Have we become complacent since 9/11/01? (1 Viewer)

[Navy Pride]

Your comments please.....

 

[Tashah]

The American public certainly remembers 9/11, yet it also seems to have buried the stark horror of that day deep within the fabric of memory.

I take great issue with the Bush administration's half-hearted efforts to improve homeland security. The Department of Homeland Security itself resembles a dysfunctional hydra... many disparate appendages with little cohesion. The US Department of State has still not fully reformed the visa process and lacks the necessary embassy linguists abroad to fully understand and carefully process visa applications. The US border remains porous because the Bush administration has yielded to corporate pressures for cheap labor. Meaningful airport passenger profiling is for all practical purposes forbidden by strict federal guidelines. The CIA, FBI, and NSA still suffer from a lack of proficient linguists, thus allowing mountains of documents and intercepts an immunity from analysis. Monetary allocations from the DHS to state and local recipients has been spent on useless frills such as Kelvar vests for canine units. The Bush administration has bowed to corporate lobbies such as domestic airline's and fertilizer manufacturers preventing critical reforms and regulations. The US government has yet to compile a final list of all potentially dangerous terrorist targets such as nuclear power plants and chemical facilities. Less than ¼ of shipping containers are inspected. As demonstrated by the Katrina debacle, FEMA simply cannot deal with a major natural or terrorist catastrophe. Despite spending untold millions, critical anti-terrorism appendages such as the FBI, CIA, and INS cannot directly communicate via computer or share critical database information.

I could go on for pages. Simple complacency? Nope. This borders on criminal negligence.

 

[tecoyah]

I cannot speak for the Nation,but only as a citizen. I have not grown complacent, but instead have looked carefully at the risks, and found the incredible fear machine in use unfounded. Is there a chance I will Die in a terrorist attack...I would say yes.Is it worth changing what makes this country what it "IS" to eliviate some small percentage of that chance....in my opinion No.
There will always be risks, and bad guys in this world. Sometimes they might even be a threat to me and mine, this is a part of life, and I accept that. There is a major difference between a complacent attitude, and simple reality. Just as there is a chance I will be involved in a Car accident on my way to work this morning, there is a chance someone will blow up my house. If I allow these extremely unikely possibles to guide my life....I'm an Idiot, and deserve the self instilled paralization it brings. I just dont feel the need to go out and Buy Duct Tape and Plastic....to be secure enough to function.

 

[dragonslayer]

We Americans have certainly not become complacent. The right wing radicals like to say this in order to have leverage.

There are certainly terrorists out there hoping kill Americans. Right now we are in danger from Arab terrorists. Yet I realize that the government was aware of the possibility of attacks on the Twin Tower, the Pentagon, and the capital. They had this information for two year before the attack. Yet I think maybe Rice is correct in her assessment. We could not imagine anyone attacking the Good Old USA, and the Bush government ignored the threat.

Now we are constantly collecting information concerning terrorists. It is possible to have more attacks, but if we pay attention to the intelligence we are getting we should be able to avoid most attacks.

We need to get out of Bush's war.

We are all aware that there is no connection between 911 and his little war. There is no reason for Bush and Cheney to keep lying about a phoney connection.

We all know that no matter what we think of Sadam, and his followers, Iraq was stable and there was no Civil war brewing. We have killed thousands iraq soldier, women and children for no reason other than oil profits for the Saudis, the Bushs and Exxon.

We need to be watchful and alert. We need to get good sources of intelligence, and watch our borders. We need to watch our ports and airports. We are wasting millions in the middle east so Exxon can make huge profits for it's investors. Haliburton, is getting huge contracts in the Middle east and New Orleans. This is money for radical right wing pockets

The only thing we have to fear is the constant message of fear. We cannot stop the occasion killing, but we probably don't need to fear massive attacks if we have good intelligence. And protect america.

Bush and Cheney this last week were constantly talking about the Threat and war on terrorism. Fear tactics.

I believe that if we do suffer an attack before the election, or after the election, it will probably be with the permission of Bush, Cheney, Rich and Rummy. This would be to scare Americans back into backing the Radical right. They are aware that 70% of americans voters don't trust or support the Radcal right. They are hopping to shock us and then blame the Democrats and those that love the constitution, for these attacks, if they come.

Our right wing Radicals are no longer the representatives of freedom and Democracy. their goal is do away with the constitution, and give freedom only to the very rich, because they are very rich. Our government is not a conservative government, it is a radical government.

http://www.infoplease.com/ipd/A0614598.html

 

[Kandahar]

I wouldn't say we're "complacent." We've certainly calmed down a bit since 9/11, but that's not necessarily a bad thing.