How Would You Like To See The WTC Follow-Up Play Out?

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
21

I’m not saying it was right, per se, but if Mr. Khadafi was going to go blowing up United States Marines, perhaps he should have had his daughter living somewhere besides his terrorist camp. He can’t have imagined that we wouldn’t have retaliated. That’s how these bastards work. They commit these strikes then hide behind friendly governments and civilians. I am sorry that the girl had the misfortune to be born to a monster like Khadafi, but if he is going to house his children in paramilitary installations, he shouldn’t complain when they get killed.

**

Whatever place it was from, that’s the place that should be destroyed.

22

I mentioned it in another thread, but Reagan’s airstike in Libya was in about 1986. The Lockerbie bombing, supposedly performed by Libyan agents, took place two years later. The airstrike did not stop Libyan terrorism.

If it’s a nation behind it, lawyers have a better chance of stopping terrorism than bombs. I’m pretty sure that Libya was sued for the Lockerbie bombing, and their international assets were frozen because of it. After that you didn’t hear much about Libyan terrorism. And I think something similar happened to Iran, but the Clinton Administration was afraid of enforcing the default judgment (Iran never responded to the Summons & Complaint) in fear of hurting the Iranian moderates who are currently in power. I think Libya got out of the asset freezing when they gave up the accused bombers.

23

The “world reactions” thread is giving me hope.

What I want to see happen is a worldwide, unified shift in how the civilized world approaches terrorism and terrorist states. Currently, it’s a very defensive, reactive affair, and I want that to cease.

I want a unified, coordinated effort of will from every civilized country; a steadfast and unwavering stance that those who commit these acts will no longer be tolerated; that no place will be safe shelter. The nations that support and provide havens for terrorist organizations need their governments broken–use bombs, use assassins, use a total economic embargo and assets-freezing, every tool without mercy. When a terrorist camp is determined, that camp needs to be so much dust the next day. Terrorist leaders and members should be targetted for assassination, and pursued resolutely until success.

I want history to look back, and see the opening years of the 21st century as the time when global terrorism died under a unified and merciless effort by every civilized nation–and September 11th as the day that end began.

24

This is a hard call.

Hunt the perps down and kill them, we are no better than them.

Hunt them down, bring them to justice, imprison them for life, they become martyrs in their own country (where ever that may be.)If it turned out to be terror from *within * our own border, I don’t even want to think about something like this.

Personally, in my life, I have fluctuated between Pro-War to Pacifist and back again and then back again the other way. This fair skinned, blue eyed Mick has a bit of WW2 Italian in her.

Today, right now, if someone asked me to fly the plane that would fly over the home/camp/bunker containing the sonsofbitches that did this, and drop the bombs on them, I would not hesitate. Even if their families were in there.

Call me a bit of a hypocrite.

Tomorrow, no doubt, I will feel differently.

However, as that won’t be happening, I will just sit back and wait when whomever is caught for this, and if the penalty is death, I can’t wait for Pope John Paul II to beg for the US not to execute them.

But until that happens, I shall morbidly entertain myself by watching all the members of congress and senate (and other parts of governmentand officals) who stand shoulder to shoulder today, unite against this unseen act of terrorism, slowly unravel into a huge match of finger pointing ,chest thumping, blame-game, “I’ve said all along we had the barn door open…” rhethoric.

25

This isn’t just about retaliation and revenge. This is about preventing these things from happening again. And you won’t achieve that by just killing Bin Laden, or even by killing his entire organization - he’ll just become a martyr and even more fanatics will take his place. There is an endless supply of them.

What has to happen is that the terrorists must have their support chain broken. This really is war, folks. This attack may have killed 10,000 people. That’s 1/5 the number that were killed in Vietnam. But that’s nothing compared to what the next attack could be. We’re facing the threat of biological and nuclear weapons in the hands of fanatics, and today they made it clear that they are willing and eager to use them. These organizations pose more of a threat to U.S. security than Adolf Hitler did.

And in WWII, countries that collaborated with Germany were targeted. And yes, civilians died. You’ll never avoid that in war.

What should be done, IMO, is to put the world on notice: We just stopped trying to negotiate with terrorists and the governments who harbor and supply them. From now on, if you support terrorists, if you harbor them, if you give them aid, you are the enemy. War against terrorism has been declared, and anyone who stands in the way of that war will be dealt with.

Today they were cheering in the streets in many Arab countries when they heard the news. What they SHOULD be doing is cowering in fear that the terrorists came from their countries. Public sentiment for terror in these countries has to change. Governments have to worry about revolts in the streets if they support terrorism. It goes without saying that instant economic embargoes should go into force against any country who is suspected of harboring them.

This is the reality of the new world. The next attack could kill millions. You can’t stop it by implementing domestic security - a country as large and free as the U.S. can never protect itself in that way. Hell, Israel can’t protect itself from terrorism, and it has far more internal security than U.S. citizens would ever tolerate. You have to go after it at the source. And if a government prevents you from doing that, that government should be swept aside.

Just my opinion, in the heat of the emotions of the day.

26

Let’s assume for the moment that bin Laden actually did it. Here’s the news report I’d like to see:

(Reuters) AFGHANISTAN - After several days of sabre-rattling by the United States following President Bush’s assurance that those who harbor the terrorists would pay the same price as the terrorists themselves, the Afghani military, reflecting the feelings of the majority of the Afghani people, finally laid seige to the bin Laden compound. After a brief firefight, bin Laden was taken to the United States embassy and dumped, naked and bleeding, into the compound. “What an idiot,” said a representative. “His arrogance was going to bring the might of the American military onto our country, and we could not allow that to happen. Do with him as you will.” bin Laden was then flown to a high-security federal prison, tried, and summarily executed for his crimes.

Esprix

27

I agree with Sam. IIRC, Bush has said that we, as a nation, will not draw a distinction between the perpetrators of this event and those who harbor them, and I think this is a great start.

I’ve also had Travolta’s speech from the latter half of Swordfish running through my head all day. About how we’ll escalate the violence to the point where terrorist strikes against the United States are so costly that no nation would dare attack us.

Now, I’m generally against an “eye for an eye” mentality, but it won’t be the first time in history in which the threat of greater violence is the only thing holding violence in check.

28

I like Esprix’s scenario.

But it ain’t gonna happen.

29

Launch a missile on downtown Kabul. The missle is a dud - this time. Issue the following warning – if Osama bin Laden is not turned over to the United States within 24 hours, and not a second later, the next missile will contain a nuclear warhead. He’s not turned over in 48 hours? Kandahar. 72 hours? Herat. 96 hours - Metropolitan Mazar-e-Sharif turns to glass. Another terrorist attack on the United States within that time? A nuke destined for the next city in line will be launched immediately.

For the Palestinians dancing in the streets – sorry, but the collective lot of you won’t be able to apply for U.S. citizenship for the next 20 years.

Unrealistic, I know, but my shock has now turned into anger. It’s wrong to wish the destruction of innocent human lives, hungry children and oppressed women among them. Still, this is war. Dresden, Hiroshima, Kabul.

Maybe tomorrow I’ll feel differently. :frowning:

30

On a different note, I would like people to return their lives to “normal”. Now I know normal is not normal anymore, but I think it is important that as soon as possible we go back to our jobs, our sports, our amusement parks, our movies, our parks, etc. This is not just attack that is trying to take life but a way of life. three factors should determine these things: logistics, security, and appropriateness. I think it will be apprpriate as soon as possible, given the other two. I think, for example, the NFL should play games on SUnday if they feel it is secure and the logistics can be done. It isn’t about me getting my Sunday football, but about a nation getting it’s world back in order.

31

I just want all this to be over with. Find the group responsible and put them away. No bombing, no execution, nothing. I don’t know if I believe in an afterlife; all I know is that nothing we can do on earth will compensate for the atrocities that they have committed. War or conflict of any kind will only draw things out.

32

Oh, you know what else you should do? Build a new building where the towers were, twice as f*cking high, with the entire top of it ringed with American flags. You can call it the giant finger of capitalism.

33

From memory, the missile demolished Qaddifi’s bathroom in his house, killing his child.

The fact that the Taliban has issued a statement empathising with the American people and denying bin Laden did it suggests they will bend over backwards to avoid American wrath.

I have a very small hope that under pressure the Taliban will hand over bin Laden to the International Court of Justice. I doubt very much that the Taliban will hand him over to the US, but might do it to someone else.

34

I have three possibilities, of various levels of unreasonability, but that give a certain satifaction to think about.

First: A pillar of fire appears before the perpetrators and all their associates and leaders, announces that it is the Voice of their Deity, and then they all melt like the climax of “Raiders of the Lost Ark”. Several innocents witness this and are able to describe it to the world.

Second: The group responsible is definitely identified. For some reason, they all gather together someplace away from civilians. Then a 737 crashes dead center. They would have to turn away hundreds of volunteers to crew the plane, and I’m sure Boeing would donate the plane gratis.

Third: (more reasonable, I hope) The people responsible are identified and fully exposed. Everyone everywhere knows who was involved. They are captured and tried in a World Court. The funds and infrastructure that supported them are converted to the use of peaceful people and forever denied to zealots and bad guys.

35

I know I’m speaking out of anger here, but for the first time in my life, I think that Israel’s policy of “swift and deadly retaliation to any terrorist attack” is warranted and should be implemented by our government in this barbaric case.

It’s about time we send the message to all terrorists that we won’t take this lying down.

IMHO, how would a normal person look at his infant child and then turn around and order/allow the killing of other innocent people? Mr. Quadaffi did what he did, and he paid the price. He might not realize that now, but someday he will, to his own sorrow.

[hijack]

I was IM’ing, trading jokes, with a highschool friend who works, damn, who worked at WTC Tuesday. He was one of those who always come to work early. His message just stopped, and when I heard the news, I just broke down and cried. I’m a man, and it was the first time I ever cried in public. Couldn’t call his house or cellular since.

[hijack]

I just hope that I’ll wake up from this nightmare.

36

Everyone is mentioning Khadafi and his daughter. Have you noticed that we have not heard a PEEP out of him in years? Hmmm. I wonder why? Maybe because he finally got it through his thick skull that it was too costly to mess with us.

This is the message that we MUST send to the world, unless you want to see this same sort of thing, and MUCH worse in the future. Kill our people and you will die. Hijack our planes, turn them into 500,000 pound cruise missiles, and you will die. We absolutely HAVE to impress upon terrorists everywhere that it is SUICIDE to attack the United States.

Take Bin Laden prisoner. Try him, convict him, and either imprison or execute him. There are MILLIONS of fanatics right behind him that will consider him and absolute HERO AND MARTYR for his cause and religion. They will pick up the torch right there, and continue to run with it forever. **We absolutely MUST make any action of this kind WAY too expensive for them to even contemplate in the future. ** Otherwise we are sitting ducks. The people in Palestine should be scared to DEATH that some of their people attacked the US, not dancing for joy in front of our news cameras. **WHAT IS WRONG WITH THIS PICTURE? **

There was a report on the radio this morning that certain ethnic students were celebrating on the USF campus here in Tampa yesterday. Doesn’t this bother anyone in the slightest? YAAY. Let’s have a barbecue and party down because some people from our homeland just killed thousands of innocents in the country where we were taken in, and allowed to go to school.

Another thing that scares me is people saying that they feel one way today, but tomorrow will probably feel differently. This atrocity, this absolute outright declaration of war should NEVER lose it’s horror for the people of this country. EVER. Because if we allow it to fade, we will go back to doing things just like before, but only this time it will escalate. What was airliners yesterday could have been a nuke, one “liberated” in the fall of the USSR, and shipped here. We would be mourning Washington DC and New York City entire. Millions of lives are at stake. I don’t want to see people try to deny that it could happen.

O

37

I concur. This would be great.

38

It really depends on what your goals are. The first and simplest goal is simply to bring those responsible for this crime to justice, and in the past the US has traditionally taken the position that even terrorist crimes be treated as crimes and due process be followed.

In this case the US might take a more extreme position and choose not to follow due process. Once the guilty parties have been identified, follow with immediate and swift retaliation against those parties. Again, the US has done this in the past and has taken precautions to minimize any loss of life of innocent victims.

However if the goal is to prevent future occurances of similar attacks neither of these are sufficient. If that is truly the goal our response must be swift, sure, and overwhelming. Literally to the point of leveling cities, reducing entire regions to rubble, sowing salt in the soil so the resulting barren landscape stands as a reminder to all who might contemplate such an act.

Those of you familiar with the book “Ender’s Game” will understand immediately what I am talking about. With an enemy such as this no compromise can be reached. The only way to guarantee we can never be harmed by such an enemy again is to completely destroy that enemy, and demonstrate to potential enemies the cost to them for such an attack would be too horrific to contemplate.

Such an approach means a great loss of life, the death of many innocent victims. I personally would argue that the terrorists that chose to make such attacks in the first place are responsible for their deaths but understand not everyone would agree. In any case such an action on our part would make us an even greater criminal in the eyes of many, and might cost us a bit of our humanity.

What should we do? I have no answers.

39

I agree totally. But when we’ve tracked down the hijackers’ people, we should get all the info we can from them about that support chain. So how do get them to talk? If they know they’re dead, they won’t tell us anything. Will we be able to find an Albert Speer: someone who will sing in exchange for life, no parole instead of execution?

40

Shall we start with the CIA? That agency helped train Osama Bin Laden as part of the Afghanistan campaign against the Soviet Union.

How about the lax security guards who let these people on the planes. That definitely helped the cause.

The people that committed these attacks are fanatics. Dropping bombs on innocent people in Palestine, Afghanistan, or any other country will only serve to create more fanatics. Shooting up mosques in Texas will only serve to create more fanatics.

The only viable solution is to find the terrorists themselves, and wipe them, and only them out.

Slaughtering innocents will only extend the bloodshed.