of freedom and privacy that I've experienced since 2001. And if I see any of our jack-booted security forces before I get on the plane, I plan to pat 'em on the back and tell them thanks for the hard work they do under difficult circumstances. Don't worry, I'll send 'em your love too.

[Drakona]

My question is this: do you think they regret having done it?

No. But only because they're stupid, and think they'll win.

[roid]

yep, 5 years.

i wish we had our old posts from back then, but i guess you can only read \"turn the entire middle east into a glass-pit!@!!!@ USAUSAUSAUSAUSA!@!!@111!!111oneone eleven11!!@ \" so many times before you get bored.

[Flabby Chick]

No. But only because they're stupid, and think they'll win.

They're not stupid Drak'. They still won't win though.

[Genghis]

These are off the top of my head (no doubt more could be added to both lists).

The negatives:

Since 9/11, we've spent billions of dollars, passed some really dumb laws and initiatives, turned most of Muslim opinion against us, turned much of world opinion against us, gotten bogged down in an unwinnable war, and created more terrorists and terrorist havens than previously existed.

The positives:

Not all of the billions we spent were wasted, the Taliban has been ousted (but maybe not permanently), Saddam has been ousted (permanently, but it's TBD what kind of regime will replace him), and stopped a number of terrorist plots (mostly using investigative techniques in place before 9/11, and no thanks to the new dumb laws and initiatives).

There is no question that the terrorists consider 9/11 a victory and why would they regret a victory? The negatives listed above are probably more than they could have hoped for, and of the positives only the last affects them and even that is a fairly minor and temporary inconvenience.

[Will Robinson]

The first attacks have done the job perfectly,

Which "first" attack are you talking about?
The first one on americans?
The first one on american soil?
The first one by al Queda on americans?
The first one on the World Trade Center by al Queda?
Or the first one to bring down the World Trade Center?

Nope - there won't be any more attacks in the USA for many years.

Somehow the track record of these people seems to hold more weight than your opinion on the likelyhood of another attack!

My 2 cents.

Someone is being overcharged there

[snoopy]

I was thinking about stopping terrorism, and what's really required to make it happen the other day. I'm convinced that the battle against terrorism really needs to happen on an individual level. People need to make the call on suspicious activity, and the government needs to heed people's call on it. I don't like the breaches in privacy that have happened as a result of 9/11, I think there is a better way to do it than to randomly tap X person's phone. That's where the personal involvement comes in. (I was thinking similarly when the Hezbollah where stirring up trouble recently- at what point does looking the other way constitute allying yourself with the trouble? I think that's a valid point that few dare to bring up in the context of Islamic Jihadism.... doing nothing is in itself an action to support and/or hurt a cause.)

As for regret? I think that if they where sane they would regret it. They are being forced to expend a whole lot more resources to operate these days, and their money is being squeezed at least to some dagree, along with their ranks being depleted. I think they're in a lot weaker position right now, but they probably don't regret it.

[Gooberman]

I miss the feeling of unity that happened after September 11th..

We weren't even able to make it through the day yesterday. CNN polled that 60% of Americans some how blame bush for the attacks. Clinton's group got all pissy about some irrelevant ABC special, that it turned out very few people watched. Rush goes on Air saying that the dems cringe on 9/11 because they have to admit that it happened. Moveon.org decides that now would be a good time to capitalize on Iraq not being related to 9/11.

It is all just so nauseating.

Maybe its because we have an election so close. I watched the news for a good part of yesterday... But aside from that I've started to find myself avoiding politics all together….which is much easier to do now that I live in San Diego.

[Testiculese]

9/11 is the best thing that happened in politics, Goob, you're not surprised by all this, are you? I know I'm not...I didn't go near a TV yesterday.

[Gooberman]

I guess trying to avoid politics for a bit has taken me out of my game. I was actually expecting more tribute, less attack.

[Top Gun]

I miss that too, Goob. For that fleeting time, none of the everyday back-and-forth **** mattered. No partisanship, no ***damn politics, none of it. We were all just Americans, plain and simple. We need that feeling again now more than we ever have.