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That contradicts the evidence. Tom Send a noteboard - 20/09/2011 06:15:48 PM
The United States had multiple opportunities in the 1990s to go against al Qaeda. At one point, as we all remember, Sudan wanted to hand him over to the US but we said "no".

The United States was not concerned, primarily, with terrorism. International organizations like al Qaeda were significant enough to discuss, but certainly not to actually attack. When Bush got his first national security briefing, he was told that the threats to the US were, in order of danger: (1) China, (2) Iran and North Korea nuclear programs and (3) al Qaeda. Of these threats, al Qaeda was the most ephemeral - no organization can maintain the level of excitement and fervor to sustain long-term activities of this nature.

Looking at previous statements and incidents (like the spy plane the Chinese forced down) it is clear that the Bush administration was looking elsewhere. The war on terror strained a lot of relationships that had no problems. The old maxim of "if it isn't broken, don't fix it" comes into play. Why would the US want to expend so much political, economic and human capital tracking down a group of terrorists? Bush himself even alluded to this in his "million dollar missile into a ten dollar tent" statement.

9/11 also did a lot of damage to the US economy. Why would a President or anyone else in the government intentionally sabotage their means of making money?

Iraq certainly became a target of opportunity immediately after 9/11, and that fed into the US concern about Iran (I am certain the idea was to have bases in Iraq in the long term). However, conspiracies are very difficult to maintain. People talk. Look at wikileaks. Look at the Pentagon Papers.

If I had ever heard anything that made any logical sense, I would have at least given that version of events credit as "plausible".
Political correctness is the pettiest form of casuistry.

ἡ δὲ κἀκ τριῶν τρυπημάτων ἐργαζομένη ἐνεκάλει τῇ φύσει, δυσφορουμένη, ὅτι δὴ μὴ καὶ τοὺς τιτθοὺς αὐτῇ εὐρύτερον ἢ νῦν εἰσι τρυπώη, ὅπως καὶ ἄλλην ἐνταῦθα μίξιν ἐπιτεχνᾶσθαι δυνατὴ εἴη. – Procopius

Ummaka qinnassa nīk!

*MySmiley*
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We really need to have Logic as a course in high schools. - 20/09/2011 06:50:36 AM 1381 Views
Logic classes would be good in schools. - 20/09/2011 10:23:56 AM 919 Views
Ugh. - 20/09/2011 11:30:59 AM 954 Views
Re: Ugh. - 21/09/2011 12:03:31 AM 874 Views
this is a controlled demolition - 21/09/2011 12:20:09 AM 997 Views
That is an incredibly stupid argument. - 21/09/2011 01:12:38 AM 933 Views
Asking questions is never wrong. - 20/09/2011 12:22:22 PM 841 Views
Re: Asking questions is never wrong. - 20/09/2011 11:57:04 PM 1001 Views
Agreed - 20/09/2011 01:09:40 PM 880 Views
There is compelling evidence that 9/11 was not what it seemed - 20/09/2011 03:06:58 PM 935 Views
No, there is not. - 20/09/2011 03:19:43 PM 1026 Views
Well, the circumstances were odd at least - 20/09/2011 03:26:40 PM 907 Views
As far as conspiracies go ... - 20/09/2011 03:36:35 PM 1007 Views
what would be the motive for the US doing something that stupid? - 20/09/2011 04:40:31 PM 822 Views
I'm not sure you got my gist. - 20/09/2011 04:46:28 PM 867 Views
I don't think there is any evidience that Bush wanted to attack Iraq before 9-11 - 20/09/2011 05:21:09 PM 882 Views
Um. Well, sure, that would be true. If you ignored all the evidence. - 20/09/2011 05:45:23 PM 946 Views
Well if you had argued that some Bush advisers wanted to attack Iraq I would have agreed - 20/09/2011 06:35:07 PM 922 Views
But that's what I DID argue. - 20/09/2011 06:47:17 PM 902 Views
sorry but you need to be more precise in your terms - 21/09/2011 02:37:36 PM 939 Views
I've always seen them as separate. - 21/09/2011 03:33:14 PM 766 Views
and that is why I decided to drop it - 21/09/2011 04:07:02 PM 933 Views
Heh. - 21/09/2011 04:15:34 PM 873 Views
And the explicit statement of a Bush Cabinet member. - 21/09/2011 06:59:47 AM 1001 Views
I'm still annoyed. - 21/09/2011 01:58:38 PM 806 Views
Admitting error is a sign of weakness; Don Draper said so. - 21/09/2011 05:37:31 PM 845 Views
In addition: - 20/09/2011 05:57:33 PM 1010 Views
sorry but that is nothing more than a simple statement of fact - 20/09/2011 06:40:51 PM 948 Views
This is very frustrating. - 20/09/2011 07:05:48 PM 899 Views
For the war on terror? - 20/09/2011 04:49:12 PM 946 Views
And what was the war on terror supposed to accomplish? - 20/09/2011 05:12:11 PM 889 Views
That contradicts the evidence. - 20/09/2011 06:15:48 PM 915 Views
Excuse me? - 20/09/2011 08:22:21 PM 974 Views
Huh? - 20/09/2011 08:57:14 PM 950 Views
the problem with any other theory is the make no sense - 20/09/2011 04:36:02 PM 869 Views
Contemplate this.... - 20/09/2011 04:27:52 PM 898 Views
You just did not go Star Trek on me - 20/09/2011 04:44:28 PM 914 Views
And how did you know... - 20/09/2011 05:17:10 PM 997 Views
Re: And how did you know... - 21/09/2011 12:16:26 AM 989 Views
humans tend to be very bad at critical thinking - 20/09/2011 04:58:43 PM 852 Views
Won't help - 20/09/2011 08:15:36 PM 927 Views
Make 'em all take debate. - 20/09/2011 08:23:37 PM 870 Views
Would madam like a cane? - 20/09/2011 09:19:53 PM 1016 Views
Maybe a walker with tennis balls on the bottom. *NM* - 20/09/2011 10:33:39 PM 420 Views
Do you think it would help? - 21/09/2011 12:09:42 AM 869 Views
Re: We really need to have Logic as a course in high schools. - 21/09/2011 12:10:08 AM 898 Views
Yeah, and the 100,000 pounds of sudden extra weight slammed into the towers at 400 mph...? - 21/09/2011 01:05:18 AM 885 Views
Not actually the best example - 21/09/2011 01:56:03 AM 862 Views
what about the hole it cut into the frame of the building? - 21/09/2011 03:23:07 AM 893 Views
Wouldn't make much difference - 21/09/2011 04:08:27 AM 900 Views
OK thanks *NM* - 21/09/2011 02:55:52 PM 466 Views
Re: Yeah, and the 100,000 pounds of sudden extra weight slammed into the towers at 400 mph...? - 21/09/2011 03:02:19 AM 919 Views
But how else would they fall down? - 21/09/2011 07:42:27 PM 786 Views
You would force Euler on to the masses? - 21/09/2011 03:21:40 PM 946 Views
You could still argue. - 21/09/2011 04:06:51 PM 818 Views
I didn't mean to imply that it is no fun to argue with a like-minded person - 21/09/2011 04:15:47 PM 841 Views
Eh, nobody uses pure logic all of the time anyway. - 21/09/2011 10:43:51 PM 911 Views
Or they could just do more math. Cold, hard, beautiful math. - 21/09/2011 04:01:05 PM 823 Views
I love geometry proofs. - 21/09/2011 04:10:57 PM 961 Views
Me too <3 proofs! *NM* - 21/09/2011 07:55:38 PM 450 Views
For pure enjoyment, here's a non math version. - 21/09/2011 10:10:40 PM 865 Views
+1 *NM* - 21/09/2011 07:59:57 PM 393 Views
Now we are talking... Everyone can benefit from some basic Euclid. - 21/09/2011 08:32:17 PM 1087 Views
Ha. Ha. - 21/09/2011 09:56:38 PM 883 Views
As a follower of Cthulhu, I strongly disagree. - 21/09/2011 11:13:55 PM 1067 Views

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