What Lessons Were Learned As a Result Of 9/11?

[longfisher]

OK, it's 9/12 and I was glad to hear so many somber accounts of where you guys were on that sad day and how you learned about it.

I'm not sure, but I believe I detect that those of you on the east coast and particularly those in the DC and NY areas were the most influenced by the events of that day. Perfectly understandable. My hat's off to you. I'm sure it was very traumatic to be so close to those damnable events.

I also learned that a fair number of you listen to "Howard". I"m sure that's not Howard Johnson so I suspect it's Howard Stern. He's not that popular here in Texas, although I certainly know of him and have on occasion listened to him. I'm impressed that so many on this board listen to him.

So, I've learned some lessons from your accounts. Thanks.

But I thought now that the day has passed, I'd pose another similarly emotive question and invite responses. That question is...

What lessons do you believe were learned (or should have been learned but weren't?) as a result of 9/11. On a related topic, I'd be delighted to hear what you believe is the reason we were attacked on that sad day.

It's a big topic and some disparate views are sure to be voiced. So, please, Gentlemen as you so beautifully did in offering your accounts of where you were on 9/11, let's keep the name-calling and arguements to a minimum.

LongFisher

[Big Fish Billy]

Well, Lesson 1 should be if you fly alot, make sure you have plenty of life insurance, ( and put me in your will) because...I really think the folks that were patient and cunning enough to perpetrate the first crime, can with effort do it again. Now my slant on the military presence in Irag and Afghanistan, is there soley to present an easier and local target for terrorists..."if you want to fight America, show up for training in Afghanistan." It's always been our policy to fight on someone elses turf, and that lesson should continue...we have had no other incidents since 911. Our kids are fighting there, to keep us safe here...........

[FishDancer]

The primary lesson I took away from 9.11 was the fragility and value of life coupled with the endless ability of US citizens to help one another when truly in need. The secondary - but equally important -- lesson is that there are evil people in this world focused solely upon killing us. We as a people need to press our military and civilian leaders to not lessen our vigilance in protecting our freedoms and our country. As time passes we should not forget our vulnerability of our open society to future attacks. As for the 'reason' we were attacked in such a way???? IMHO, there is never rationale or reasoning for such an act. Attribution of these horrible acts to anything more than the extremist religious hatred of a few is both dangerous and confers upon these murderous religious extremists qualities that I am unprepared to share with them. NEVER FORGET

Jeff
FishDancer
>>))))))">
http://www.FishDancer.net

[Deep C]

The lesson learned is that we were asleep for the years leading up to it. Other acts around the world to our own people were largely ignored... Had we responded in full to any of those attacks instead of lip service "oh they'll pay" we wouldn't have had the unthinkable...
Emasculation of our intellegence gathering by being politically correct and other means was rampant in the years before the attack. Ignoring the intellegence comming in was part two of opening the door to it... Bubba looked the other way. "It can't happen here" mentality or perhaps "We don't want to play so if we ignore it, they'll give up..."
The current regime is so hell bent on recreating how "they" want us to be, that again the guard is being let down. They want kinder gentler intellegence gathering and just the threat of charging those who acted under orders from previous administration is going to have them pull back practices to unproductive levels again. History ignored is history repeated.

[canyongear]

ALL OF THIS AT LEAST WATCH..

THE VIDEO FROM 1 HOUR AND 1MINUTE OF THE VIDEO IF NOTHING ELSE.

i don't endorse it...i don't agree with it..it's just freakin unbelievable information all Americans need to know and understand when they vote NEXT TIME:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAaQNACwaLw&feature=fvw

[Captain Michael Buffington]

ALL OF THIS AT LEAST WATCH..

THE VIDEO FROM 1 HOUR AND 1MINUTE OF THE VIDEO IF NOTHING ELSE.

i don't endorse it...i don't agree with it..it's just freakin unbelievable information all Americans need to know and understand when they vote NEXT TIME:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAaQNACwaLw&feature=fvw

I'm like halfway through it waiting for the rest to upload and that is some disturbing stuff right there. I agree that everyone should take the time to watch this.

Mike

[JAYBIRD]

A lesson for me is enough is enough. Stop letting people into this country from countries that hate us. I can't take it anymore . English has become a second language in this country. Get out now! Please. Thank you>

[longfisher]

As Deep C suggests Al Queda was allowed, not just by America but by all the western world, to fester beyond belief.

Indeed, as America all but created and formally chartered Al Queda under Jimmy Carter when they funded the muslim extremists to suck the Soviets into Afghanistan you'd think we would have been better aware of them from Carter through Bush (see the excellent book, Blow Back). But we slept.

The only thing I quibble with in Deep C's post is that he lays the blame, seemingly, at Clinton's feet. Clinton did blow up a cave or two when OBL wasn't there, something the right wing criticized him for doing not because OBL wasn't there but because they said he was wagging the dog to divert attention from the Lewinsky scandal...remember?

Bush blew up millions of caves and didn't get him. Moreover, Bush was in office for 8 months with what we now know to have been extreme warnings of an Al Queda attack in the U.S. of a spectacular nature and did absolutely nothing about it. Please read the accounts of George Tentt, Richard Clark and Powell's deputy, Armitage (I think) and Michael Scherer (the CIA Al Queda guy who is now speaking out).

So, Deep C why do you and others who appear to be Republicans never mention that it was on Bush's watch that this happened and that he should be included amongst those who should also be held accountable for the Al Queda debacle? I certainly don't understand that type of thinking unless I invoke the prospect of blind partisanship.

Moreover, Bush didn't get him after 8 years. Bush even said at one point that getting him wasn't important anymore. Perhaps, Bush is right. One man, after all, may not be that important.

But what's troubling is that some of you leave Bush unaccountable for allowing this festering wound to burst on his watch and after he received stern warnings from a number of quarters and then was unsuccessful in 8 years of putting a lid on it.

Please explain yourselves.

LongFisher

[longfisher]

Why were we attacked? Well, we were attacked for the same reasons we invaded and precipitated open warfare on two Muslim countries (out of a list of more than a dozen drawn up by the Bush Administration as possible targets). That reason was...


...REVENGE.

Why did anyone feel sufficiently aggrieved to seek revenge on us like that. Because, we have a hard time assigning importance to and acting to address grievances that are based on considerations outside our own value system...

We're tone deaf to the values and grievances of those in cultures diametrically opposite of our own in the East and we don't take them seriously enough to avoid conflict.

It took two to tango.

Longfisher

[Deep C]

Because the seeds were planted and nurtured long before bush ever even ran. I stay neutral. You don't see me blaming Obama for the economic mess. I see potential that he can make it worse as you elude that W did after the attacks but the core problem existed long before Oprah started pushing him on the people...The economic slump for him, like bush and 911 are inherited... Nothing at these levels happens when it finally happens. Its years in the making...