9/11: Ten Years Later, Americans Still Stupid and Vulnerable

[Donnachaidh]

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/08/28

They say everything changed on 9/11. No one can dispute that. But we didn't learn anything.

:snip:

Instead of assuming a temperate, thoughtful posture, the Bush Administration exploited 9/11 as an excuse to start two wars, both against defenseless countries that had little or nothing to do with the attacks. Bush and company legalized torture and ramped up support for unpopular dictatorships in South and Central Asia and the Middle East, all announced with bombastic cowboy talk.

Smoke 'em out! Worst of the worst! Dead or alive!

By 2003 the world hated us more than ever. A BBC poll showed that people in Jordan and Indonesia—moderate Muslim countries where Al Qaeda had killed locals with bombs—considered the U.S. a bigger security threat than the terrorist group.

More at the link --

[geek tragedy]

1. Ten years later, Ted Rall still a stupid asshole

"It was time, for once, to take the high road. The Bush Administration ought to have treated 9/11 as a police investigation, demanding that Pakistan extradite Osama bin Laden and other individuals wanted in connection with the attacks for prosecution by an international court."

1) bin Laden was in Afghanistan, not Pakistan in 2001;

2) The Taliban had been ordered to extraidite bin Laden since 1998 for his role in the embassy bombings, and the Taliban responded by telling the rest of the planet to go fuck themselves.

[Astrad]

2. Afghanistan's ruling Taleban militia has said it would consider extraditing Bin Laden

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/1539468.stm

Not exactly "Go fuck" yourselves.

[geek tragedy]

5. Sure, in 2001, with the imminent threat of invasion, they

pretended to consider extraditing him to a theocratic Muslim country that would try him under Islamic law.

Before that, they pretty much fused the their own government with his fighters. He was bankrolling them,

Fail.

[provis99]

6. that is flat out a lie.

The Taliban had agreed to turn over bin Laden in 2001, but Bush ignored them, because he wanted an invasion; getting bin Laden was not a priority for him, as he himself admitted.

And frankly, as soon as we invaded Afghanistan, bin Laden fled into Pakistan, rendering the whole operation moot in its early stages.

So Ted Rall is right, and you and George Bush are wrong.

[geek tragedy]

8. No, the Taliban never agreed to turn him over.

They made some vague 'promise' to turn him over to an Islamic court. After Bush threatened invasion.

It was not a good faith offer. Only an idiot would believe that the Taliban were acting in good faith. Jesus.

The UN ordered them to turn Bin Laden over during the Clinton administration for his role in the embassy bombings.

BEFORE BUSH BECAME PRESIDENT.

They responded by telling the world to go fuck itself.

Learn your history. Ted Rall is a dumb fuck, and so is anyone who spouts pro-Taliban talking points.

[RC]

3. Ted Rall has 9/11 pretty well nailed.

What is missing is the is the fact of the Stand Down order to our Air Force until after the Pentagon was hit with something and the neo-cons wanted Pearl Harbor moment. The bu$h administration did not want a world wide police action and justice, they wanted some wars. And we still have them.

[Divernan]

4. Excellent, fact filled critique & analysis of govt.'s failure to secure transportation/borders.

"It was time to lick our wounds, pretend to act confused, and play the victim. It was time to hope the world forgot how we supplied lists of pro-democracy activists to a young Saddam Hussein so he could collect and kill them, and forget the "Made in USA" labels on missiles shot into the Gaza Strip from U.S.-made helicopter gunships sold to Israel.

"9/11 was "blowback"—proof that the U.S. can't wage its wars overseas without suffering consequences at home. But we still haven't learned that lesson. Ten years later, a "Democratic" president is fighting Bush's wars as well as new ones against Libya, Somalia and Yemen. Now he's saber-rattling against Syria.

"While we're on the subject of post-9/11 security, what about air defenses? On 9/11 the airspace over the Lower 48 states was assigned to a dozen "weekend warrior" air national guard jets. Every last one of them was on the ground when the attacks began, allowing hijacked planes to tool around the skies for hours after they had been identified as dangerous.

"Which could easily happen again. According to a 2009 report by the federal General Accounting Office on U.S. air defenses: "The Air Force has not implemented ASA operations in accordance with DOD, NORAD, and Air Force directives and guidance, which instruct the Air Force to establish ASA as a steady-state (ongoing and indefinite) mission. The Air Force has not implemented the 140 actions it identified to establish ASA as a steady-state mission, which included integrating ASA operations into the Air Force's planning, programming, and funding cycle. The Air Force has instead been focused on other priorities, such as overseas military operations."
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Rall succinctly concludes that if our government stopped spending so much time and money killing foreigners, it could protect Americans.

[A wise Man]

7. What pisses me off the most is

why wasn't there an investigation of 9/11 and why president obama didn't persue an investigation of the Bush regimes and all the players involved. For 8yrs. Bush and the rethugs had control of every avenue of government for more than 12 years..and all we the people got from it was bad BILLS THAT HURT US...HIGH GAS PRICES...HIGH FOOD PRICES....FORECLOSURES...2 WARS (1 NO ONE KNOWS WHY )A PRESIDENT THAT SAID WHEN ASKED BY THE MEDIA ABOUT BIN LADEN AND THE PRESIDENT SAID WAS QUOTE"I I DON'T KNOW WHERE HE IS..I'LL TELL YOU I DON'T SPEND MUCH TIME THINKING OR LOOKING FOR HIM" UNQUOTE.

To all the stupid rethugs and the spineless "DEMS" plus the dumb ass voters that has forgotten 2000 to 2006 and 2008. "WAKE THE FUCK UP"!!!!!!!!!!!