[godwulf]

undertoad:

...if the real reason for the attack is that law enforcement can't do what it needs to do in order to prevent one, then another attack is inevitable

Bank robberies, kidnappings, murders, etc., of a non-terrorist nature occur a hundred times a day in this country - and how many more would happen if the perpetrators didn't care whether or not they got caught? The police, not to mention intelligence services can only do so much - they're not psychic. I have to sincerely hope that I'm wrong, but I would not be surprised to hear that there was a suicide bombing in this country before the election.

Law enforcement's attitude will be a reflection of the public's desires...

Unfortunately, even if it doesn't make any sense, or is designed only to quell the public's collective paranoia without actually doing anything tangible. Are they still making pilots (you know, the guys who are actually going to be at the controls of the planes in a couple of hours) take off their shoes at Security?

blue58:

In my opinion many, many people forgot all about 9/11 and what we face way fast.

I think there's a difference between 'remembering' something, and letting it affect your decision making in an irrational way; Afghanistan was attacked because they wouldn't give up the leaders of the group who planned 9/11, and the core of the organization was killed, dispersed or imprisoned - fine, that makes some kind of sense. That was the public, sexy, give-em-Hell reaction, which was also probably the right and only thing to do.

What logically follows, though, has not been public or 'sexy' - the ferreting out of Al Quaida cells throughout the World by intelligence services and the police. A large segment of the American public, I believe, won't believe that our government is really 'protecting us' unless they see bombs falling on the six o'clock news and armed soldiers at the airports.

Whether it's a War of Opportunity in Iraq or some security guy confiscating your water bottle before you go into the ballpark, 99.9% of what the authorities have done, are doing, or will do in the future, has absolutely nothing to do with terrorism or public safety.

vsp:

Remember, we have people in this country who _seriously believe_ that the reason that 9/11 happened is because America became so immoral that God removed His "protective seal" from around His Nation. And people like that vote.

Scarier than that - they breed.

I don't know which is more frightening: the people who attribute our vulnerability to attack by foreign terrorists to America's "immorality", or those who buy the "they just hate us because we're free" line. God forbid we should actually have to think about and address their real concerns and grievances.