this post was hard for me to read and accept. i see many of your points. i've labored for hours to try and understand why the terrorists did what they did. i've wondered what their interests were and their desired results. nonetheless, i can't agree with your conclusions that they were baiting the usa into action. and i don't see the usa going into action haphazardly. i don't think the goal of the us government is to send bombs indiscriminately to afghanistan to kill civilians. and i give the majority of american people more credit than that. lastly, i guess it is impossible for me to hold a paradigm that gives so much credit to terrorists. i beleive the usa will be successful in protecting it's cities and preventing future attacks from happening. i just believe that will be the case. maybe not tomorrow. but in the long run, our cities will be safe. and anyone who goes off to prove otherwise will live a short life. as the suicide bombers did. to me, they proved nothing except that if you are willing to die, it's easy to take people with you. that has been their only success in my vision. i don't think their plans were any greater than showing the world that they can penetrate the sanctity of the usa. i don't know. i'll continue to think about your post. i'm hoping you thoughts give more credit to the terrorists than they deserve. and i also hope you underestimate the people of the usa and you are trying to be more clever than you really are. i guess i don't like the phrase you use...anyone with half a brain... i really think the response of the usa right now is much more clear than you give it credit. people entered our country, stole our planes, smashed our buildings, and killed our citizens. and the usa will not live with that. period. that's the only take i can get on things here. pat In a message dated 9/19/2001 9:09:52 PM Eastern Daylight Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: > isn't it obvious that something of this size > wasn't only pulled off to show it could be done - as much as it looks like > it at first. Anyone with half a brain can see that America getting into gear > like it's doing now was the planned, foreseen and INTENDED result. And why > all this? Terrorists like bin Laden & Co have been working hard for years > and years trying to get any subversive grouping of any description anywhere > under one hat - not very successfully. Nonetheless they've been hard at > work, trying to convince with (dirty tricks and lots of blood), both Eastern > and Western governments that it's a case of "Us" against "Them" - preferably > with all the Western countries on the other side. Drawing lines on the map > is what they want. With America going to war against anyone aiding bin Laden > & Co, Thousands will flock to the terrorists' cause, that's inevitable... > "Muslim" countries will react predictably
