posted on Nov, 1 2004 @ 03:08 PM
I thought this site was about denying ignorance?
Hundreds of foreigners and westerners have died over the years before 9/11 at the hands of muslims TERRORISTS. Note I do not emphasis Muslim in this.
To me they are terrorists who usually happen to be Muslims. If they were IRA who usually did these attacks I would say Irish TERRORISTS.
Although AQ is a manifestation of a very loose coalition of groups, thier collective leading membership have been attacking the west, particularly
Americans for years.
The difference was 9/11 changed the balance. The relative handfuls of deaths each year were often seen as the cost of doing business and being out
there in the world, without becoming a Nanny Nation. The thousands killed in the space of 90 minutes changed that. The realisation that tolerance of
terrorism was no longer acceptable.....and its escalated from there.
In WW2 the Allies were relucant to begin a bombing campaign just after Poland. For months allied airmen risked thier lives over Germany dropping
leafets telling Germans Hitler was bad news and so was war. When it was clear the Germans had no such qualms the allies responded as best they could,
with the tools at hand.
This is not to belittle the loss of innocent life in the warzones (I couldnt give a rats about the insurgents and terrorists) but please acknowledge
the fact this isnt a new thing since 9/11. It was really something that was within most peoples comfort zone and registered less than most peoples
knowledge of sports and enterainment events. It was a massive escalation on the part of a representative terrorist organisation that sparked this war,
and while appalling widespread advantage has been taken of it, it had to be fought.
Safer does not mean the absence of threat in the real world. It means doing your best to keep it at bay.
As the IRA said to the UK security chief after the 1984 Brighton Hotel Bombing, when they killed dozens, but missed thier target, PM Margaret
Thatcher....."Your problem is you have to be lucky all the time...We only have to be lucky once"