The 9/11 Discussion Thread [merged]

RobbieFTW wrote:I know this was a question in the Sat 6pk thread but I think this deserves its own thread, with today being the anniversary.

Where were you when the towers fell? The radical extremists were despicable, but do you think their underlying message and concerns were valid and needed to be heard? Is the Afghan war that's still raging worth it after all these years and do you think Osama will ever be captured?

Now, to answer THIS question....I will NEVER say that we deserved what happened to us on that day. Because over 3000 innocent people were killed. Two that I knew personally. However, I would never call the terrorists cowards because cowards don't die for what they believe in. I know why they did it. They're still fucking despicable, but I know why they did it. I feel if they were going to attack something, the WTC shouldn't been it. You don't kill innocent people to get your point across. They attacked something that represented America and it's wealth, not the actual problem that they had with this country. Bringing down the towers and the Pentagon wasn't and isn't going to stop the real reason you have a problem with America and/or its politics. Will Osama ever be caught? I'd like to think so, but I don't know. How a country who has the strongest military (and boasts about it) in the world can't find some sick, life support dependent nut job who hides out in caves is beyond me. Add the fact that two years later, we go in and INVADE a country who had ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with 9/11 and FORGET about the real motherfucker who was responsible for the attacks in the first place is beyond me as well. Makes you wonder how much didn't our own people have to do with 9/11. Or whether bringing the real person to justice is that much of a priority.

This is kind of a sore subject for me because I'm part Arab and look it, and my dads side of the family is Muslim (even though I'm not). So even though I feel little Personal connection to the message being sent with the attack, it wasn't very comfortable looking the way I do at the time. I was a junior in HS at the time and heard some tasteless and downright racist comments from the other. Not so much direct AT me, but people who LOOKED LIKE me. So yeah me. There's a huge Arab population here and seeing the peaceful store owners and gas station attendants going out of their way to "make peace" with things like American flags for something they didn't even do so that their places wouldn't be vandalized was hard to see. The stories of middle easterners scrutinized at airports. Just not a very easy time because I felt like my people were under attack PLUS at the same time many American Muslims were still AMERICAN and also appalled and angry at their country being attacked as anyone else.

RobbieFTW wrote:I know this was a question in the Sat 6pk thread but I think this deserves its own thread, with today being the anniversary.

Where were you when the towers fell?

Nystyle709 wrote:I don't think that's the case at all. The reason people may hold 9/11 in a.....I dunno.....'higher regard' is because 9/11 wasn't a natural catastrophe. It was intentionally done to us and lives were intentionally destroyed. The tsunamis of Japan and India, the earthquakes of Japan and Haiti of course killed and devastated more people....but that has everything to do with Mother Nature. No human caused it and no human could stop it. So perhaps the mass deaths of people that died in 9/11 and in the wars hit more of a nerve than a natural calamity because we as humans caused it, we do it to ourselves, and it didn't have to happen. This Earth is 5.5 billion years old. Tsunamis, earthquakes, typhoos, cyclones, hurricanes and everything else has been going on before we got here and it's going to continue. So for us to hurt ourselves is more of a shame in our psyche. At least that's the way I look at it.

Nystyle709 wrote:I don't think that's the case at all. The reason people may hold 9/11 in a.....I dunno.....'higher regard' is because 9/11 wasn't a natural catastrophe. It was intentionally done to us and lives were intentionally destroyed. The tsunamis of Japan and India, the earthquakes of Japan and Haiti of course killed and devastated more people....but that has everything to do with Mother Nature. No human caused it and no human could stop it. So perhaps the mass deaths of people that died in 9/11 and in the wars hit more of a nerve than a natural calamity because we as humans caused it, we do it to ourselves, and it didn't have to happen. This Earth is 5.5 billion years old. Tsunamis, earthquakes, typhoos, cyclones, hurricanes and everything else has been going on before we got here and it's going to continue. So for us to hurt ourselves is more of a shame in our psyche. At least that's the way I look at it.

Supernova wrote:Gotta agree with the others, we didn't lose a lot of lives in 9/11 compared to in earthquakes and tsunamis and hurricanes, but the difference is those are storms and other natural disasters, this was an all out attack. The only thing that people (some trolls) compare it to is the bombings of Hiro and Nagasaki which still pale in comparison, add to the fact that we were already at war when those bombs were dropped, we were not at war when the buildings were destroyed, so I guess what there IS to compare 9/11 to would be Pearl Harbor because once again it was an unprovoked attack.

thepossiblepolice wrote:Thanks guys

So what about other countries, like in the Congo and places where genocide is happening right now, we barely hear about that, but it's intentional too...Is it because it's ongoing that it doesn't get listed with all the other terrible things?

Nystyle709 wrote:

thepossiblepolice wrote:Thanks guys

So what about other countries, like in the Congo and places where genocide is happening right now, we barely hear about that, but it's intentional too...Is it because it's ongoing that it doesn't get listed with all the other terrible things?

It's because the media chooses not to focus on genocide. They pick and choose what they want everybody to see and/or hear. And yes, the fact that it's located in Africa plays another factor in that as well.

TRENDING: Bush declines Obama invite to Ground Zero
mug.cnnpolitics By: CNN Political Unit

(CNN) - Former President George Bush has declined an invite to join President Obama at Ground Zero Thursday to mark the death of Osama bin Laden.

The former president instead wishes to remain out of the spotlight, according to a Bush spokesman.

“President Bush will not be in attendance on Thursday. He appreciated the invite, but has chosen in his post-presidency to remain largely out of the spotlight,” said spokesman David Sherzer. “He continues to celebrate with all Americans this important victory in the war on terror.”

Obama’s visit to the primary target of the 9/11 attacks will come four days after he announced bin Laden had been killed by U.S. forces in Afghanistan. Obama will also meet with families who lost relatives during the attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people.

A senior Obama administration official added to CNN that Bush "was invited but is not able to come. Which we of course understand."

Bush’s decision not to attend the ceremony comes amid statements from several of his administrations top officials that the former president deserves significant praise for the capture of bin Laden.

Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld applauded the successful mission Tuesday, but also highlighted the pivotal role their team played in the search for America's most wanted terrorist.

"It was also important that President Bush put in place counterterrorism strategies and policies, efforts that the military and intelligence have been making over the years," Rice told CNN's "American Morning" on Tuesday. "To work together better to achieve that kind of level of integration didn't happen yesterday. This is something that has been happening for quite a long time."

In a separate CNN interview on Tuesday, Rumsfeld praised the former president’s controversial decision to imprison several low-level Al Qaeda officials.

"It is those people that know the habits and locations of the senior people. It is a good thing that the people were held and that there were interrogations," Rumsfeld said. "That information was patched together over a period of time."

A recent Washington Post pew poll suggests Americans are giving more credit to President Obama than Bush for the killing of the most sought after terrorist

More than three out of four Americans said Obama deserves a great deal or “some” credit while 51 percent said the same about Bush.

Bush is expected to attend a ceremony at Ground Zero on the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.