The purpose of terrorism is to have exactly this effect. That is how the terrorists win, when we are so afraid that we are willing to alter all that is good about America to make it "safer", while giving up what makes us "free".

We cannot defeat terrorism. It is a tactic that will be used so long as it has its desired effect. And the effect that it has had today only reenforces that it can be successful even when a specific plot has been disrupted. It will be used again and again and no amount of "spreading freedom" in Iraq will lessen it. It will only stop being used when it no longer works. When we say a collective "fvck you" to the terrorists and refuse to change our lives regardless of their threats.

I would say that even though this attempt was thwarted, it is still a victory for the terrorists. They have once again brought our airports to a standstill and spread fear throughout the citizens.

I won't live in fear- ever- not of these things. Life continues....and it is good.

I flew in October 2001- other people canceled flights- I took my kids to Disneyland.

You know, one should probably be more afraid of being hit by a car than of a terrorist attack.

I heard no news this morning until I opened this board. Thank you (most of you) all for bringing me quickly up to date on what's going on in the world. I have half a mind to remove all of the BS posts to another thread so they can fight amongst themselves. But, alas, that would take work and I'm just not up for it today.

Maybe the Park will be less crowded and the price of flights will plumit. There are a lot of place I want to visit and I'm not afraid to travel.

How about Bush saying this:
"Our British allies have foiled a terrorist plot. We applaud them in their efforts in the war on terror. Be assured that the same diligence used by our British counterparts is shared by us in this country. We will continue to protect our citizens here and abroad."

Not:
"The same thing could happen to us, folks. Be afraid. Be very afraid."

That's capitalizing on this situation to strike fear here in our country. That's how he won the last election, that's how he leads. I disagree with that. If you can't get a country to buy what you're selling without scaring them to death, then you don't know how to lead.

Exactly.

However, we can defeat organizations of terrorism. Hamas, Hezbollah, Al qaida....they may never go away, but we can hit their funding, and their ability to organize.

I don't think the goal of Islamic terrorists is to make us change our lifestyle. I think their goal is to kill us and to force us to make policy decisions they want (such as no longer supporting Israel or whatever) by convincing us that should we just make this change or evacuate this parcel of land that they will stop. They won't stop.

Of course, their ultimate goal is to make us change our lifestyle by forced conversion to Islam and abandonment of western culture.

Now, wouldn't that be nice?


Well, we all have goals. I don't feel the need to punish others for their goals. I just don't have to buy into them. That gets to be my choice.

I will absolutely gaurantee you that should he have said this the criticism would be Bush is promising to protect us when there is no way every attack can be stopped, as is evidenced by the daily bombings in Iraq. Another no win situation where the words can be spun however political opponents wish to. Saying "we aren't safe from terrorist attacks yet" is reality, not fear mongering.

On a side note, this info came from Pakistani intelligence. I found that to be interesting as I've never really been quite sure if they were someone that wished to allign themselves against radical Islamic terrorists.

When their goal is spread by killing those who won't subscribe to their goal, then they are attempting to remove that choice from you. "Punishment" as you put it, "fighting back" as I would state it, is then necessary.

I think the risk of flying is the same as it was yesterday, or last week, or last year. Any of this stuff could happen anytime. Just because they found out about this plot doesn't mean there aren't others. I'm not going to change anything I'm doing because of this.