Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: michael97123 who wrote (40236)	4/20/2004 1:57:59 PM
From: carranza2	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 793955

After a 20k dead event, what will they say?? A great question, one of the best yet, and a point we all need to ponder because the odds of a 20k dead event taking place keep going up every day. My response: I don't truly know how I would react since such an event is so far out of my experience. I don't think 9/11 adequately prepared us for anything of that magnitude, particularly as it will undoubtedly involve civilians. I suppose my response would be dependent on a lot of factors, such as whether I suffered a personal loss as well as the location of the event, i.e., the US or elsewhere, and the manner in which the attack was carried out. I suspect that if the event occurred in the US, we would have a national debate on the proper scope of the civil liberties we all take for granted now so as to prevent something so horrific from taking place again. Would the Bill of Rights be suspended? Perhaps. Martial law would be in place for at least a limited period of time. Would we give in to the demands of the I-fascists? I suspect that some would want us to do so in order to avoid another calamity. We would be asked to stop all support of Israel as well as make a pledge not to rescue it militarily should it come under attack. In exchange for this, we would be promised peace. But the peace would not be a lasting one since we would get additional demands, i.e., exorbitant reparations, a pledge on our part not to take over the ME oilfields, some sort of exalted status for American Muslims, withdrawal of all our military assets from Asia and Europe, a pledge not to interfere with whatever new Islamic Republics might be created in the wake of our initial acquiescence, etc., etc. Our response to a 20K dead event, therefore, is to prevent it from happening in the first place. Our prospective response has to be one calculated to credibly instill the kind of fear that we have not been able yet to instill. I would do it by making it known in advance that any kind of mass calamity in the US will result in retaliation the likes of which the world has never seen before. All Islamic symbols obliterated, military assets demolished, funds confiscated, etc. In short, a threat of retribution so severe that moderate Islamic leaders would have to take the lead in the elimination of terror or face elimination themselves if and when a mass event takes place. There are things we can and should be doing now. The most important, clearly, is to eliminate our dependence on oil as an energy source.