All you find is a global and studied grasp of some of the causes for this horrible hatred.

We must take action. But I would like for us to go off fully cocked. Half cocked is easy.

We need to count and bury our dead. Console the grieving. Clean up. And that takes a little time and nailed intelligence about who did this, really, and with whom and how. Though it was an act of war against us, we don't need to be goaded into one.

God Bless America and the people who were murdered by these cowards.

This is a declaration of WAR
Not only against the U.S. government but all of us.

1000's of innocent Americans died today.
We must retaliate against countries who allow these groups to exist.

[ September 11, 2001: Message edited by: AZBrad ]

This is a wake-up call, and like most wake-up calls, it's not welcome. We have been sleepwalking through world events for too long, buying the media image of the world without question, letting foreign governments with powerful lobbyists dictate American foreign policy, and until today there have been no real consequences, to our citizens, on our soil.

We can demonize Arabs or Bin Laden or the Ayatollah-Yasser-Khadafi til we're blue in the face, but until we wake up and hold our political leaders accountable for selling foreign policy to the highest bidder, we are going to be hated and reviled in the Muslim world.

Glenn talks about the futility of finding a "managable solution" in the Middle East. Why is it futile? The vaunted "peace process" is a joke, a rigged game, because the deck is stacked in favor of one side. We offer unconditional support - monetary and military - to one side (Israel) and lip service to the other - then we boo-hoo when the violence breaks out, and resort to macho posturing when the fecal matter finds the propeller, like it did today. Again, with a policy so cynical and subjective, is it any wonder we are coming under attack?

[ September 12, 2001: Message edited by: old paint ]

And you know what? It's damm scarey. That this could even happen in the first place, and now, that America may retaliate, and cause something that we will ALL regret later, even those hunting for a head to blame all this on..

My heart goes out to all of those families who were torn apart in this coldhearted murder. And that's what it was, not a disaster, it was cold blooded murder of so many innocent people. Well planned and meticulously calculated cold blooded murder. And I don't deny that someone has to pey the price for that. But not until it has been thought out. Then execute, and make sure that no WAR will come out of it...

Respectfully.....

There will never be peace in the Middle East. Never. It has nothing to do with the US or any other country. Its only an excuse to continue with what has been happening on that tiny piece of real estate for nearly 3000 years.

Yes, the US and Britain have supported Israel. At the same time, the USSR (and now Russia) have supported the Arab states. Its all been a game of a "balance of power."

I doubt many remember the surprise attack on Israel by Egypt back in 1973. Was it unfair for the US to not support Egypt? Or, the terrorist attack on the Israeli Olympic team the year before. Was it unfair for us not to support Arafat? I doubt anyone remembers a terrorist attack on a low level state department building in DC back in 1975. Anyone remember 1983 and Beruit? We had troops there to help maintain peace and order. Who were we being unfair to then?

The US involvement with supporting Israel has been an attempt at achieving fairness however it is defined. But I have to ask..."what defines what is fair?"I don't know what is considered fair. Is it fair that there are 13 (I think thats the right count) Arab countries and only one Israel. Is it unfair to defend an underdog, all the while trying to broker peace between the parties.

The Islamic militant leadership won't be satisfied until Israel is destroyed. Period. They even said so. The fact that we support Israel at all, makes us the enemy of the Arab states. We could give each country the exact amount of support and we would still be the bad guys. What about before 1948. Without an Israel at that time, those same Arab countries were constantly at war with each other.

Airport security is easy to get past, the baggage checks make less money than the concessions employees in the airport restaurants, not to mention there is no special training for them. Get a uniform and you can have free reign of the airport terminals and the tarmac.

Plus there's the years of playin "Big Brother" to other nations that may or may not have wanted our help.

Not to mention only 3 weeks ago, Bin Laden ANNOUNCED he was going to launch an attack on the US of catastrophic magnitude. If that's not a wake-up call I dont know what is.

LE's point about the intelligence is very valid.. In an interview with Sen. John McCaine today he described the intelligence methods used - Human Intelligence and Technical Intelligence. He stated the Human Intelligence has been scaled back because it's more expensive and puts the agents at more risk.. The drawback is the Technical Intelligence (Satellites, communications, etc.) cannot see into the mind like the Human Intelligence can so we can't even prepare for something like this.

Every interview on TV today contained the line "I never thought anything like this could ever happen here." Well, why is that so impossible and why are we so inclined to believe that when America itsself has participated in these very same acts on other countries?

I think the whole thing is horrid and the responsible party needs to be dealt with - but maybe we sneak in and get him instead of obliterating half a nation!

I'd like to send bombs and nukes over there too and just get it over with but that doesn't make US any better than THAT slimeball!

Maybe from now on we just stay outta their little squabbles.. let them eventually kill each other off so we dont have to deal with it anymore.

I am with you on this. I really do not want to see everyone react out of fear, as opposed to respond with reason. I do not want to see more war, and more war, either.

Maybe, just maybe, this can somehow be resolved, before we are all (if we're lucky to survive) survivors of war torn countries. I'm not happy in a violent setting, and pushing and shoving to get basic needs met would cramp my style.

I am absolutely shocked by all I've witnessed today, and find it hard to believe that we've lost so many innocent people to this horrific catastrophe. I pray, with every fiber of my being that it does not turn into a global boom.

Keep your chin up Katydid, maybe you can have children of your own one day and not have to have this kind of thing over your head...a girl can dream, eh?

*** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** ***

There is a right way to go about this, and I am confident that we will do the right thing in dealing with this treachery.

That all said, I would like to suggest that the offending parties be dipped in pig fat before being sent to meet their warped perspective of God.

The pig essence will defile them before ALLAH, and there goes the forty virgins at their whim....

I know, I know...that is grim humour at a time like this, but i have to tell you that I can personally say that I have myself been fundamentally changed today.

I spent the entire "work" day on the verge of hysterical, maniacal laughter--and at the same time, tears.

I kept wanting to just WAKE UP and think of how unreal that DREAM was....

We have to realize that we cannot be PC in how we deal with this. We MUST retaliate with VISCIOUS vehemence.

Not for revenge, but for a RECKONING. and FOR JUSTICE.

Sometimes the solution is an open hand.

But sometimes it is a CLOSED FIST.

From my position I see Thousands of military personnel making a mass exodus across the pentagon lawn,each one thinking thier next step would be followed by a nuclear Bomb. This is the Nations Capital.

These were my peers.

Where do our future fears lie?

As a child of the sixties, I remember the nuclear drills cowering under my 2nd grade desk.

I never saw an act of war except on television thousands of miles away. I grew up feeling secure in this land despite a duck and cover drill. Vast blue Oceans on each side. Protected by the best hardware tax money could buy and americans could build.

I no longer feel secure. My 7 year old neice will go to bed tonite knowing a turbine powered inferno could hit her neighborhood or school any minute. Death will be instant and steal lives without detection. She will not hear a siren. Her military will not be at the door to defend. Her security has been lost.

Her fears are here now and forever.
Tonite she repeats "The Lords Prayer" with a quiver in her voice, and bitter tears on her cheeks.

This alone breaks my heart.

[ September 12, 2001: Message edited by: Mikes Mischeif ]

My mother, resident of Germany and a frequent visitor of the US, knows how much I love this country, and that my becoming a citizen of it at age 26 was a serious commitment and that I was proud to be accepted.
No matter what the rest of the civilized West says, my personal freedom here is unequalled in the world, and I remember with all my heart tears rolling down my face when I was sworn in as a citizen. The reason I cried then, I said, was that I knew America will not allow her citizens to be mauled and will come to their rescue no matter what or where. I felt safer as an American.
I still do.
Terrorism, which comes from hatred and creates hatred, was bound to strike here as it has all over the world. We will overcome.

I am fascinated by what Cam discovered about the “anniversary” – I keep listening for someone else to make this ( in all probability ) obvious connection.

4 cross-country flights (full tanks of gas)

All 4 flights were the first flights of the day for all of the planes (cleaning crew involved?)

NO GUNS were snuck past security. Apparently, the terrorists used "knife-like" objects and mace! Razor blades were also mentioned.

The terrorists were trained to fly these gigantic planes (no American pilot would fly their plane into the Twin Towers).

These are not HUMANS we are talking about. These are ROBOTS. These fools are going through training and planning KNOWING they are preparing for their suicide mission! Come on! Reason with them? Talk with them? Let our pathetic justice system deal with them?

BULL*&^%! I strongly believe their plan doesn't stop where it did. We need to do something to stop it NOW!

They have correspondence from Bin Laden's people stating that "some" of the targets were hit. SOME! It's obvious this isn't over.

WE NEED TO PUT AN END TO IT....NOW!!!

Believe them or not, it's your God Given right:

Palestine is Israel's rightful home.
After the Romans destroyed Jerusalem, the Jews were scattered over the face of the earth. The Nazis, later tried to exterminate them. They could not succeed, nor will anyone. They have been persecuted throughout antiquity by many nations. Our Nation was kind to them, helped them to be reestablished in their homeland. The Arabs will ALWAYS hate Israel. As long as we support Israel, they will hate us. Even if we turn our backs on Israel, the Jews will never be wiped out and Palestine will ALWAYS be their home, and heritage. Correct me if I'm wrong but, wasn't every annexation of more land and subsequent occupation by Israel, a direct result of attack from their surrounding enemies? It would be to our great advantage to continue to support Israel. But, if we don't, our Nation will cease to be the most blessed, most powerful on earth. God might even allow us to be invaded.

Ge:12:3: And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.

IF those Muslim extremists, fundamentalists, fanatics, whatever you want to call them (IF this is who is responsible) believed that they would open their eyes in a paradise filled with ecstasy and pleasure, they were abruptly surprised. They have been deceived. They are in Hell at this moment and rightfully so.

We don't need to turn our backs on Israel now. We need to pray for them, the Middle East as a whole, the families of our dead, and maimed. If we humble ourselves and pray, we WILL come through this.

Remember:

"for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction" Isaac Newton

"what goes around, comes around"

Ga:6:7: Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.

Proverb:11:21: Though hand join in hand, the wicked shall not be unpunished: but the seed of the righteous shall be delivered.

Proverb:24:17: Rejoice not when thine enemy falleth, and let not thine heart be glad when he stumbleth:

Proverb:17:5: Whoso mocketh the poor reproacheth his Maker: and he that is glad at calamities shall not be unpunished.

Ro:12:19: Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.

2Ch:7:14: If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.

[ September 12, 2001: Message edited by: Wayne Webb ]

I am willing to recognize many atrocities committed by the USA, and I'm no historian but somehow I don't think they are even close to "these very same acts"

[ September 12, 2001: Message edited by: Doug Allan ]

The US has been very fortunate up until now for the most part. But I think its fair to say that this is probably the biggest act of terrorism ever anywhere in the world.

1. "I never thought it could happen here." - What, just because we're Americans that means we're better than everyone else and cannot be attacked from abroad? That's a pretty Thick-Headed attitude and it's the VERY perception many people in other countries have of the US people.

Then you quote me, and add your own response: ..."Well, why is that so impossible and why are we so inclined to believe that when America itsself has participated in these very same acts on other countries?"
I am willing to recognize many atrocities committed by the USA, and I'm no historian but somehow I don't think they are even close to "these very same acts"

This is a matter of perception. Sure, the US has never launched a terrorist attack on another nation, but the US participates in other acts that those people view as much worse than terrorism. These acts may not even be related to Military, it's as simple as them watching American TV that gets broadcast into space and watching our women walk around like whores (that's THEIR perception of our lifestyle!) Not to mention the US meddling in their affairs all the time, which to them is a disgrace to their people, essentially telling them they don't know how to handle their own problems.

Bin Laden once asked the Russians for help in a battle.
Once that battle was taken care of, Bin Laden turned his troops against the Russians to kick them out.

[ September 13, 2001: Message edited by: AdrienneMorgan ]