Where were you that Sept day?
bootlegga @ Fri Sep 12, 2014 12:09 pm
Thanos Thanos:
Not to proud to say that I went into a rage that lasted for years, an anger which was amplified and fed from the same type of sites that N Fiddledog spends too much time on. This is probably why my counter-response these days to the relaunch of the Forever War is so vehement and intense, why I'll never ever listen to anything an American conservative has to say about anything. Feel guilty about supporting any of that conservative/neo-con bullshit that came out of Sept 11 and probably always will. Attacking Afghanistan to get at Al Qaeda was the right thing to do. Going after Saddam in Iraq wasn't. Too bad that it's going to happen all over again and that practically no one has learned anything at all from last decade's debacle.
Nothing you can do about the past, so don't beat yourself up about it.
Just work towards making tomorrow better and it should balance out in the end.
Jabberwalker @ Fri Sep 12, 2014 12:13 pm
Attacking Afghanistan to get at Al Qaeda was the right thing to do. Going after Saddam in Iraq wasn't. Too bad that it's going to happen all over again and that practically no one has learned anything at all from last decade's debacle.
What really pisses me off about that is that Bush and Rummy, Cheney, Crystal, Wolfie all had a private agenda of their own and the massaged the tragedy of 9/11 to their own twisted ends. The American public was played like a violin : Iraq ... they have brown skin, speak Arabic, a dictator who is known to be a dick head and a military who are known to be easily beaten. That's where they'll get even!
An interesting historic aside, though, is that Al Qaeda took the bait, took their fight to Iraq and decided to duke it out with the Americans over there, rather than on or near the American homeland. The Americans have left (for now) the Jihadists are still there.
martin14 @ Fri Sep 12, 2014 12:47 pm
Thanos Thanos:
that practically no one has learned anything at all from last decade's debacle.
Meh, the Democrats, especially Obama, have learned how to do exactly the same thing.
martin14 @ Fri Sep 12, 2014 12:56 pm
Jabberwalker Jabberwalker:
a dictator who is known to be a dick head and a military who are known to be easily beaten. That's where they'll get even!
There is a lot be said about dictators who are in an area where the people are too
damn primitive to have anything better.
Every area the the US has helped to 'free' over the past 10 years is now a complete fucking basket case, ripe for plucking by the like of ISIS.
Afghanistan
Iraq
Egypt
Libya
Tunisia
Yemen
Syria ( work in progress)
Who's left ?
Saudi
Iran
Pakistan
UAE
Not seeing much democracy here. Maybe they are on to something.
Turkey is an exception, but Erdogan is turning Turkey more Islamist every day.
$1:
An interesting historic aside, though, is that Al Qaeda took the bait, took their fight to Iraq and decided to duke it out with the Americans over there, rather than on or near the American homeland. The Americans have left (for now) the Jihadists are still there.
Only until they hit the airport with their Western passports;
then they will be back with us, and butthurt cuz they lost.. again.
PluggyRug @ Fri Sep 12, 2014 1:57 pm
Thanos Thanos:
Too bad that it's going to happen all over again and that practically no one has learned anything at all from last decade's debacle.
The only lessons to be learned from history are that there are no lessons to be learned. Every single event is unique.
BRAH @ Fri Sep 12, 2014 4:32 pm
DrCaleb DrCaleb:
BRAH BRAH:
At work after the second tower collapsed everyone was sent home, later that night after watching hours of live coverage I decided to take the dog for a walk and there wasn't a single car on the road it was an odd feeling. 
I live near 2 airports, and for 3 days there wasn't a plane in the sky. Also very odd.
It was very odd as you had no idea what was next.
Unsound @ Fri Sep 12, 2014 4:54 pm
At work. Heard about it on the radio in my truck. As soon as we got back to the shop ran up to the lunch room to watch. It was surreal to watch the replays and realize that we were probably going to war.
My partner at the time said I was a racist for assuming it was islamic terrorists. 
Jabberwalker @ Fri Sep 12, 2014 5:01 pm
My partner at the time said I was a racist for assuming it was islamic terrorists.
A day or two later, the Saudis were pointing their fingers straight at the Israelis, as you may recall. It's the old default setting ... blame the Jews. Muslims would NEVER do something like THAT the cynical Saudis said.
Gunnair @ Fri Sep 12, 2014 5:14 pm
Jabberwalker Jabberwalker:
My partner at the time said I was a racist for assuming it was islamic terrorists.
A day or two later, the Saudis were pointing their fingers straight at the Israelis, as you may recall. It's the old default setting ... blame the Jews. Muslims would NEVER do something like THAT the cynical Saudis said.
A day or two later, the Saudis were pointing their fingers straight at the Israelis, as you may recall. It's the old default setting ... blame the Jews. Muslims would NEVER do something like THAT the cynical Saudis said.
And they were both wrong because it was obviously an inside job.
raydan @ Fri Sep 12, 2014 5:20 pm
Where were you that Sept day?
...the same place I was when we had this thread 3 years ago. 
Jabberwalker @ Fri Sep 12, 2014 5:31 pm
Gunnair Gunnair:
Jabberwalker Jabberwalker:
My partner at the time said I was a racist for assuming it was islamic terrorists.
A day or two later, the Saudis were pointing their fingers straight at the Israelis, as you may recall. It's the old default setting ... blame the Jews. Muslims would NEVER do something like THAT the cynical Saudis said.
A day or two later, the Saudis were pointing their fingers straight at the Israelis, as you may recall. It's the old default setting ... blame the Jews. Muslims would NEVER do something like THAT the cynical Saudis said.
And they were both wrong because it was obviously an inside job.
It's on the internet. it's got to be true.
Goober911 @ Fri Sep 12, 2014 5:31 pm
I do remember how Canadians reached out to assist the people who were stranded in the country due to the shut down of flights.
Winnipegger @ Fri Sep 12, 2014 5:45 pm
I was getting ready to go to work when a friend phoned and told me to turn on the TV. I didn't believe him, but turned on the TV anyway. I stood with my jaw hanging open. Didn't know what to do. But had to go to work. I did a little work that morning, software development, but the boss set up a TV in the meeting room. We all watched. The company was under stress. Astra Network developed software for the QNX operating system. Most customers were manufacturers; some Canadian, but most American companies. We had drastically reduced business since about the second week of February, 2001. After what happened that day, the boss decided that business was not going to recover. I was laid off on September 14, 2001. Half the programmers for that little company were laid off. The company strugged for some time, but eventually did fold.
Goober911 @ Fri Sep 12, 2014 6:10 pm
What surprised me is how the US was stunned by this. Attacks had take place in Europe for years. There was an earlier attempt, around 92 or so to cause a building collapse from a vehicle bomb in the underground garage. And that was in NY.
Winnipegger @ Fri Sep 12, 2014 7:02 pm
Well, this might sound strange. From the Inauguration of George W. in January 2001 through the winter, the discussion was about missile defence. I thought it was a waste of money. Reports said tests demonstrated the system worked just 1 time in 3, the other times it just missed. And it cost $80 billion for 10 missiles in Alaska. So I sat down in Tim Horton's with a friend to discuss this. My point was Russia had about 8,000 warheads, China had 12, so the only opponent this would stop was North Korea. Is anything from North Korea credible? Is it worth $80 billion. A human mission to Mars would cost less. My next question was what threats actually faced the US? I pointed out terrorists. Starting with the suicide bombing in Beirut, then US embassies, then the USS Cole. The US military and the terrorists were escalating. If the terrorists seriously expected to achieve their goals by force, then they would have to attack US soil. The terrorists had attempted a truck bombing in the garage of the World Trade Center. That told us what their target was. So I suggested they would try again. We brain-stormed what the terrorists would do, I could go through the whole sequence, but in March of 2001, sitting in Tim Horton's, we predicted that terrorist organization (I didn't know the name at the time, but it was Al Qaeda) would use box cutter knives to hijack a 757, and fly it into one of the twin towers of the World Trade Center. My friend said this attack would occur during business hours in September 2001, when all the kids were back in school and parents were back at work. Terrorists want to maximize casualties, so they would want the maximum number of people in that building. I was incredulous, that was too soon. But my friend said then. How prescient is that?
I forgot all about that. So when a friend phoned me the morning of September 11, I said it couldn't be! Not what my other friend and I had predicted back in March. No. It can't. This isn't fantasy, this is reality. No. Then I turned on the TV. Uhhhh. When did I fall into the Twilight Zone?