In all sincerity, and trying to avoid offending anyone, I would like to know why the American media (if not the people themselves) cannot get over the fact that America was bombed on 9-11. After decades of dodgy foreign policy and invasions I would have thought that a hefty bombing was pretty much inevitable.
I do not wish to cause offense, and I feel great sadness for the loss of life on 9-11 of all races and creeds. But two questions remain:
1 - Why could the HQ of the most powerful military force in the world not defend itself against 1 unarmed civilian aeroplane ?
2 - How has the American population been duped into thinking that Saddam Hussein has / had anything to do with 9-11 ?
The fact remains that all the might of the American Military machine could not catch the one man responsible for the WTC attacks.
Well, I’ll chime in just so you can see that not ALL Americans are bellicose idiots. I would say that a fair number of Americans understand that we had it coming, whether they agree with why or not. 9/11 simply served as a wake-up call to that end.
To answer your questions, I’ll give it a shot:
The Pentagon is about a mile from National Airport and planes fly over it about every two minutes all day long. They had anti-aircraft guns on the roof, but nobody manned them. Their bad. However, the plane came in over a hill close to the Pentagon very low and very fast and I would guess that anti-aircraft guns wouldn’t have been too effective at that point.
I don’t think that most Americans think that Saddam literally had anything to do with 9/11, just that he’s one of those Middle Eastern Bad Guys and they’re all involved somehow, or at least sympathetic. Not too bright, true, but we get bad info here, plus most are too lazy to get good info.
Basically, we’re going to spend hundreds of billions of dollars turning the world into a military police state to try and combat terrorism. Seems like it would be less costly to just stop being such right-wing dickheads to the rest of the world.
Oh, I forgot to address the media issue. Our media, much like yours or anybodys, is sensationalist tripe and is not to be trusted. However, in America, it is seamlessly blended with entertainment and advertisments exhorting the virtues of pecuniary emulation, so it all goes down real smooth-like.
Damn Straight. I have visited America only twice - once for 3 weeks: road trip around the Great Lakes, and once for 2 weeks: San Fran, Death Valley & Las Vegas.
You guys should remember what made your country so cool - freedom. It’s the thing that got America where it is. If you’re being oppressed, don’t freak out & rebel - go to America. Work hard and you can have shit-loads of cash. The real land of opportunity.
Just remember how embarrassed ALL Americans are when they look back at the 50’s and McCarthy’s anti-communist bullshit. This is just history repeating itself. Forget about the Islamic idiots that blew up NY. America is bigger & better than a few cave-dwelling freaks.
You got attacked. Get over it. Get back to what made your country the great place it (for the moment) still is.
jjimm, I know the polls show that, but I don’t know how the questions were worded and what the sample was. Post-war haze is also a factor. However, I guess I should never underestime the stupidity of people…
Hey a shit lot of people believed Bertie (Our leader for non Irish). People tend to be a lot like sheep when you look at the big picture. They want to feel like their country is doing the right thing.
Summertime while you may be right about the effects of communism the effects of witch hunts and bullying can be pretty negative as well.
Well patronizing tone aside, the largest bombing in Ireland was what? ~30 dead/~300 injured in 1998. Given decades of low grade civil war and terrorist bombing people might get numb to such slaughter. ~3000 dead with 1 “bombing” after centuries of isolation from external threats tends to focus the mind.
As for your points:
The Pentagon is not some sort of fortress with laser cannons and F-22’s circling looking for incoming civilian passenger jets about to redecorate the outer ring. It’s a massive office building filled with technocrats and officers.
The US seems to have been split on Saddam since the end of Gulf War I. Given attempts on the previous President Bush’s life, inspection expulsion, potential WMD program, lies, deception, etc, you can understand how they could be led to believe that Saddam could be in there somewhere. Lazy thinking true but that hardly counts as a uniquely American sin.
Military might is used to occupy territory and counter attempts to use military force against a country. Seems like a massively blunt instrument to find 1 person in 6 Billion. It does seem like a remarkably good instrument in disrupting state sponsorship of terrorists though.
America did not “have it coming.” To assert that anyone has being the victim of murder coming to them is ignorant & prejudiced at best, infinitely stupid at worst.
AGreed.
Witch hunts are bad; however, exposing communists in the U.S. government-who by definition-wanted to destory the U.S. is a good thing.
I assume thats what McCarthy was trying to do. I’ve read he did not want anyone’s name named publicly, he just wanted truth to out.
America did not “have it coming.” To assert that anyone has being the victim of murder coming to them is ignorant & prejudiced at best, infinitely stupid at worst.
Yeah Monty, I heard you the first time. How does America explain it’s morbid interest in bombing the shit out of foreign countries? It’s all just murder - I don’t give a fuck if you’re from NY, Kabul or Baghdad. America just got what it has richly deserved. If I may make the distinction - the people who died in the WTC did not deserve it, but America, as a warped global policeman did.
Thanks for your views though. Please keep it coming. If possible I would like a viewpoint from an American who can appreciate the savage irony of the entire affair - like AnArky did…
