the destruction of the World Trade Center and the violation of the Pentagon did send a giant message to the rest of the world that the United States is vulnerable.
Geeze, you make the Pentagon sound so... virginal. But the message sent is this:
1) If you're an organized group of pissants, we're the giant foot of doom.
2) If you're North Korea or Iraq or China, how amazingly easy it was to attack our military HQ, eh?
3) If you're the lone gunman psycho on the hill type, here's a fantasy that'll rock yer world.
But the latter was always with us and the message makes them neither more or less dangerous. Consider McVeigh and Kaczynski.
The first group is being dismantled daily and subsequent groups are gonna have to gloss over a lot in their recruitment campaigns.
The only significant difference is that group #2 has learned our defenses aren't foolproof. But again, any overt act on their parts brings a retaliatory strike far more severe than the non-nation of Taliban got. I don't think 9-11 made us any more vulnerable. I think it had two positive impacts far more important:
1) we're reassessing our weak points and strengthening them, with longterm shifts in strategic thinking that was long overdue, and
2) every government, friend or foe, feels way more vulnerable. And they worry about blowback from some of the groups they helped create. Which is why there's such a remarkable alliance at work taking down Al Qaida.
The angry reaction by the US towards the Arab world, the hideous revelation to Americans of how much the US is hated in the Arab world
A regular wake-up call to shake a new generation out of their isolation and self-centeredness is pretty healthy, imo.
I think the members of the House of Saud got a giant wake up call, too, and instead of being able to remain in massive denial, are being forced to look at things they wanted to ignore
Quite correct. And I thank Rudy Giuliani for making them realize it's not just a few troublesome Jews that dislike their approach to things. |
