December 31, 2003 - Note to self - always try to avoid any Message Board discussions involving race, religion, or politics, and stop downloading porn at work.
Okay, so much for keeping all of my new year's resolutions.
Have you noticed how quickly this discussion has evolved into a 'who's really at fault for allowing Al Qaida to bomb the U.S'? Clinton knew, but didn't respond in a satisfactory manner; Bush knew, but did not act quickly enough, then targeted another country as being responsible when knowing full well that Al Qaida was behind it.
It all sounds like bullshit knee-jerk reactions after the fact. Al Qaida, to the best of my recollection (and cell phone records to the contrary) did not tell either Clinton or Bush what they actually planned to do. They did not sit still afterwards for very long with a big bullseye over their hidden cave to direct incoming USAF staff to plop a seeing-eye bombs in their laps either.
They are a terriorist organization that clearly wants war with the U.S. Both Democrats and Republicans. They do not plan their attacks based on which party happens to occupy the White House. What 9/11 clearly showed, and the other, less lethal, attacks were leading up to, was that no one in U.S. politics, military, or the intelligence branches really understood the extent of the threat.
So, after the planes hit, the first thing it appears everyone in these organizations did was start to point fingers. As, apparently, many of you all are doing.
Congradulations on letting Al Qaida win, guys. As Bush currently is making abundantly clear.
My, JoMal!! Now you are sounding Democratically partisan, all of a sudden. Well, no. It so happens that the biggie - 9/11 - happened on Bush's watch. Maybe another type of guy would have done things differently, but under Bush's post-9/11 watch, American values as we knew them are quickly evaporating. The Bill of Rights has been violated; the constitution ignored.
My very first reaction after calming down after 9/11 was this: The terrorists have given the U.S. President carte blanche to do ANYTHING now to confront the enemy organizations of the United States. Did the terrorists ever stop to think what that means to them and their homelands? Did anyone (besides the omnipotent JoMal) in the United States ever stop to think what this might mean to our own way of life? For our future lives out for at least the next twenty years?
The one certainty is this- we are committed, MUST BE COMMITTED AS A NATION ACTING AS ONE to fighting Al Qaida and other arabic terror groups. In their countries, not here. Not because they don't have legitiment gripes about us, they do. But because they want to destroy our way of life. To take the American dream and smash it. To rid the world of McDonalds and Coke and KFC. To denounce our NBA rights!!!!
Which makes Bush's lame excuse (WMD's for crying out loud- the U.S. army will have to bring them into Iraq for the inspectors to find any) for invading Iraq highly questionable, but completely supported by most Americans because - they gladly handed him carte blanche to do what he feels like in this pursuit.
Does anyone else get a shiver up their spine thinking about what that could mean? We have to fight these terrorists, yes, but we also have to remember that we are giving up what it means to be "AMERICAN" to accomplish it. We have left ourselves inviting targets for so much more damage then 9/11. Are we going to rally in support of the widows and orphans the same way if the numbers go from 4,000 dead to 50,000? 100,000? Surely, you all must realyze those numbers could prove to be very conservative once these decades of fighting conclude. And believe it that crushing Al Qaida is just the start.
We in the U.S. have always had Israel to buffer the Arab world from regularly denouncing our exploitive natures. No longer. If Israel ceased to exist and the Palastinians won, don't think for a second they would not quickly choose another target for revenge. If we are lucky, they will go back to backstabbing each other. But if they unite, which seems to be the case now, the Iraqi war will be looked back on as simply a prelude.
Thanks to 9/11 and who-cares-now who was responsible for allowing it to happen. What we have to really worry about is that Bush considers any action he takes to be legitimate to eradicate terrorists.
We may not have ready "targets" to bomb right now outside Iraq, but that will be changing.
