The terrible events of this morning were but a microseism, compared to what is to follow. We have seen what can happen to a ‘free’ society and now my friends our lives are about to be changed forever. You will not like some of these changes, I can assure you.

No longer will you be able to move about this great country without coming under the scrutiny of a wide variety of security agencies.

Air travel will no longer be the casual activity that it has become.

You will find you will be asked for personal identification under many circumstances, not totally unlike some communistic regimes of the recent past.

We are about to become somewhat of a modified police state and bleating opposition will be shoved aside. Those who are responsible for maintaining our freedom will be given new, broad ranging powers and most of us will welcome this………for a while.

Racial Profiling? Trust me on this……you ain’t seen nothing yet!

This little forum is somewhat a small sampling of American thought and I found it interesting to read the input on the ‘Turn on the news-now’ thread. Probably a good cross-section of feelings from all quarters, with the predicted response from predictable people. Some heartening and some disgusting….but most predictable. Why rage at people that have shown us before their twisted lack of character.

Spend your energies on dealing with our new way of living….many of you will need all that you have to get by.

-- So (cr@t.es), September 11, 2001

Answers

gee,have we been set up???

-- al-d. (dogs@zianet.com), September 11, 2001.

Soc

You said, "Why rage at people that have shown us before their twisted lack of character."

They haven't done it here before. That will make all the difference in the world....

Deano

-- Deano (deano@luvthebeach.com), September 11, 2001.

Some random thoughts on the events of the day.

Many people have used the "Pearl Harbour" analogy. I think that analogy fits only so far in that this was a surprise attack. In 1941 America knew who attacked it and knew how and where to fight back. In 2001 that is not the case.

Socrates said get ready for a "new way of living". I second that. I grew up in Northern Ireland, emigrating to Canada in 1977 with my family. Standard operating procedures at Belfast Int'l Airport in the 70s and 80s was that you got searched THREE times before you got on a plane. Once, to get into the terminal building. A second time after you check in and a third time at the gate. It is noteworthy that Belfast never had a hijacking.

There will be calls for vengeance, for America to retaliate quickly and harshly. But whom and what do you bomb? How do you fight people who are willing to sacrifice themselves as the means of furthering their cause. US attacks that kill Arab women and children will just fuel more resentment and fill the ranks of potential suicide bombers.

I'm not sure a military response will solve this problem. Again, I draw an analogy to Northern Ireland. The logistical sophistication and weaponry of the British Army was unable to defeat the IRA over 25 years (1969-1994). We may be at the end game in Northern Ireland, but we've got there over the past 5 years because a majority of the "combatants" realized that negotiation was going to be the only way to a solution. Militarily, both sides were stalemated.

Perhaps I will be excoriated for saying this, but the US must address the grievances that fuel the conflict in the Middle East. Bombing Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran etc will not solve anything in the longer term, even if it slakes - in the short term - the thirst for vengeance.

Finally, what we saw today is, in my opinion, the type of attack that the proposed Missile Defence Shield would have been completely useless against. Once the initial shock of the day has passed, and all those who perished have been buried, is it time for a national debate in your country about allocation of defence resources? Is it time to re-direct some of the high-tech dollars into old fashioned "Human Intelligence" - i.e. developing spies, double agents, turncoats? Do you put more money into airport security (with the concomitant costs passed on in higher fares?

As I sign off for the night, my thoughts are with all those who lost loved ones in this terribe day.

-- Johnny Canuck (j_canuck@hotmail.com), September 12, 2001.

great post j-canuck.=reality

-- al-d. (dogs@zianet.com), September 12, 2001.

Johnny--

Perhaps I will be excoriated for saying this, but the US must address the grievances that fuel the conflict in the Middle East.

I agree with you that a conventional military response might not solve the problem. But I don't agree with your statement above (altho I won't excoriate you). What possible "grievances" could radical Muslims have with us that would justify anything more than a letter to the editor? Have we oppressed them? Just the opposite, we aided the Afghanis in their war against the USSR. We even glorified them as "freedom fighters". We gave them Stinger missiles which enabled them to shoot down Soviet helicopters. Have we oppressed Muslims in this country? Not yet, but a few more attacks like today and we'll be rounding them up for Japanese-American style internment camps. Have we economically exploited any Arab nations? Not since colonial days. All we do is buy their oil and make them rich.

Oh yes, we do tilt to the Israelis. Well, that won't change until the American-Palestinian is as influential as the American Jew.

We don't know for sure if this attack was done by Bin Laden. Who knows, it might have been the work of the NWO. But if it was Osama, his motivation is not rational like the IRA's. His motivation is irrational. He hates us (and you) simply because we are. In his mind, Western civilization is decadent and corrupts the world. The USA is the exemplar of decadent Western civilization. There is no way to negotiate with this guy. We have nothing that he wants except our lives.

IMO, the best way to deal with him is by covert means. Use "black ops", just as Mossad and KGB. (did any terrorists ever mess with the Soviet Union?) Once we establish that he did this, we send in the Seals and take him out, hard and fast. We never acknowledge it to the world. He is just gone.

-- Lars (lars@indy.net), September 12, 2001.

Johnny,

"Perhaps I will be excoriated for saying this, but the US must address the grievances that fuel the conflict in the Middle East. Bombing Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran etc will not solve anything in the longer term, even if it slakes - in the short term - the thirst for vengeance"

No excoriation, but you're incorrect in one sense: there will only be arab retaliation if there are arabs left. If we nuked all of them, there would be no reprisal, and every other airport would be safer to boot.

Think about it.

-- Now (is@the.right.time.for.it), September 12, 2001.

Lars,

You don't really believe that NWO stuff do you?

-- Jack Booted Thug (governmentconspiracy@NWO.com), September 12, 2001.

The world already has been changed. We still haven't allowed any planes into the sky and the Canadian military is tracking three planes of unknown origin. They hope to be able to tell us shortly that the planes are harmless, but what happens when commercial planes are allowed to fly again? Will ANY/EVERY plane be suspect? Will air traffic controllers be responsible for identifying them all? A reporter mentioned that a military jet is flying around NY this morning. Fortunately, she had someone on hand who could identify the plane as a military jet. How many other people just looked up and swallowed their hearts?

-- Anita (Anita_S3@hotmail.com), September 12, 2001.

JBT, I was trying to be "funny". No, I don't believe the NWO crap. Actually, NWO conspiracists may themselves have done this--after all the WTC is a nerve center of the NWO. Maybe Doc Paulie did this. There I go trying to be funny again.

But until we know for sure who it was, we shouldn't rule out anyone. Originally. OK City was blamed on the Arabs.

-- Lars (lars@indy.net), September 12, 2001.

Would you prefer your new form of ID in your right hand or forehead?

Just curious. Soc, great point.

-- sumer (I@aint.sayin), September 12, 2001.