The governments reaction to 9/11

You know, most of the American public thinks we're in Iraq because Saddam bombed the twin towers or something. It's amazing how uninformed most of the people in our country are.

I voted "Nothing" but I don't think NOTHING should have been done. I think we should have made sure our national security was top notch, and gotten over it. I can almost guarantee that if we hadn't retaliated guns ablazing we wouldn't be in this mess we're in right now. When you fight violence with violence you end up in a vicious cycle, and someone has to break the cycle for it to end. Had we done nothing but strengthen our defenses, we'd be less in debt, gas prices most likely wouldn't be nearly as high as they are, there would be far less deaths in our world right now(I think the Iraqi death toll is somewhere around 600,000.)

Do any of you feel any safer now that we went to war and took Saddam out? I can honestly say, I do not. If anything, I feel less so.

Well there was two stories to Iraq and the Bush Admin did a great job of confusing and scaring a majority of the United States' public. At first he tried to tie Iraq and 9/11 together saying Saddam Hussein had ties with Osama Bin Laden (which he never had) and they ruled that out. And then roughly a year 1/2 - 2 years later he confirmed that Iraq had WMDs.. Which is the real reason we went to war, and they never turned out to have anything.

So basically I say we should just hunt for Osama Bin Laden.

I pretty much agree with KA. I said go after Osama but that's only because I don't think we should have done "nothing."

Turning the other cheek not only looks better for our country but takes a lot more strength to do. Yeah, they killed thousands of Americans. So we kill 600,000 innocent Iraqis. We in turn just piss them off more by not only killing their civilians but twisting their government to our own ideals. It's only a matter of time before the terrorists start retaliating, and it will probably be worse than 9/11 was.

Turning the other cheek not only looks better for our country but takes a lot more strength to do. Yeah, they killed thousands of Americans. So we kill 600,000 innocent Iraqis. We in turn just piss them off more by not only killing their civilians but twisting their government to our own ideals. It's only a matter of time before the terrorists start retaliating, and it will probably be worse than 9/11 was.

I don't think turning the other cheek is appropriate when so many civilian casualties are inflicted, something HAD to be done. It's just like having multiple predators in the same area, allowing something like that to go will only show the others that you are weak and open to attack, which is not acceptable. None of that even includes the general populace's demands for revenge.

The response should have been limited strictly to those responsible for the attack though, instead of using it as an excuse to go rearrange some peoples' countries for them.

I don't think turning the other cheek is appropriate when so many civilian casualties are inflicted, something HAD to be done. It's just like having multiple predators in the same area, allowing something like that to go will only show the others that you are weak and open to attack, which is not acceptable. None of that even includes the general populace's demands for revenge. The response should have been limited strictly to those responsible for the attack though, instead of using it as an excuse to go rearrange some peoples' countries for them.

Like I said, turning the other cheek takes a lot more strength than lashing out at your attacker. I honestly don't think we would have looked weak if we had done so.

And by your same reasoning, Iraq should attack us back right now 100 fold for all of the civilians of theirs that we've killed.

All that will mean to a predator is that we're not willing to pursue them. Honestly, it's pretty much JUST like predatorial (or even scavenger-like) behavior, meaning they only respond to strength. If they perceive us as unable or unwilling to retaliate, it will only make things worse.

There is nothing wrong with self-defense.

Bringing a predator to justice I agree with.

Bringing a predator to justice by any means necessary I disagree with.

All that will mean to a predator is that we're not willing to pursue them. Honestly, it's pretty much JUST like predatorial (or even scavenger-like) behavior, meaning they only respond to strength. If they perceive us as unable or unwilling to retaliate, it will only make things worse. There is nothing wrong with self-defense.

Say that to Ghandi. He was completely against fighting. Even as his people were being gunned down, they would not fight. Turned out for the best.