9/11: How does the US owe anyone an explanation about how we retaliate?

Question

I was in New York the day all that happened.
Never has such wanton act of cowardly destruction been visited upon a peacetime populace - not just in terms of a body count, but the ramifications and aftermath as well
The United States does not owe anyone an explanation about how we defend our nation now. A nation under an attack by a determined, suicidal foe.

Yet, our country is in the throes of a philosophical paralysis as our leaders, and those that ally with them, are derided as war criminals and lackeys to these war criminals
The necessary defense of this nation is dismissed as an aggressive attempt of the seizure of oil and land, by a superpower bent on the promotion of an imaginary military industrial complex.

Never mind what happened on 9/11, which apparently we deserved because of American foreign policy

There is a war to fight - Michael Moore, Cindy Sheehan, the assorted conspiracy theorists and their ilk need to face reality.
And quickly.

David W - We can dismiss anything you say. Watching too many Oliver Stone movies has obviously fried that part of your brain that handles common sense.

Bearable - The scary part is how well you write, because like David W, nothing you have to say is based in reality as we know it

wagbietjie - I tried to join the military after 9/11 here. Too old.
Tell you what - you have enough problems at home with all the kids being raped and people dying of AIDS under the ANC's mismanagement, so why don't you mind your business and worry about that instead.

tiko - You know, you write very well. It is such a pity that what you have to say is so divorced from reality
You, like so many others has been so brainwashed by political correctness, that you have no moral compass left to tell right from wrong
To kill unsuspecting men, women and CHILDREN in an unprovoked manner is cowardly, to say the least. I'm astonished that this has to be explained to you
However, if a country has been attacked first, then the moral responsibility for deaths incurred in retaliation to that attack lies with the aggressing side

The point of the question is that the government owes none of the assorted America haters, idiot conspiracy theorists and their ilk any explanation as to how we defend ourselves, because their criticism is neither rational nor relevant - take a look at some of the answers to this question and tell me I'm wrong
How can you honestly think that people who blow themselves up believing there's a paradise waiting can define foreign policy?

wagbietjie - You're an American citizen? Well, whaddya know, me too!
If that's the case, why are you sticking your politically correct snout into issues regarding South Africa - a country you obviously know f**k all about.
Your ability to judge right from wrong is obviously shot, too.
As is your ability to judge people. What makes me a racist? Because I lay out uncomfortable truths for numbskullls like you?
Let me ask you this - what have you ever done to enrich the lives of black people, except call some people racists?
I've physically saved the lives of two people of color in my lifetime.
And you?

wagbietjie - You're a doctor? Not doing a very good job about educating your patients about what's going on around them, are you?
Personally, I never killed anyone in the '80s in South Africa, not even close. But then, of course, you know that because you were there, right alongside me, weren't you?

And it is YOU who are the bigot, ma'am, alongside my former female employer, who, like you, appears to believe that all men are automatically guilty of a crime because of their gender.

Answer 1

I agree completely!!! I actually just posted the same ques. Why are Americans against revenge for Sept. 11th? I say kill anyone who is even suspected of participating. God Bless AMERICA!!

Answer 2

It's interesting that you appear to be thinking here.
Have you actually studied some of the information which you so readily deride.
How can you say never mind what happened on 9/11, when it is the root of the world's problems, and is so very likely to be repaeted if everyone continues along your line of thinking..

When the American government wants to make war on Iran, it will need an excuse.
So it will create an even bigger equivalent on 9/11, and blame it on the Iranians.
Why can't you understand what happened last time.
I think this quote from William Casey answers my own question.

"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false."
-- William Casey, CIA Director (from first staff meeting, 1981)

The problem is that the escalation of war , unless prevented by an informed public, is ineveitable, with the dire consequences being a nuclear (or nucular as Bush would say) war, which destroys most if not all of the world's population.

Please take a little time to read the following article

Answer 3

Well, President Bush disbanded the OBL hunt over a year ago, so I guess we're not going after him. In Iraq he's just hunkering down and running out the clock until January 2009. The Anthrax Killer is out there somewhere but I haven't heard Bush or his lackeys mention those attacks in years. Someone sent ricin to Congress in 2004 and Bush has never mentioned that at all. The spying program seems to be intent on monitoring Quakers, gay rights activists, war protestors, Catholic charities, and vegetarians; none of whom appear to be Islamic militants to me.

He has never asked us to do anything besides go shopping in terms of sacrifice. So yeah, I do have a big problem with the way he is fighting what you call "THE WORN TERRA". As a matter of fact, I donate blood, but what the hell will you do besides mindlessly cheerlead Bush?

Answer 4

To start: I agree that 9/11 was a horrible day. I knew 9 people who worked in the towers, and thankfully, all 9 made it out (most worked underground. So I agree that we are a nation at war, and that we must defend ourselves and that we face a difficult and determined foe.

That being said, you are positing (if i'm reading your question right) that all opposition to or questioning of what our nation does in response to the 9/11 attacks is forbidden, or at least should not be considered by the government. So whatever our government decides to do is automatically justified because of 9/11? No one can question whether our response is appropriate to the problem at hand? We can't discuss whether the methods chosen will accomplish our goals?

So what if the government decided that the best way to respond to 9/11 was to kill all males, since terrorists are overwhelmingly male? I admit that is a stretch, but if you reject any questioning of or explanation by the government, what's to prevent it from happening?

Our country was founded on the assumption that governments (like people) are fallible, and require systems of checks and balances to catch bad ideas. That's why democracies are so inefficient, they give us time to notice that an idea is bad. Governments need dissent to examine their actions and consider consequences. If we all just shut up and let our government do whatever it wants whenever it uses 9/11 as a justification, how are we not a dictatorship? How are we a representative democracy anymore? How can we call ourselves a free people if we reject that most basic of freedoms, the right to disagree, no, the obligation to disagree with a government off-track?

I would agree that those who plan, support, and conduct terror attacks deserve to be attacked, captured, or killed. But I refuse to simply assume that anyone our executive branch designates as a target is in fact a target. I refuse to give up my right to review and pass judgement on the actions of our country. I hope that my fellow Americans insist on retaining their rights to review our governments actions and choices.

I'll close with a quote:

"My country, right or wrong. If right, to be kept right, and if wrong, to be set right." -- Carl Schurz, 1872, in response to other senators' remarks that America was infallible and should be supported, right or wrong.

Answer 5

When the bus is headed for a cliff...I think it's reasonable to ask the driver if he knows what he's doing.

Blindly following anyone or anything without really thinking about it doesn't make sense.

I don't stop caring about my nation, because I disagree with the policy choices of my government. And anytime such decisions result in the loss of American lives...well then I think we have a responsibility to educate ourselves on what's happening, why it's happening, and whether or not what we have chosen to do is appropriate.

To do less would be un-American.

Answer 6

Americans don't understand their own denial

I expect the hysterical cries of "The Muslims are coming! The Muslims are coming!" Have you learned nothing about the world? Can you not see the obvious manipulations of the U.S.-U.K. intelligence community in these bogus "terror alerts"?

Gee, whadda ya know, it's time for a midterm election and George Bush has a 30% approval rating --- and here come the Muslim hordes because they "hate our freedoms"!

Grow up. The American government spends over $500 billion a year on defense, over $60 billion a year on intelligence. That's more than the rest of the world combined. That sound you hear is not a billion Muslims strapping bombs to their chests. That sound you hear is the American military-intelligence complex prodding the stupid citizens who pay for it. They've got plans for martial law in America, and you people are prattling on about Islamofascism.

The first 9/11 was an inside job. The next one -- probably in the next two months, just in time for the elections -- will also be made in America. Open your eyes and see the real enemy.

Answer 7

Hi again, Brad. I take exception with your calling the terrorist attacks 'cowardly', just as Bill Maher challenged that assumption. In no way is that praise for the murderous terrorists--I would call them that, but I highly doubt we can honestly say they were cowards. The Japanese kamikaze pilots weren't either, but history wants to use that term on 'others', while calling pilots who drop bombs on 'their' civilians heroes.

I'm sure you won't agree with me on that point, so I'll get to your question proper.

I think every government in the world must be prepared to explain its actions--and I would say that for actions I agree with! The government serves you, so why would you blindly accept anything and everything it does?

Finally, who says you 'deserved' 9/11? Maybe the terrorists, but you don't make that clear. I think it was brought on by foreign policy, not because 'they' hate your freedom, but because they see the US as aggressive or even intrusive. The argument that freedom was attacked comes from people divorced from reality. Ironically, however, freedom is being attacked by the Bush administration. I think you know what I'm talking about.

Answer 8

Well the war against Iraq would probably be over if it werent for Donald Rumsfeld. The war in Iraq has been on the agenda since the Clinton administration. Original plans were to send 450,000 troops into Iraq and just do a clean sweep, now we are down to 130,000. Why did Rumsfeld send only 50 army rangers to Afghanistan in the search for Osama? Sure we need to be protecting ourselves but logic dictates that it cant be won with the methods that are now in place.

Answer 9

Are you living in the real world?? The present USA administration is out of control on every level. Bush is a war monger. If you so believe in this cause why don't you go and serve in the armed forces? Instead of having cushy armchair arguments on a website.

grow up

EDIT:
My dear racist, I am a born and bred American citizen, unlike you white apartheid lover who fled here when things became too hot for you over there. Racist, ill-informed, bigot that's what you are. Pity in your old-age you are losing any brain cells you ever had or is it your drinking bouts in your cushy armchair that is eating away at the few you had? Were you white males not brain washed under apartheid that you were superior? Now you want to come here and live out your white supremecy and racism here in our country. Pathetic.

I agree 100% with Tiko. And how many times has the US government killed innocent CHILDREN (as you put it) in Iraq?

As for you: Are you even an American citizen or are you here on a green card only?

EDIT:
I have saved hundreds of lives of people of color - I am a medical doctor who have worked amongst others in South Africa in the 1980s saving black people's lives while you and other white males in racist Apartheid South Africa were killing them (innocent CHILDREN). I now work actively in AIDS issues.
And as an American citizen (and here I am asking you the question you asked me about why I am bothering with SA) - why are you not keeping your racist snout out of their affairs: Spreading inaccurate garbage all over the internet and calling Mandela a terrorist?
You are a racist bigot. Every question and answer you have asked and posted here on this site indicates that you are a racist bigot who sexually harasses women in the workplace.
How we mourn the likes of you in this world...

Answer 10

retaliation is fine if its pointed at the right people. problem is our US retaliation was only half correct, with the other half going to fulfill cheney's strange long term desire to take out iraq. (this much is not a conspiracy theory, dick has written extensively about the need to go into iraq long before 911)
so its sort of like if someone down the street from me blows up my car and i get even by burning their shed and destroying your house.
there is a certain responsibility that has to be maintained.

Answer 11

Unfortunately, some people think that this is an enemy that we need to "talk to" or deal with as a criminal action rather than the war that it is. \The news footage of those planes flying into the twin towers should be shown on television daily so that nobody forgets.