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Why has U.S. been spared?
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Joo Rip Gwa Rhhee

Joined: 25 May 2003

Posted: Fri Jul 08, 2005 6:11 am Post subject: Why has U.S. been spared?

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/opinion/orl-edpbrown08070805jul08,0,442768.column?coll=orl-opinion-headlines

Quote:

COMMENTARY: PETER A. BROWN

Why has U.S. been spared?
Peter A. Brown
Sentinel Columnist

July 8, 2005

The London bombing once again begs the question: Why haven't terrorists struck the United States in the past four years?

Certainly the effects of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks are still felt by Americans.

Unfortunately, terrorists have succeeded in changing how we live our daily lives.

Americans worry more about being blown up now than when thousands of Soviet ICBMs with multiple nuclear warheads were pointed at the United States.

These days, we live under the constant fear of being the next victim of a random act, a mentality that makes us more fearful and less generous to strangers and forces changes in behavior that cost us all time and money.

Nonetheless, it is useful to ponder why the bad guys haven't struck within the United States itself since 9-11.

It certainly is not because Osama & Co. hate us less than they once did.

If anything, the U.S. destruction of his puppet regime in Afghanistan, its invasion of Iraq and the American-led war on terror make us even less popular among Islamic extremists.

And it is not as though they have given up their efforts to wreak mayhem and havoc.

The bombings in London's public transit system were similar to the attack on the Madrid rail system that took almost 200 lives in March 2004. In addition, there have been sporadic acts of terror elsewhere around the globe since 9-11.

Of course, the fear is that al-Qaeda is just biding its time planning some really horrific act, perhaps employing a weapon of mass destruction, against the United States. Sadly, that could well be the case.

Yet, we might also consider the possibility that the U.S. government's response to 9-11 has been working. What if we have thwarted active terrorist plots or discouraged al-Qaeda's planners from focusing here, forcing them to concentrate their efforts overseas?

After all, it would seem that the New York, Boston, Chicago or Washington subways, San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge or Los Angeles' freeways or shopping malls would be just as inviting for the low-tech kind of terrorism that occurred in London and Madrid.

If that is the case, then perhaps the Bush administration's efforts -- which have raised the hackles of civil libertarians who argue the stepped-up security endangers individual rights -- are working.

Its tough stance on controlling foreign visitors to the United States might be worth the perceived insult felt by those overseas, and the loss of revenue for some U.S. businesses.

Maybe the Patriot Act, which gave the Justice Department new tools to deal with the flow of money to terrorists and provided investigative powers that drive the American Civil Liberties Union nuts, is worth it.

Most Americans would gladly accept officials looking at their library cards or giving the FBI broader powers to snoop into peoples' lives if it helped prevent terrorism.

Is it possible that the lockup of captured al-Qaeda fighters at Guantánamo Bay might be yielding the type of intelligence that has allowed U.S. security personnel to short-circuit extremist plots?

If so, then maybe the critics, foreign and domestic, of the prison there, and of U.S. cooperation with other nations' security forces that don't have the same constitutional constraints on treating detainees as do Americans, might want to reconsider their view.

Or maybe opposing the U.S. military presence in Afghanistan and Iraq has used up al-Qaeda's men and money, forcing it to concentrate its battle against America there, since those parts of the world are closer to al-Qaeda's home.

And there is always the possibility that al-Qaeda has decided that attacking the United States might not be worth the political costs.

After all, it would once again create a post 9-11 sense of national unity behind a strong military response. And no doubt that would give Bush a mandate to do whatever he thinks necessary to combat terrorism.

Obviously, it is impossible to know for certain why something does not occur. Clearly, however, the lack of a terrorist incident in the United States since 9-11 is not a random act of kindness.

It stems from U.S. government measures, or terrorists' decision that their self-interest requires them to look elsewhere for targets of opportunity.

Let's keep this in mind as, hopefully, the United States remains terrorism-free.

Perhaps our defenses against terrorism are working, which would argue for more of the same.

Peter A. Brown can be reached at 407-420-5276 or [email protected].

Copyright © 2005, Orlando Sentinel |

jlb

Joined: 18 Sep 2003

Posted: Fri Jul 08, 2005 6:41 am Post subject: It's coming

The USA's time is coming. I have no doubt about that...they've made a lot of enemies in the Muslim world.

Ya-ta Boy

Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Location: Established in 1994

Posted: Fri Jul 08, 2005 7:42 am Post subject:

Quote:

Clearly, however, the lack of a terrorist incident in the United States since 9-11 is not a random act of kindness.

Ahem...it isn't as though there was a lot of foreign-perpetrated terrorism before 9-11 either. Maybe it's always been fairly difficult for them to do their deeds here and the surrender of more power to the government was not necessary.

And another thing. As far as I can tell, none of my family has changed a thing about the way they live since 9-11 either. Except for the talking heads on TV, no one even brings it up in casual conversation when I'm around. I think the whole thing is overblown by those with a political agenda.

Leslie Cheswyck

Joined: 31 May 2003
Location: University of Western Chile

Posted: Fri Jul 08, 2005 7:47 am Post subject:

Keeping America safe is a political agenda?

Joo Rip Gwa Rhhee

Joined: 25 May 2003

Posted: Fri Jul 08, 2005 10:33 am Post subject: Re: It's coming

jlb wrote:

The USA's time is coming. I have no doubt about that...they've made a lot of enemies in the Muslim world.

70,000 trained in Al Qaida camps during the 1990's. That was while the US was protecting muslim Kurds from Saddam and muslims in Kosovo from Slobidan. That was also while the US was trying to bring the Israelis and the Palestinian side together.

Not many in the mideast got made when Saddam gassed the Kurds or when Assad destroyed the city of Hama in 1982 or when Khomeni killed 30,000 of his own in 1988.

Maybe cause the govts there control who their citizens are upset with.

keithinkorea

Joined: 17 Mar 2004

Posted: Fri Jul 08, 2005 10:34 am Post subject:

Leslie Cheswyck wrote:

Keeping America safe is a political agenda?

Again you show that you shouldn't be a teacher, I hope you're not one and are just a harmless troll rather than a professional who is imparting knowledge in to young minds.

An agenda is basically a list of things to be done. Obviously one of the main tasks any government is given by its electorate is to keep them safe so of course it is on the agenda of any government.

There was and is very little terrorism in the US. So many Americans are so completley ignorant of terrorism. It was like '911 OMFG we are all terrorist experts now, lets blow up some people'!

I'm a Brit and I've probably forgotten more about terrorism than you could learn in a hundred years, personal experience is everything.

Had a friend who had a serious mental problem brought about by a bomb being detonated in from of his house in Belfast. An acquaintance of mine was severely traumatised by his experiences serving in the UK forces in Bosnia, he had some stories that almost made me vomit and made him cry, he's in prison now it screwed him up big style, and he is a nice guy. Personally I was in Manchester when the big IRA bomb went off, fortunatley I was asleep and slept through the whole thing and the IRA are more sporting than these extremists.

They rang in their bombs with the local police! When they realised their cowardice was working against them.

Britons as a whole will not cower in fear, ever.

bigverne

Joined: 12 May 2004

Posted: Fri Jul 08, 2005 10:41 am Post subject:

Quote:

There was and is very little terrorism in the US. So many Americans are so completley ignorant of terrorism. It was like '911 OMFG we are all terrorist experts now, lets blow up some people'!

I'm a Brit and I've probably forgotten more about terrorism than you could learn in a hundred years, personal experience is everything.

Although you do realise that the number of people killed in one day on 9-11, were killed, on both sides, throughout the 30 year history of 'the troubles'. The attack on 9-11 was terrorism on an unprecedented scale, much as you might try to minimise it.

Leslie Cheswyck

Joined: 31 May 2003
Location: University of Western Chile

Posted: Fri Jul 08, 2005 10:52 am Post subject:

keithinkorea wrote:

Leslie Cheswyck wrote:

Keeping America safe is a political agenda?

Keith,

As a Brit you are probably unaware of the pejorative weight many Americans put into the word agenda. The word implies something akin to "pet project", or "axe to grind", partisan politics. Please try to at least know something about something before you make your snide personal attacks.

You should also brush up on your writing skills; your run-on sentences and sentence fragments do little to promote you. I sure hope you don't teach composition.

So much for form. Let's look at the content of your grotesque boasting. You claim to have "personal experience" of terrorism. Yet you relate the tales of two acquaintences. That's second-hand experience, not personal. Which leaves us with your Manchester "experience", and you slept through that. How can you say you experienced it?
If, as you say, personal experience is everything, then what have you got there, Rip?

Thanks, Verne, for the support. I want you to know that Britain has no greater friend than Leslie.

bucheon bum

Joined: 16 Jan 2003

Posted: Fri Jul 08, 2005 12:58 pm Post subject: Re: It's coming

jlb wrote:

The USA's time is coming. I have no doubt about that...they've made a lot of enemies in the Muslim world.

Yup, just a matter of when.

gmat

Joined: 29 Jan 2003

Posted: Fri Jul 08, 2005 1:26 pm Post subject:

Jack Bauer

Ya-ta Boy

Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Location: Established in 1994

Posted: Fri Jul 08, 2005 6:05 pm Post subject:

Quote:

Keeping America safe is a political agenda?

Ummmmm, Mr. C, you are supposed to eat your oatmeal with a spoon, not mainline it. It's clogging up your synapses.

Maybe the best solution is if you just skip my posts and spare yourself the anguish. Either my writing style or your reading comprehension is lacking. I choose to believe one and you choose to believe the other. Fair enough.

And you're American? I never guessed that. [/quote]

bignate

Joined: 30 Apr 2003
Location: Hell's Ditch

Posted: Fri Jul 08, 2005 6:15 pm Post subject:

Quote:

Why has U.S. been spared?

Because a Nuke takes longer to plant?

keithinkorea

Joined: 17 Mar 2004

Posted: Fri Jul 08, 2005 9:17 pm Post subject:

Leslie Cheswyck wrote:

keithinkorea wrote:

Leslie Cheswyck wrote:

Keeping America safe is a political agenda?

Stop being an idiot. At least my reading comprehension seems far better than yours. Or are you just being disingenuos. Don't some Americans know what the word 'agenda' actually means? This I find a little unbelievabel so you must be trolling.

I tend to write on the net in a way I'd never do irl. I can usually be understood however by anyone with a brain. I like many never proof read my stuff on here and make plenty of errors, I'm not anal about it except when I'm teaching where I actually bother to make it correct all 100% correct.

Sad, sad little troll.

Bulsajo

Joined: 16 Jan 2003

Posted: Fri Jul 08, 2005 9:32 pm Post subject:

The phrase 'quite while you're behind' springs to mind.

bucheon bum

Joined: 16 Jan 2003

Posted: Fri Jul 08, 2005 9:56 pm Post subject:

"quite while you're behind." That is a new one to me .

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