Why has there been no repeat of 9/11?
 

I think if you asked most people on 9/12/2001, they would have never predicted that there would not be another major terrorist attack in the US. Why do you think it hasn't occured?

Re: Why has there been no repeat of 9/11?
 

You forgot an option:

"The terrorists are too busy laughing at their good fortune of having the Democrats work to protect them from detection."

Re: Why has there been no repeat of 9/11?
 

The first option. Plus the fact that ordinary american heroes like the ones who died in that Pennsylvania field and who stopped the shoe bomber are also stepping up and letting the terrorists know that not only do they have to get past the government but also everyday joe.

Re: Why has there been no repeat of 9/11?
 

Jesus christ, i agree with bluffthis.

"Plus the fact that ordinary american heroes like the ones who died in that Pennsylvania field and who stopped the shoe bomber are also stepping up and letting the terrorists know that not only do they have to get past the government but also everyday joe."

During the last three years i flew close to 200 domestic flights for work, and the conclusion that i came up with was that the most effective deterrent against hijacking that could exist is that no plane would allow themselves to be hijacked again. Just give the frikin' cockpits doors that can't be shouldered down, and give the flight attendants training and mace and your fine as long as you keep bombs off the flight.
BTW the security is a joke- i actually carried several "weapons" onto planes- once when i was physically searched with my bags twice. They did find and confiscate a butter knife though.

Re: Why has there been no repeat of 9/11?
 

What is stopping terraists in America from strapping themselves with explosive vests, putting a big coat on and going to the mall during black friday? Two of those attacks in major malls would reallly mess up the economy.

Maybe there arent as many terraists in the USA as faux news tries to say there is.

Maybe when they get here with the intention of blowing stuff up, they say, "hey, this place is pretty nice, not bad like Osama said it was. Maybe i'll get a wife and settle down instead of blowing myself up."

Re: Why has there been no repeat of 9/11?
 

You forgot an option.

"The terrorists are too busy laughing at their good fortune of having the Republicans do their work for them."

Re: Why has there been no repeat of 9/11?
 

[ QUOTE ]
Jesus christ, i agree with bluffthis.

[/ QUOTE ]

If you do then that means that you will follow Him and stop using His name as an expletive.

Re: Why has there been no repeat of 9/11?
 

Combonation of the above

Re: Why has there been no repeat of 9/11?
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Jesus christ, i agree with bluffthis.

[/ QUOTE ]

If you do then that means that you will follow Him and stop using His name as an expletive.

[/ QUOTE ]

My favorite curse word is "Karl Marx". Gotta say it with a sneer for it to work.

Re: Why has there been no repeat of 9/11?
 

I see two possibilities. The first is that the Bush administration is doing such a good job in the "War on Terror" that Al Qaeda has had no opportunitis to mount further attacks. Yeah, I know, pretty far-fetched to think that gang of buffoons has gotten something right.

The other possibility is that the threat was vastly overrated in the first place. Maybe Al Queda got really lucky on 9/11. Maybe their crazy plan was so crazy (and our security for air travel so bad) that it worked. Actually, it only worked three out of four times on 9/11. The tactic of hijacking plains with box cutters and flying them into buildings only worked as long as passengers and flight crew didn't realize that worse things than getting sliced with a box cutter would happen if they cooperated. The passengers on the fourth flight realized that they had nothing to lose and everything to gain by fighting back.

In the first few months after 9/11, in an effort to prevent any more attacks using a method that was already obsolete, our leaders tightened airport security before having adequate staff in place, resulting in huge backups in the screening lines, which meant that we now had huge crowds of people in the unsecured part of airport terminals. I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop. I expected suitcase bombs, or suicide bombers, since Al Queda seems to have an inexplicable (to me anyway) liking for suicide attacks, in the airport terminals. As luck would have it, Al Queda's leaders failed to anticipate this development, and failed to take advantage of the opportunity after it developed.

At this time, the whole government, hell, the whole country, was pretty much running around like chickens with their heads cut off, so I can't buy the notion that the Bush gang had anyting to do with it. When you look at Al Queda's history, other than 9/11, their successful attacks have amounted to a few suicide bombings that haven't in the grand scheme of things, amounted to much more than a nuisance. This is not to minimize the tragedy for the people they have killed and their families, but, in truth, our efforts should have directed at rounding these folks up and killing them or arresting them. Hell, this is the same gang of clowns whose operatives got caught after the 1993 WTC bombing because they tried to get the deposit back on the rental truck they blew up. We're not dealing with rocket scientists here, thank God.

Instead, our leaders decided to invade Iraq, and use the attack as an excuse to advance their agenda to turn our country into a fascist police state. We are now bogged down in occupations in Iraq, and Afghanistan that, if anything, are strenthening the terrorists. We had more cause to invade Saudi Arabia than Iraq. Our efforts in Afghanistan should have been directed at catching the bad guys, not nation building. We are fortunate indeed that our enemy is almost as incompetent as our leadership. Were than not the case, we would be in deep trouble indeed. Well, we are in deep trouble, but not from Al Queda.

Re: Why has there been no repeat of 9/11?
 

In Afghanistan how can you catch the bad guys when the government in charge is a direct ally and supporter of them.

If you going to remove them, don't you have to put something in place to prevent a power vacumm and chaos, which aids the enemy,

Re: Why has there been no repeat of 9/11?
 

Invading Afghanistan was necessary. If anything, we were too easy on them immediately after 9/11. However, continuing occupation is not likely to be productive. A power vacuum and chaos seems to be the natural state of Afghanistan. No matter when we leave Afghanistan or Iraq, a government we don't like will probably take power. If they start harboring terrorists again, we will have to deal with them. Invading and occupying all of south Asia, because people we don't like may rule there is not a viable strategy.

Smoke On The Water
 

[ QUOTE ]
If you asked most people on 9/12/2001, they would have never predicted that there would not be another major terrorist attack in the US.

[/ QUOTE ]And if you asked most people on 9/10/2001, they would have never predicted that there WOULD be a major terrorist attack in the US.

So what? Humans have a documented, very strong tendency to believe that things will continue on their current path. E.g. if the stock market rises, it will continue to rise indefinitely.

[ QUOTE ]
Why has there been no repeat of 9/11?

[/ QUOTE ] You keep underestimating those guys. You truly think they will go at ya the same way? They won't. You can bet all your chips on it!

My guess would be (in case they want to re-send a message they have already delivered) sea ports. Wide, wide open opportunities.

Re: Why has there been no repeat of 9/11?
 

Someone referred to them earlier as "buffoons", (funny thing is that he had a higher gpa in college than the other presidential canidate did), but I believe the Bush administration is doing several things right. Look at how many plots have been disrupted.

Also, contrary to what some lib's believe, the war in Iraq is also working to do this. It is a hell of alot easier logistically for them to fight us there than here. The benefit for us is they have to fight our military which is what our military is supposed to do.

Re: Smoke On The Water
 

[ QUOTE ]
You keep underestimating those guys. You truly think they will go at ya the same way? They won't. You can bet all your chips on it!

My guess would be (in case they want to re-send a message they have already delivered) sea ports. Wide, wide open opportunities.

[/ QUOTE ]

To clarify, by "Repeat of 9/11", I meant a major terrorist attack in the US. I did not mean specifically hijacked airplanes.

Re: Why has there been no repeat of 9/11?
 

You forgot the conspiracy option. Excellent post.

Re: Why has there been no repeat of 9/11?
 

The reason that al quaeda hasn't attacked is the next attack will have to be bigger than the last one to resonate with the Arab public. Otherwise it will seem as if they are losing ground rather than gaining it.

So they are biding there time and fighting more important battles (to them). Remember there audience is the Arab public, they can never defeat America militarily or overthrow it government and that's not there objective. This isn't Palestine vs. Israel where the objective is something tangable like land. This is for the hearts and minds of muslims and the terrorists are looking to win arabs not hurt American civillians, per se.

Which do you think would impress Arabs more, getting the US out of Afghanistan and/or Iraq, or knocking down a major US landmark?

Fire In The Sky
 

[ QUOTE ]
To clarify, by "Repeat of 9/11", I meant a major terrorist attack in the US. I did not mean specifically hijacked airplanes.

[/ QUOTE ]

Which is why, in terms of game theory, the terrorists now have the upper hand in their confrontation with the United States. The terrorists have "announced" that no rules whatsoever will be respected and that no one and nothing is outside their target list. And, at the same time, they delivered a hit that "confirmed" both the veracity of such a threat and their ability to carry it out.

The United States, therefore, is theoretically obligated to guard everything against everybody!

(Its response? Send the army thousands of miles away to finagle a regime change. Tsk tsk tsk.)

Re: Why has there been no repeat of 9/11?
 

Why bother?

We have tied ourselves in knots, wasted billions on Iraq, they have our full attention, we are gutting the American system of true freedoms without help from them.

So, if you were bin ladin why bother? He got us all wound up and now he can just watch us fall all over our own feet.

Re: Why has there been no repeat of 9/11?
 

You really think 9/11 was about impressing the Arabs?

Re: Why has there been no repeat of 9/11?
 

[ QUOTE ]
The reason that al quaeda hasn't attacked is the next attack will have to be bigger than the last one to resonate with the Arab public. Otherwise it will seem as if they are losing ground rather than gaining it.

[/ QUOTE ]

Not quite, methinks. It has to be more frightening and more destabilizing to the general US populus than the last one.

Use your imagination....It could be numbers of things, and I agree with you that they are biding their time to decide what it will be.

Re: Why has there been no repeat of 9/11?
 

Before I read all of the other responses, there were what, 8 years in between the two attacks on the WTC? I don't think that anyone should be surprised if there will be at least another 8 years before the next major terrorist attack in America.

Re: Why has there been no repeat of 9/11?
 

[ QUOTE ]
Maybe there arent as many terraists in the USA as faux news tries to say there is.


[/ QUOTE ]

Could you please elaborate on this, fold preflop, with some evidence?

Re: Why has there been no repeat of 9/11?
 

[ QUOTE ]

Maybe there arent as many terraists in the USA as faux news tries to say there is.



[/ QUOTE ]

Or, maybe there are more.

Re: Why has there been no repeat of 9/11?
 

[ QUOTE ]
Instead, our leaders decided to invade Iraq, and use the attack as an excuse to advance their agenda to turn our country into a fascist police state.

[/ QUOTE ]

This is where you lost me. We are no where near living in a fascist police state. This phrase has repeatedly been used as a partisan attack on GWB and its becoming rather pathetic.

Re: Why has there been no repeat of 9/11?
 

[ QUOTE ]
You really think 9/11 was about impressing the Arabs?

[/ QUOTE ]

Partially - Remember, al Qaeda's goal is political and social dominance IN the middle east. Part of that requires they win over the hearts and minds of the people - making the people believe their agenda is necessary in the region. If the people do not believe attacking the United States and killing thousands of people was justified, the terrorist's cause and political sway loses all its worth. The Arabs too looked on 9/11 with disgust. This is the main reason our extremely violent and aggressive response to the attacks will not work - it will not win over the moderate Arabs - this is key to our winning this war.

Re: Why has there been no repeat of 9/11?
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Maybe there arent as many terraists in the USA as faux news tries to say there is.


[/ QUOTE ]

Could you please elaborate on this, fold preflop, with some evidence?

[/ QUOTE ]

Try watching the news every night where the "liberal media" is talking about the threat of nuclear bombs, anthrax attacks, radical Palestinians carrying out attacks, etc. Arabs who live their life day to day and have no big problem with our foreign policy or the life we live in the United States do not make the front page. If you polled the same Americans who voted Bush back into office and asked them to assess the number of terrorists living in the United States (or abroad for that matter) I guarantee you they would grossly overestimate this number.

Re: Why has there been no repeat of 9/11?
 

[ QUOTE ]
Jesus christ, i agree with bluffthis.

"Plus the fact that ordinary american heroes like the ones who died in that Pennsylvania field and who stopped the shoe bomber are also stepping up and letting the terrorists know that not only do they have to get past the government but also everyday joe."

During the last three years i flew close to 200 domestic flights for work, and the conclusion that i came up with was that the most effective deterrent against hijacking that could exist is that no plane would allow themselves to be hijacked again. Just give the frikin' cockpits doors that can't be shouldered down, and give the flight attendants training and mace and your fine as long as you keep bombs off the flight.
BTW the security is a joke- i actually carried several "weapons" onto planes- once when i was physically searched with my bags twice. They did find and confiscate a butter knife though.

[/ QUOTE ]

I love that they give you metal forks and plastic butter knives. Like you cant do some intense damage with a fork.

Re: Why has there been no repeat of 9/11?
 

[ QUOTE ]
Try watching the news every night where the "liberal media" is talking about the threat of nuclear bombs, anthrax attacks, radical Palestinians carrying out attacks, etc.

[/ QUOTE ]

I was specifically referring to Fox News, or as fold preflop dubs them, faux news. Furthermore, I do watch Fox News (OReilly) and frequently tune in to CNN and my local news (Philly) and I can't remember the last time I heard the word anthrax or nuclear bombs (in reference to rogue terrorists) mentioned.

In fact, on Fox News channel's homepage right now, the entire screen from top to bottom is absent of any mention of nuclear bombs, anthrax, or palestinians (nor terrorism for that matter)

[ QUOTE ]
Arabs who live their life day to day and have no big problem with our foreign policy or the life we live in the United States do not make the front page.

[/ QUOTE ]

Your conclusion that "Arabs" have no problem with our foreign policy is severely misguided. Do I really have to cite internet evidence for this?

[ QUOTE ]
If you polled the same Americans who voted Bush back into office and asked them to assess the number of terrorists living in the United States (or abroad for that matter) I guarantee you they would grossly overestimate this number.

[/ QUOTE ]

Based on what evidence do you make this conjecture?

My request of fold preflop or anyone in agreement stands: elaborate, with some basic evidence:

[ QUOTE ]
Maybe there arent as many terraists in the USA as faux news tries to say there is.


[/ QUOTE ]

Re: Why has there been no repeat of 9/11?
 

I think that FP's point was that it is impossible to know how many terrorists are in America and that it is irresponsible for anyone to conjecture as to how many there may or may not be.

Re: Why has there been no repeat of 9/11?
 

Please provide some examples to back up this "post".

Show me why the money spent on Iraq has been wasted. I will show you people voting in free elections as proof it's not being wasted, can you counter that in any sane way?

Show me how we are "gutting the American system of true freedoms". Last I checked I can do MORE than I could do pre-9/11. But lets simply repeat what others say because we don't like Bush.

I can't believe that people equally believe that Al-Qaeda has CHOSE not to attack and that we are fighting a successful campaign. NEWSFLASH there have been NUMEROUS incidents of international, Al Qaeda sponsored terrorist attacks since 9/11. NONE in the US, whom Al Qaeda has INSISTED is thier number one enemy. To believe that the war on terror is NOT the reason they have not attacked is so incredibly ignorant that I am sickened that people who know how to spell choose to believe that it's in fact Al Qaeda's decision NOT to attack that is the reason for the lack of attacks.

Re: Why has there been no repeat of 9/11?
 

[ QUOTE ]

Last I checked I can do MORE than I could do pre-9/11.

[/ QUOTE ]

I am very interested to know what exactly you're talking about here.

Re: Why has there been no repeat of 9/11?
 

The same reason that there wasn't a "9/11" before 9/11. Anti-american terrorists certainly existed long before that, didn't the same group try to hit the WTC and FAIL, a long time before 9/11?

I think difference between the terrorist threat and the capability of the US to protect/monitor/defend against terror attacks on our land is much greater than the general fear and hysteria makes it to be...

In poker terms "they hit a two outer on the river" and we even had enough intel availible to stop it, but the process got mucked up.

Also now the funding available for terrorists has been targeted on a worldwide basis, so that has a crippling effect on their ability to create terror.

Re: Why has there been no repeat of 9/11?
 

Well the onus has to be on the spender to show that the project was justified, that WE gained more than it cost.

The project was sold to protect us from the many known WMDs in Iraq, from the notion that Saddam and OBL were shacked up planning the demise of America, from the uses that yellow cake from Niger was going to be used to blow up Chicago.

All these were unfounded. They were known to be unfounded by everyone (including many posters on this forum and including, IMO, the administration) yet the money was spent.

To take the one point you offer:


[ QUOTE ]
I will show you people voting in free elections as proof it's not being wasted, can you counter that in any sane way?

[/ QUOTE ]

This has no value to the American taxpayer. At least no value that has been clearly and convincingly explained.

Re: Why has there been no repeat of 9/11?
 

what i learned from these posts:

al qaeda did it
we are not fascists or moving towards fascism
the media is biased

please answer thes q's for me:

who invented mind contolled suicide bombers?
how come the tactic divide and conquer works better than reraising with AA in late position?
how do i change my profile status on 2+2 from stranger to conspiracy theory whacko?

Re: Why has there been no repeat of 9/11?
 

[ QUOTE ]
There were what, 8 years in between the two attacks on the WTC? I don't think that anyone should be surprised if there will be at least another 8 years before the next major terrorist attack in America.

[/ QUOTE ]

Exactly. Big attacks like 9/11 take time to plan. It's only been 3 years.

Also, I'd bet the next attack will be VERY different. I doubt the terrorists will use planes. Bombs probably, airplanes no.

Re: Smoke On The Water
 

[ QUOTE ]
Why has there been no repeat of 9/11?

[/ QUOTE ]

Because the government hasn't needed to start another war just yet. I won't discuss it here, so keep all questions and flamings in that thread.

Re: Why has there been no repeat of 9/11?
 

I voted other. How long was it between the Twin tower attacks - 8 years. It has only been 4 years since 9/11/2001. It takes a long time to plan a major attack. I support most of the administrations fight on terror but support very little else of the Bush agenda. I think we should establish permanent bases in Iraq and withdraw our troops out of harms way. Continue training the Iragis to defend themselves. I just don't think we should have had our troops patrolling the streets and getting picked of by snipers and IED's for the last year.

Re: Why has there been no repeat of 9/11?
 

Answer: because Bush is doing a good job.

Can you imagine the additional 9/11's that would have occurred if a softer president was in power? Gosh, i shudder to think about it.