They have to be careful about their targets... if Muslims attacked a NASCAR event for example, no Muslim's life in North America would be worth a nickel after that, people would hunt them for sport.... if they attack a very rich population the government WILL get on the ball and use the genome project to snuff terrorists in the hospitals they are born in or something... they attacked Jews, Stock Market institutions, and the Pentagon the last time and were trying for the Bush White House... they picked those targets for the biggest dramatic effect and the least backlash... possibly that will be how it plays out if and when there is another attack.. and really, as long as we have our military and have had ten years to test and develop the latest weapons, I sort of doubt we will get an attack unless it's from some weird son of a bitch like the Unabomber or something...
Interesting observations. I have to say, that the success of 9/11 in the damage done to the USA initially and in the aftermath of the Iraq war, etc., homeland security nonsense, fear of future attacks had to be beyond the wildest dreams of whoever planned it and executed it. David is looking at his victory over Goliath and moaning that it is nothing compared to what 20 people did by hijacking a few planes. I happen to believe Bin Laden and company did it, but I don't want the conspiracy theorists to feel ignored. Someone on this thread commented that "they sure hope they hit Chicago" and I have to wonder if that person doesn't watch Fox News and claim to be a proud American. Amazing that someone could hope a WMD event would happen anywhere at all, especially in their own country. What doesn't make sense to me is why even after the oil embargo in the 70's, and even after 9/11 which was likely funded in part by American dollars that purchased middle east oil...that we have done almost nothing to extricate ourselves from that part of the world by making our number one goal to remove our dependence on oil from that region. Our geopolitics of that region are impacted by two major commitments. 1. Israel 2. Oil from the middle east. As long as we continue to continue on that path, we are sowing the seeds of our own vulnerability to terrorism. If we could flip a switch tomorrow and have Israel moved to Mississippi (that might be a nice place for Israel) and not ever buy any oil from the middle east...I believe most of our problems with Islamic terrorism would be minimized greatly. Let China come in and try to control the oil patch for a while, let them invade and fail in Afghanistan the way the Russians did, like the way we are doing. Let's make India our strongest ally, because they border both China, and Pakistan. Strategically...India is of utmost importance in the balance of power scheme moving forward, because they are emerging at a fast rate, value education and democratic values, they have a history of democratic rule via the Brits, and they achieved their own independence and democratic rule. We don't have to worry about Russia, they are worried about China and Sarah Palin is keeping an eye on them from Wasilla.
It is funny you say that. I talk to, and listen to a lot of people, right, left and center, and in discussions I have said that energy independence needs to be our number one priority in America...as it will solve lots of other problems in the process. Not a single person has disagreed with me, no matter what their political position...every sees the logic of it, everyone understands how our dependency on foreign oil is a huge negative...the only problem is that people won't agree on how to do it. Which is why I think we should do everything, as soon as possible. Drill more oil? Yes. More nuclear energy? Yes. More natural gas vehicles? Yes. More solar? Yes. More wind? Yes. More everything that makes us independent? Yes, yes, yes. America supposedly takes pride in our spirit of independence, our freedom...but we remain the Saudi's bitch? Does that make any sense at all? I wish the windbaggers would pick up on this and fight for energy independence. It the one issue we call agree on...and we can do everything to get there ASAP. Now, is big oil on our side of energy independence? The answer is a resounding no...and that is the biggest part of the problem facing America's goal of energy independence, the biggest obstacle to our progress toward real independence. It bothers me that Obama has not made energy independence the number one goal of his time in office. Through a signature he could have mandated all federal building install solar panels...which would have to be made in America by American corporations paying American taxes...providing jobs to American, and the panels would have to be installed by licensed American contractors, etc. Through a signature he could have mandated that all federal vehicles be converted to natural gas, and the fuel had to be purchased from American vendors providing genuine made in the USA natural gas. Why hasn't he done that? Because Obama made a deal with the devil to become president, and the devil is corporate sponsorship. I hate to see what it is going to take for people to finally wake up and understand, that the people have the actual power in America, but have abdicated that power to the oileeeegarchs...
Getting close, I agree 100% with energy independence, but don't stop there with mandating made in the USA. We should never give monetary cash aid to any country, instead it should be in the form of vouchers, credit , to purchase products and materials made or harvested entirely in the USA.
No problem with that. It is high time we came to the full and complete admission that our entire foreign policy today is just an extension of the religion of capitalism that has infected America to the point that God, patriotism, and commitment to country have taken a seat at the back of the bus. So...all of our "deals" with other countries are just business deals...and we expect to be treated like any other business...except bankers and Wall Street types...of course. Then when we admit we are all just about business, we can just sell Mississippi and Alabama to China, take the money to pay off our national debt, and let China deal with Dixie. Look, the NBA is discussing contraction of the number of teams, I can't see much value to America with the mentality of some of the red states, so just contract back to 48 states and sell them off to a cash rich country. Hell, sell Kentucky to the Saudis...that would be fun to watch.