So, I'm curious to know your thoughts on this... About This Page:

[AKLRULZ]

Personally, I'm pretty offended by the remarks made against George Bush this week and it's interesting to look back on a CNN article written on 9/18/01. Take a peek...

http://www.cnn.com/2001/US/09/18/inv...nes/index.html

Hmmm...here is another interesting article about a warning received in 1999...

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=536&ncid= 703&e=3&u=/ap/20020517/ap_on_go_pr_wh/attacks_1999_warning_2

And finally, love him or hate him, Limbaugh has an interesting analysis on why Clinton didn't react to bin Laden at the appropriate time...

http://rushlimbaugh.com/home/daily/s...k_a.guest.html

Seems like the wrong President is taking the blame for not taking care of bin Laden when he had the chance. Okay, that was a little unfair, and I don't think Clinton should be blamed for 9/11 at all. But seriously, I'm totally [img]images/icons/mad.gif[/img] PO'd [img]images/icons/mad.gif[/img] about this in case you cannot tell. No one is to blame for 9/11 other than the terrorists who hijacked the planes, murdered the flight attendants and crew, and then proceeded to slam the planes into the buildings.

I respect everyone's opinion, and I'm not looking to start a heated debate or posting war, but I am curious to know what ya'll think about this?!?

[ 05-17-2002, 05:54 PM: Message edited by: Dadtojbj ]

[iloverags2]

I'll be the first to admit I did not vote for George W. Bush. But I will say the talk these past few days has been very unfair. How the heck was he supposed to know they would use planes for missles? And what was he supposed to do, close all the airports so no planes would be hijacked? I think in today's day and age everyone is quite aware of potential problems in the air. Going back to the early 90's, while traveling on business, in the back of my mind was the thought that something might go awry. Unless someone said they were going to take planes on x date and slam them into x buildings, there is no telling what could happen.

We should be looking to the future and what solutions we can derive from this horrible disaster, not look back and start pointing fingers.

Just my two cents.

[Belle*]

I am another one the did NOT vote for Bush and unlike a lot of people, my opinion hasn't changed. I won't vote for him in the next one either. While I do not believe that anyone could have prevented 9/11, I do believe that Bush and his advisors (because, IMHO, let's face it - his advisors run the country) dropped the ball and discounted threats and warnings they should have taken more seriously.

That said, I also believe that Clinton was equally guilty of underestimating Al Qaeda and Bin Laden. Allow me to emphasize - I do not believe that President Bush or his administration could have done ANYTHING to prevent the atrocities of that day and I agree that what is important is where we go from here. [img]graemlins/usa.gif[/img]

[Elliot'sDragon]

I am someone who left the Democratic Party.
I am so sick of the nonsense being spun from the mouth of the Senators of my great State.

Just noticed that this is my 911st post. Odd coincidence? I don't want to debate here either. I save that for other chat rooms.

[ 05-17-2002, 08:20 PM: Message edited by: Elliot'sDragon ]

[DebiDebiDebi]

I would just like to go on record to say that I find the majority of politicians, Republican and Democrat, are in, my opinion, the biggest bunch of finger pointers in the world. When something goes right, they all point at themselves and say "look what I did." When something goes wrong, they all point at the other side and say, "look what he did." Ugh, my stomach can hardly take it... [img]images/icons/mad.gif[/img] [img]images/icons/mad.gif[/img] [img]images/icons/mad.gif[/img]

[exile]

I agree with you Debi. Besides I thought this board was Sharing the Fun why bring politics here. [img]images/icons/frown.gif[/img]

[DVC_Don]

The recent flap about who knew what and when is purely politics. It happened, let's try to see it does not happen again and let's move on with the war. [img]graemlins/usa.gif[/img]

[DreaminDisney]

AMEN to that Debbie!

Deb

[patty c.]

I think we've had many good controversial chats without getting ugly, and I like the fact that we can have those chats and then move on with no harm done. So, having said that I'll give my 2 cents worth and move on.

I think it's absurd to point fingers at the administration. There was a network television news report several years ago describing the threat of terrorists hijacking a plane and crashing it into a building, among other things. Why didn't anyone react then? Aircraft manufacturers? Airlines? Pilots Unions? Architects/Engineers? Local governments? The FAA? CIA? FBI? It was on network television! Everyone had heard of the threat 7 years ago, why now point a finger at Bush?

We have current threats of bioterrorism. Why aren't we vaccinating the entire population against smallpox? Anthrax? Why don't we distribute gas masks to each citizen like Israel does? You can bet that if there's an outbreak of smallpox we will again point a finger and say "HE should have done something." Whoever "He" is.

There are 3 things we need to really consider.
First,we face many threats every day. If the government took action on every threat our day to day lives would be micromanaged to the point of being ridiculously unlivable.
Second, we need to take some personal responsibility instead of sitting back and pointing a finger after the fact. Support companies that are researching bioterrorism, push your elected representatives to support funding for such things as well.
Third, when we get too critical, I think we should be mindful of what the government HAS averted. I don't think we citizens know (or would like to know) about all the things that HAVEN'T happened.

We can't lose our resolve as a nation now, and that is exactly what will happen if we begin to point fingers.

[ 05-17-2002, 09:33 PM: Message edited by: patsy-c ]

[Beth L.]

I think that the only things these articles prove is that hindsight is 20/20. One warning is 8 yrs old the other 2. When these warnings were given, who would have known that on 9/11/2001 the unthinkable would have happened? I can't imagaine the number of warnings that our country gets from outside sources on a daily basis. How do the people who's job it is to decipher which ones to act upon, actually know that it's going to happen and when? And to think that any of our Presidents would ignore a warning that they think would have true merit is beyond comprehension!

I also did not vote for George Bush but I did vote for Clinton, both times. IMHO, neither of these men nor there constituants could have known this tragedy was going to happen last September. To try to "pin the blame" on anyone but Oshama Bin Ladin is idiotic.

[ 05-18-2002, 07:56 AM: Message edited by: Beth L. ]

[Mr. Beaner]

In a effert to keep this freindly and at the request of Beaner I will not respond.

If you really want to no what I think feel free to e-mail me at wradvon@ptd.net

I will say that I agree that the politions on both side along with the media are doing nothin more that pointing fingures.

[sammycat699]

I agree with Debbie that politicians are all great at finger pointing. I wonder what the founding fathers would say about some of the men who have been president?
I blamed Bill Clinton on 9/11 and I still blame him. Don't get me started on my hatred of this man [img]images/icons/mad.gif[/img] and the witch [img]images/icons/mad.gif[/img] who calls herself a senator.
To change the subject just a little. I thought it was so nice that the Reagans were honored the other day with an award. I can't remember the name of it. [img]images/icons/confused.gif[/img]
It is unimportant whether you liked President Reagan or not but he did have respect for the Presidency.

[AKLRULZ]

Well, I'm no fan of the Clintons - not by any strectch of the imagination - they are both a disgrace, but in my opinioin we can't blame him specifcally for 9/11. The threats he faced were just as "general" as the ones Bush received. Clinton sure had his fair share of issues, but I don't think we can blame anyone but bin Laden and his ring of terrorists for the 9/11 attacks. There are some excellent thoughts and opinions going on in this thread (I think we all think the same thing about politicians [img]images/icons/tongue.gif[/img] ) and I'm glad to see we're keeping it civil and respecting one another! Way 2 go, group!

[September]

This is an interesting question, and sort of mirrors some discussions we've had at home lately (though I have to give you folks some credit, becuase as two PolSci/History majors, DH & I tend to have discussions that get a little more testy).

I won't go into my thoughts on either George W. or Clinton, as I don't think they affect my opinions on this particular issue.

Terrorism--in one way or another--has existed for generations and the US has not been immune from attacks. While other parts of the world have taken a more proactive and long-term approach to preventing attacks, the US has taken a more reactive approach, and tends to respond to the individual incidents rather than formulating cohesive and permanent policy changes.

While it would be easier to place blame on a particular president or administration, I believe the true reasons lie within the American people themselves. The American spirit places the freedoms of the individual above those of the group; and,there are certain risks associated with this behavior. In the months since 9/11 there have been certain changes to implement higher levels of security; however, I will be surprised if they are long-term. Ultimately, I believe the American people lack the unified political will to respond to a long-term threat. This is why Saddam Houssein is still in power and why--within a year from now--I predict that the US will gradually and quietly withdraw from Afghanistan.

The events of 9/11 were horrifying, and affected all Americans. However, an integral part of American culture is the idea of closure and healing--which I think will be incompatable with a protracted war in the middle east.