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Why the lessons of 9/11 are wasted

‘No one seems aware any longer that there’s such a thing as a hostile external power that poses a graver threat to our existence than in-house systemic racism or micro-aggressions. In the Biden administration, our generals have been fixated not on international threats, or even on getting our troops safely out of Afghanistan, but on rooting out “white [hate] rage” in our own soldiers. Biden himself has encouraged our intelligence community to switch their focus from Islamist terrorism to domestic extremists on the right…..The lessons of 9/11 are wasted on us’ (Lionel Shriver - Telegraph U.K.)
Northwest · M
Seems as if Ms. Shriver forget what it's like in America. It is illegal for our Generals to be looking at domestic terrorism. We have other intelligence agencies that deal with that.

The realization that we have domestic terrorism and it's currently primarily white supremacist may be hard for you to grasp as a foreign racist, but it is what it is and the skin color or "religion" of terrorists does not dictate whether we pay attention to them.

Now, I will wait for your usual ad hominem attacks.

or even on getting our troops safely out of Afghanistan

Facts betray this claim.
Grvstu · 70-79, F
And who, dummy, do you know says that? You really are a major plonker! @ElwoodBlues
@Grvstu Can't quite recall. Maybe an image will jog my memory.
Grvstu · 70-79, F
Thanks for proving my point! @ElwoodBlues
Well objectively speaking angry white men in the US are by far a much greater terror threat and have been for decades. The US military and police also has had a long time issue with having a white supremacist problem. But then again it is useful in a military to encourage that when you are always invading foreign lands.


Objectively speaking you are more likely to die from a TV falling on your head than from an Islamic terror attack. It is not even a particularly large issue even within that religious community when you do the math. Easier to just blame the scary foreigner though.
@Strictgram Wow. Nice ignorant right wing cliche. How does it feel to be a walking stereotype.

You do realize the USSR doesn't exist anymore and hasn't for almost 30 years. And Venezuela is not and never has been communist. Talk about ignorant.
Strictgram · 70-79, C
@PicturesOfABetterTomorrow Pack your bags you America hating fool.
@Strictgram Lol. Yet more cliches. Again, I am not the one who supports a coup attempt and domestic terrorists. That is all you. So when is your court date? Which one is you?

BlueVeins · 22-25
The War in Afghanistan costed the US 2 trillion dollars and over 6,000 American lives. If we'd have taken those same resources and put them into healthcare, infrastructure, education, or our food system, we'd have saved way, way more lives than were lost in the terrorist attacks on 9/11. Oh yeah, and we wouldn't have to kill 45,000 Afghan civilians in the process.
BlueVeins · 22-25
@Grvstu The withdrawal from Afghanistan was messy and horrible, but it was always gonna be that way. You can't just prop up a puppet government for 20 years and expect shit to be all sunshine and rainbows when you finally leave. Regardless of how we did it, withdrawing was always gonna cause a crisis of confidence within the Afghan government and a government that no longer believes in its ability to survive is a clusterfuck 100% of the time.

Unfortunately, the idea of getting everyone out all at once -- soldiers, civilians, allies -- just isn't technologically feasible. And failing that, we have to choose which to evacuate first, all of which have their own unique problems. We could've chosen to evacuate our civilians & allies first, but that probably would've caused the Afghan army to collapse with our soldiers still inside. The CIA wrongly predicted that the Afghans could buy us a few months and really, no one predicted that it'd be as few as ten days, so we went with withdrawing troops first.

The same kind of thing happened in Vietnam, by the way. Thousands of Vietnamese civilians were captured by the NVA and brutalized. If we don't want this kinda shit to happen, we oughta stop starting land wars in countries that don't like us.
@Strictgram There was no need to invade Afghanistan and waste 20 years trying to change their form of government. All that needed to happen was to beef up airport security (which did happen), and send in a team of special forces unannounced to capture bin Laden. Instead, we announced a full-on invasion, giving bin Laden ample warning to escape. Bin Laden was eventually killed a decade later in just such a covert operation.

9/11 was a fluke, that happened because of incompetent leadership that ignored clear warnings, and the inability of intelligence agencies to communicate with each other. Both of those have been remedied.
Grvstu · 70-79, F
I think it’s very simplistic to call 9/11 a fluke. @LeopoldBloom
Allelse · 36-40, M
You don't see white supremacists as a threat?
Allelse · 36-40, M
@Grvstu 😐
Fluffybull · F
@Grvstu 🤡
Driver2 · M
@Grvstu exactly
Right-wing terrorism dwarfs left-wing and Islamic terrorism combined. This chart is a few years old, but going by the last few years, it probably wouldn't have changed much, other than a slight increase in left-wing events and a drop in Islamic ones. Biden is correct, right-wing terrorism is far more dangerous than Islamic or other external terrorism.
Kwek00 · 41-45, M
@Oberon1 That's why people measure, you just dismiss the measurements if they don't suit you and categorize them as "spin". There is a reason for that, you are a biased piece of shit Puck.
Oberon1 · 61-69, M
@Kwek00 I have reality on my side, and you are an extremist nut bar! 😆
Kwek00 · 41-45, M
@Oberon1 Reality at your side? Is that what they teach you in church? Or did you get that from the traditionalist literature? But no worries... it's not that uncommon. It's pretty normal that every human being believes they have reality at their side. It's almost a nescessity if you want to function in your life. The issue is however, that this idea blinds everyone from the delussional bagage that they carry around. In your case, the bagage is the reality at your side.
QuixoticSoul · 41-45, M
Domestic terrorism is a bigger threat to us than Islamic terrorism at this point.
Oberon1 · 61-69, M
@PicturesOfABetterTomorrow
More projections.
😆
You're killing me George!
@Oberon1 And speaking of copraphagics. I am not the one with his head so far up Trump's ass you are larping the human centipede.
Oberon1 · 61-69, M
@PicturesOfABetterTomorrow 😆 You are just too much fun!
This comment is hidden. Show Comment
tindrummer · M
@Grvstu it's always amusing watching you interact with people here
Grvstu · 70-79, F
There are some people you know it is just not worth making any effort with !@tindrummer
tindrummer · M
@Grvstu 😅
mikeylyksit · 41-45, M
OK, from the American perspective. Most Americans (note I did not say POLITICIANS) agree on this view. We (the American people) are totally fed up with always being expected to play "world police". If our politicians paid any attention at all to the PEOPLE THEY ARE SUPPOSED TO REPRESENT, we would have almost zero United States military members posted anywhere outside of the Continental United States. TO me, the message of 9/11 is that our forces were poorly deployed...protecting all the other nations in the world when (gasp) they should have been guarding NYC.

If I had dictator powers to make things happen just by saying so, I would pull ALL United States forces back from outside the United States and deploy them to CLOSE the Southern Border. When the Southern Border is secure, some of the troops would be re-deployed to round up illegal errrrrr "undocumented migrants" and deport them. And yes I know there are tens of millions of them to deport. So it should keep our troops busy for quite a long time...
@mikeylyksit Nobody ever asked you to be the world police. That was a self imposed title to justify an empire. And if most Americans are against the empire where is the responsibility to vote these people out?

And blaming brown people in the border areas is not going to change anything either, And where are you getting these inflated numbers from?


Oh and Clinton tried that in the 90s. The deport everyone approach failed miserably.
mikeylyksit · 41-45, M
@PicturesOfABetterTomorrow We can't vote our way out of the mess. The problem is, we don't have anybody to vote for who will take a strong stand for enforcing immigration laws. So we always have a choice to vote (if we choose to) for somebody who we already know won't get the job done. Sigh...

Oh, and American's are not into building empires. American politicians are into that, but American politicians seem to revel in doing the exact opposite of what most of the voters want them to do...

Who said anything about brown people in border areas? No matter the color of their skin or how they get in the country, they spread everywhere. EVERYWHERE. My numbers aren't inflated. They are probably low. The last official count was about 12 million, increasing by about 1 mill a year for 14 years at this point. But that's the OFFICIAL estimate. So the actual figure is probably two or three times that. I'd be shocked if there are less than 50,000,000 undocumented migrants in the United States right now. And in 2021? In 2021 alone, the border is wide open. In 2021 ALONE the figure might increase by another 10 mill or so...
@mikeylyksit This has nothing to do with immigration. This has to do with playing at empire. And sorry but democracy is not a spectator sport. And it is also a bullshit cop out to pretend red and blue are the only options.



And again, if you vote them in and don't do anything that is consent to build empire.


Who said that? You did! You were the one who decided to change the subject to scapegoating immigrants and refugees on the southern border.

12 and 50 million? 😂 And I see you have zero sources for your fear mongering and scapegoating. But change the subject to make it about blaming other poor brown people. That is the right wing way.


I noticed you also completely ignored the fact that your immigration policy prescription has already been done and failed miserably.
SW-User
An important lesson from 9/11 is that we shouldn't invade a nation that had nothing to do with an attack on our soil (Iraq) just because we needed someone to punish. We should've focused our efforts on Al-Qaeda and terrorist cells in other countries instead of toppling a secular dictator who, for better or for worse, was keeping religious extremists at bay. We also should've learned that in times of high emotion we're more susceptible to propaganda.

Sure, "micro-aggressions" area a ridiculous concept but this is just an oversimplification and a "culture war" appeal. There's plenty to learn from 9/11 and the mistakes made afterward, but it's not a matter of micro-aggressions and "critical race theory" or whatever the current boogeyman is.
@SW-User Also the Taliban offered to hand over Bin Laden. They later in the same year 0ffered a surrender. But in both cases Bush wanted to be a war president because in the US even being a war criminal is good for your political career. And even if you ignore all that Bin Laden has been dead for 10 years. What is the excuse for the other decade?
Mktonght · 61-69, M
My only comment, you can not debate with liberals that are like sheep. The sad thing is that like a cult, they will buy into garbage that makes sense only to their minds.
So wasting your time arguing for not.
Your post was 100% right on, the threat is real and more dangerous now then ever.
ABCDEF7 · M
Now the war has changed its face. The weapons are different, instead of guns & bullets, they use social media, instead of killing bodies they attack on brain and damage the mentality of people. Because they don't want to destroy the physical nation now, they want to destroy your national pride and culture that makes you connected with your nation. If you can life in your nation and unconsciously work for their agenda, it is the best deal they can get.

Now you can see a rise in number of people.
1. Who hate their own selected government.
2. Who don't have attachment with their nation.
3. Who hate their own religion.
4. Who don't love their own culture.
ArishMell · 70-79, M
Yesterday the head of MI5 in the UK has publicly warned that the Taliban's coup could encourage extremists and terrorists both political and Islamicist in Britain, Europe and the USA.

The political threat at least in Europe is mainly from the far-Right; encouraged by the increasingly dictatorial far-Right governments in Hungary, Russia and Turkey.

(I think there is a difference between what Americans see as far-Left/Right, and how they are seen elsewhere, with 20C memories of all-too-real extreme-wing governments.)
Grvstu · 70-79, F
Yes but you obviously do not read between the lines like I do. Most of us with any sense know where the threat comes from. We also know he has to be politically correct to avoid upsetting certain elements. @ArishMell
ArishMell · 70-79, M
@Grvstu In what respect?

And you have not yet defined what you see as the "main terrorist threat" that is "obvious" to "we all"; nor where.

.

The extremist threats to the UK and European countries are from both Islamicists and far-Right political ideologists.

The extremists themselves are generally native residents of those countries; some groups, some individually (the "lone wolf" types).

The Islamic extremists tend to sympathise with ISIS' dream of its own version of the Third Reich; with somewhat similar attitudes to the original Nazis, Stalin's USSR and Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge.

The political ones tend to exploit fears raised by the ISIS types and by continuing, large flows of immigrants escaping wars, droughts and poverty in Africa and the Middle East. Some do admire Adolf Hitler's regime.

These have been known for a long time.

The warning from MI5 is of the Afghanistan situation encouraging such extremists in Western Europe.

Within Afghanistan, the Taliban may face problems from its rivals, ISIS, as well as domestic resistance; but if ISIS really causes trouble there I wonder if and how China will become involved. After all, the hard-line atheist Beijing government has announced its support for the hard-line theocratic Taliban. Just don't mention the tragic (Muslim) Uyghurs...

+++=

America has her own internal threats from her own versions of both far-Left and far-Right, arising from deep social and political divisions and problems within American life. Nevertheless, the 20th anniversary of the World Trade Center atrocity by Al Quaeda, being commemorated in the UK as well as the USA, will warn us all that she need still be well aware of external threats.

Meanwhile over here, our thoughts are with you on this memorial day.
Grvstu · 70-79, F
It does not alter the fact of where the main threat comes from. @ArishMell
windinhishair · 61-69, M
Domestic white supremacist violence is the biggest threat to our national security. Even Trump's national security agencies agreed with this assessment. The shift in focus is warranted and long overdue so we can address the real threats facing us.
Strictgram · 70-79, C
@windinhishair Delusional marxist.
windinhishair · 61-69, M
@Strictgram Are you talking about Trump and his national security agencies who concluded domestic white supremacist violence is the biggest threat we face right now? George W. Bush made reference to the current risk this weekend when speaking about 9/11. Are you a domestic white supremacist?
pdockal · 56-60, M
Unfortunately those in charge are focused on other things
Those of us who lived thru it do our best to remember and never forget
I just wish the way we came together after lasted longer but selfishness eventually won
DeWayfarer · 61-69, M
Right in so, so many wrong ways! 😔

The lesson of 9/11 was in 1976!

BTW which was CIA related!
SunshineGirl · 36-40, F
In 2019, there were 31 homicides in the USA linked to Islamic terrorism, compared with 14,419 from general gun crime. I think it's all a matter of proportion . .
Grvstu · 70-79, F
So no problem? @SunshineGirl
SunshineGirl · 36-40, F
@Grvstu Massive problem, but the immediate existential threat is overwhelmingly domestic terrorism rather than an external enemy.
Grvstu · 70-79, F
Nearly 3000 killed in 8/11 which may very well hapoen again?@SunshineGirl
Today is a day to remember the victims of both 9/11 2001 AND 9/11 1973, when the American backed overthrow of a democratically elected Chilean government led to the murder of thousands of civilians.
InHeaven · F
[media=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wUXGhLrDqb0]
cycleman · 61-69, M
not wasted at all. seems to create and hold hatred for others with great and sad extension.
LordShadowfire · 46-50, M
Actually, the lessons are wasted because people refuse to acknowledge the very high likelihood that it was a CIA black op.
@LordShadowfire I would say more like blowback from about 40 years of CIA games.
LordShadowfire · 46-50, M
@PicturesOfABetterTomorrow We know for a fact Osama bin Laden was trained by the CIA. I legitimately think Dick Cheney orchestrated it to get us more deeply involved in the Middle East.
This message was deleted by its author.
@CopperCicada That is pretty much the only way you could bring in a fission device and miniaturization makes it exponentially more difficult. There is a reason that even the first bombs were massive.

I am not disputing that. Just the narrative that a nuke is a likely threat. And my original post was that I think someone did cost/benefit analysis and decided slowing a port to a crawl for a 1 in a million risk was not profitable.
@CopperCicada I mean the mushroom cloud thing was literally what Bush used to scare the US into a pointless war.
Oberon1 · 61-69, M
@CopperCicada Trump tried. Biden Inc has us spending millions to leave it alone. They are literally paying millions a day in tax payer dollars to NOT build the wall. They are trying to destroy ICE, and all protective laws. The wall was very effective where it was built, and combined with electronic surveillance, and common sense leadership, it would have been an effective deterrent.

 
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