[GT40FIED]

One more time...with feeling!

1. Well I haven't really argued anything yet. If I were to argue something it would be that our government is at least just as responsible as the terrorists who carried out the attack because the government facilitated them, if only by lying after the fact. I don't know who's on that tape, but it's sure no Osama. Seriously...go look at it. The guy only bares a vague resemblence. And I'm not saying that ALL of the videos are bogus...just that one. That...and the fact that less than a week after the attacks Osama was quoted by a newspaper denying his involvement.

2. Again with the maybes. Maybe we didn't know who these people were. Maybe 19 guys slipped under the radar in a sea of over 300+ million other people. Maybe we DID know who some of them were and still fell asleep on the job. Hindsight is always 20/20, but you can't just go around spying on people who *might* want to do something bad without a damn good reason.

3. I don't disagree with the NSA or the DHS...I disagree with many of the actions of the NSA and DHS....especially the DHS. If you pay off your credit card in a large amount not consistent with your normal payment patterns, your payment will be held and reported to the DHS while they check you out. After all, the most dangerous thing of all is people paying down debt. Of course things can't change over the course of one month...but things didn't happen over the course of a month. What was the point of all of those war games if it wasn't to prepare ourselves? Dozens of people were given the chance to be on the look out...they fell asleep on watch.

4. It's only different in scope. We didn't pay attention to the christian terrorists because when have christians ever been violent (see: crusades, both inquisitions, and bombing abortion clinics)? If you think it's just two guys, again, you're wrong. We ignore a complex group of people we'd like to regard as crazies (see: The National Alliance, et. al) right here in this country who'd like to destroy the American way of life in favor of a group of people half a world away who'd like to do the same. Makes sense. Oh...wait.

5. Sure the jewish folks would retaliate...it's their priviledge to do so. It's such a shame we didn't. Oh wait...maybe we did. Maybe that's when we sent wave after wave of our troops over there and STOMPED THE LIVING HELL OUT OF DIRT POOR COUNTRIES. I could be wrong, though. There was an allusion in there somewhere...something about me being a pussy. Well, my diluted friend, if there's ever a time when I believe that my way of life or my freedom is truely threatened, I'll be the first one to pick up a gun and fight for it. The only people making such threats now are my own government...but they're empty threats. Don't mistake my non-war-drum-beating efforts to understand people as acceptance.

6. No...I really don't think we've thwarted much of anything in 5 years. This administration sure likes to pat itself on the back so I'm betting we'd have heard something. But hey...we sure did a bang up job protecting the USS Cole, didn't we? Oh...wait. I'm sure we've learned things. Things that will go in someone's folder and get locked away in a moldy basement until the next attack comes so we can claim that we had NO idea he would do that.

7. Then why are we even having this debate? If information against a terrorist is gathered illegally, we can't arrest him because the method of intelligence gathering is illegal. In that event, we wouldn't be able to arrest him until he physically carried out an attack (remember, you can't pin a conspiracy charge on someone with illegal info so arresting him before hand does no good). So in what way does any of this help?

8. You're right...it's not legal. And just in case, from now on all of my calls will contain the phrase "Dick Chaney is the devil" just in case he IS listening. That would kick so much ass.

9. I know you think Clinton was Satan because...well...all your Young Republican friends told you so, but really everyone gets the blame here...Clinton included. Everyone was operating under the pretext that nobody had the balls to attack us...much less 19 guys who were by and large from our friends in the Kingdom Of Saud. In that light,crucial reports got passed over and as a result our own people suffered the consequences. There's really no shortage of blame on this one. Sure...we've captured terrorists...but there will always be more where they came from. Waving some 2nd Lt. from Al Qaeda in front of a camera means nothing. That just means that the 3rd in line gets a promotion.