Is the US a safer place?

[CornishChris 5]

I heard a very recent Bush speech this morning on the radio down here in Australia. He closed by saying that despite the problems encountered in Iraq that the US was now a safer place because of the removal of Saddam from power in Iraq. Having never opened a thread in SC I thought i would today with the question:

Regardless of your political position regarding Bush and specifically going into the war in the first place do you think that this War in Iraq has made the US (a) a safer place by removing a significant threat or (b) think that it has incited further animosity and toward the nation and therefore made it less safe or (c) is it about the same?

I know it will be hard to comment on this apolitically but try to. I would be interested to know if you Yanks (and us Brits & Aussies if they want to answer on a view of their country) feel more at risk now or less, simple as that.

Edited to add - safer than before the invasion of Iraq

CJP

Gods don't kill people. People with Gods kill people

[tunaplanet 0]

I'll go ahead and give you the SITREP on this poll. All the liberals will vote, "no." Everyone else will vote honestly.

Forty-two

[jazzjumper 0]

Safer than what? Safer than when? It based strictly on opinion because there is no way to track it. Now, no more attacks have occurred on our soil, no US aircraft has been hijacked or brought down since 9-11. As far as everywhere else in the US, I think people are more prone to watch for unusual activity, and better, report it.

The nature of our free society has a security cost to it. The question is can anyone implement the appropriate set of enforceable policies that give US citizens and adequate amount of continental protection while limiting the infringements on personal rights.

BTW, if you aren't a US Citizen, you aren't automatically granted the same rights as a citizen would be. This is becoming more prevalent in US security issues.

No matter how good she looks, someone, somewhere is
sick of her shit!

[quade 4]

Tuna --

Why do you have "Forty-Two" as your signature?

quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

[Frenchy68 0]

The US is as safe as it was on September 10th, 2001.

"For once you have tasted Absinthe you will walk the earth with your eyes turned towards the gutter, for there you have been and there you will long to return."

[newsstand 0]

By going in to Iraq, a country that had no direct involvement and quite probably no involvement at all with the events of 9/11 we made it clear we were far more interested in securing territory which we would then use to keep an eye on the middle east than we were in capturing the individuals responsible for the attack. This made it very easy for the extremists to recruit and made it clear in the extremists eyes that the US is anti-Islam.

I am not saying that we are just that we have made it appear that way.

"Truth is tough. It will not break, like a bubble, at a touch; nay, you may kick it about all day like a football, and it will be round and full at evening."
-- Oliver Wendell Holmes

[wmw999 2,452]

Fortunately, tuna doesn't read what I write.

so, I guess then that tuna thinks that all liberals are dishonest. What about the conservative people who vote "no" or "the same" -- are they honest and think that we are in more or the same amount of danger, or are they really dishonest and liberal?

Does that mean that conservatives cannot have differences of opinion?

Man, this is fun !

Wendy W.

There is nothing more dangerous than breaking a basic safety rule and getting away with it. It removes fear of the consequences and builds false confidence. (tbrown)

[TomAiello 26]

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Tuna --

Why do you have "Forty-Two" as your signature?

Forty Two is the ultimate answer. Clearly you're not geeky enough yet.

Question: What do you get when you multiply six by nine?
Answer: Forty two.

-- Tom Aiello

Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com
SnakeRiverBASE.com

[quade 4]

Oh, if you disagree with Tuna, you're obviously a terrorist.

quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

[quade 4]

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Forty Two is the ultimate answer.

You mean President Clinton?

(I was -really- hoping for the answer to come from Tuna.)

quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

[rickjump1 0]

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Fortunately, tuna doesn't read what I write.

so, I guess then that tuna thinks that all liberals are dishonest. What about the conservative people who vote "no" or "the same" -- are they honest and think that we are in more or the same amount of danger, or are they really dishonest and liberal?

Does that mean that conservatives cannot have differences of opinion?

Man, this is fun !

Wendy W.

Wendy, I don't think we are any safer and I'm a conservative. Lots of border crossings by OTM (other than Mexican).

Do your part for global warming: ban beans and hold all popcorn farts.

[AggieDave 6]

Nope, 42 is the meaning of life as proven by the greatest computer ever created! Toobad the computer was destroyed before the question could be made known as well.

--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline."

[quade 4]

Come on Dave, did you really think a geek like me didn't know that?
I just wanted to push one of Tuna's buttons and it's taking a loooong time for him to respond.

His head musta 'spoded or sumthin'.

quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

[AggieDave 6]

Oh, you're flip floping now Paul...

I've done my best to keep from getting to the point on this forum of getting my buttons pushed. Quite a few things boils my water, but I make it a point to keep it from happening to me here on a website where my political stance will effect no one in a positve manner. No matter what I say or do, people will not change their political ideals. Since I can't outright call people stupid, I just poke fun and make jokes now.


/me waits for the new movie version to be finished up and put out in theaters...

--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline."

[quade 4]

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I've done my best to keep from getting to the point on this forum of getting my buttons pushed.

And that's pretty healthy.

Hey folks it's just the freekin' internet. Don't let your head 'splode.

quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

[diablopilot 2]

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Don't let your head 'splode.

Too late.


Ever see "Scaners"?

----------------------------------------------
You're not as good as you think you are. Seriously.

[billvon 2,995]

Perhaps you missed the first-ever anthrax attack against the US. Of course, if you consider being exposed to anthrax as being "safe" - well, by all means, feel secure! I hear they have a good deal on duct tape and plastic sheeting at Home Depot.

[CornishChris 5]

At the time of writing this the responses are exactly 13 each for safer and not afer and 2 for the same - surely that means all should just be the same

I suppose I should have clarified the timing on this. The question was is the US safer than before you went into Iraq? Will edit original post.

CJP

Gods don't kill people. People with Gods kill people

[Botellines 0]

For sure there is more animosity towards the U.S now than before. The question is if that iraki citizen whose family has been bombed and has sworn revenge can actuially do something to the U.S in his homeland. probably not. Although alquaeda, most likely will try to take advantage of those poor people. For sure, it is not any safer.
And no one can say that since no terrorist attack in the U.S has happened it is because it is safe. Nothing happen on Septeber 10 although you were not safe by any means.

[Erroll 80]

I wasn't sure whether this belonged here or in the "Mudslinging" thread. Probably both.

From CNN :-

A November win by Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry would put the United States at risk of another "devastating" terrorist attack, Vice President Dick Cheney told supporters Tuesday.

Kerry's running mate, Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina, responded by calling Cheney's comments "un-American."

[rushmc 23]

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By going in to Iraq, a country that had no direct involvement and quite probably no involvement at all with the events of 9/11 we made it clear we were far more interested in securing territory which we would then use to keep an eye on the middle east than we were in capturing the individuals responsible for the attack. This made it very easy for the extremists to recruit and made it clear in the extremists eyes that the US is anti-Islam.

I am not saying that we are just that we have made it appear that way.

Only because it is reported that way. Never has this country occupied another. At least in the way the libs mean it............

"America will never be destroyed from the outside,
if we falter and lose our freedoms,
it will be because we destroyed ourselves."
Abraham Lincoln

[chuteless 1]

No...the USA s not a safer place than at any time in history.

All September 11 did was to turn a theoretical possibility into a felt danger. It is a very realistic danger, and as VP Cheney, Robt Mueller FBI, and Rumsfeld all said, "We know they will get nuclear weapons, and we know they will use them. We just dont know where or when"

September 11 would suddenly become a distant memory. The event that changed the world would be forgotten when the world changed again.

The USA is already living in that new world, in denial, yet waiting for it to happen.

And it will.


Bill Cole D-41

[kallend 2,027]

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Never has this country occupied another. At least in the way the libs mean it............

Ever hear of the Philippines? Thought not.

...

The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one.

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[rushmc 23]

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Never has this country occupied another. At least in the way the libs mean it............

Ever hear of the Philippines? Thought not.

Germany, Japan.........

"America will never be destroyed from the outside,
if we falter and lose our freedoms,
it will be because we destroyed ourselves."
Abraham Lincoln

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[wmw999 2,452]

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No...the USA s not a safer place than at any time in history

Just thought of what I should have said yesterday. There is better security in the US. However, there appear to be far more people who are pissed enough at the US to consider doing something about it.

Just as the best security can't keep a determined burglar out of the house, the best security can't keep a determined terrorist out of the country.

So we're not safer; we've put signs on the house saying "bet you can't come in, ASSHOLES!!!"

Sounds like a challenge to me.

Wendy W.

There is nothing more dangerous than breaking a basic safety rule and getting away with it. It removes fear of the consequences and builds false confidence. (tbrown)