OK, SmartyPants, what should we have done about 911?

[kentuck]

Since we now know that Bush invaded Iraq on a pack of lies. And all the bloody deaths in that forsaken land are on his hands. But what should have been done after our country was attacked on 911?

Should we have pursued Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan until we captured him? Would that have demoralized his followers if he had been captured? Would that have stopped further terrorism once they saw that we would go to the end of the earth to capture those that attack us? The lesson would have been that there is no place to hide?

But, somehow, we were diverted into invading Iraq and capturing Saddam Hussein. Now we are stuck in one helluva quagmire. What should have been our policy after we were attacked on 911?

[evil genius]

1. how about a massive invasion of afganistan

and the fortitude to lay blame where it belongs, instead of capitalizing on catastrophe and starting a new 50 year cycle of cold war between the west and the muslims?

[BurgherHoldtheLies]

2. Afghanistan was a must invade but we diverted our attention

OBL WAS the target and we let him go. Iraq was not the country associated with 911 and therefore should not have been attacked. Ya, Sadam was a "bad guy" but there are a lot of bad guys in this world. He was contained under UN sanctions.


Iran and Saudi Arabia had more to do with 911 than Iraq and yet we don't even adjust our policies against them.
As Jon Stewart says, Iran is only one letter off from where we attacked...an easy mistake.

[The_Casual_Observer]

3. How about having been heads up and foiled the plot before it happened?

What the fuck good did it do to invade that country? Are the "Bad Guys" behind bars now? do you feel "safer" did it protect your freedoms?

[SnoopDog]

4. You missed the point...

Bush planned the 911 attack so that he could invade Iraq. OBL is a friend to Bush.

If this was not the case, would you not think a real president would have done the following: 1) hunt OBL down and get him, 2) shore up all of our internal security such as our ports, borders, nuclear plants, chemical plants.

No, this was planned. It is just a plan for money, oil, and world domination.

[RafterMan]

6. If he did

the hijackers would have been Iraqis, not Saudis.

It doesn't wash.

[SnoopDog]

10. Why Iraqis? Who cares who he picked to do it...nt

[Cheswick2.0]

5. I would have treated terrorism like we always have before Bush

it's a crime and the criminals should be brought to justice in a court of law.

[noamnety]

7. For starters

We should have paid attention to the warnings, instead of ignoring, or deliberately covering up mistranslations of them.

We should have screened passengers appropriately.

We should have taken direct action at the time to find out how many planes were in the air.

We should have diverted, or failing that, shot down, the ones that refused to land or react to escort after the first attack (instead of reading my pet goat til they all did their damage, and THEN react by posing for photo ops).

We shouldn't have let people leave the country if they had any suspected ties to it.

We should have charged anyone responsible for covering up the mistranslations with treason, instead of firing and gagging the whistleblowers.

It's impossible to say what specific military or diplomatic actions we should have taken against any other countries, because our own country was so busy hiding and destroying evidence that we don't know who was really responsible. The first step would have been a legitimate investigation, which the Bush admin refused to allow.

We should have impeached Bush at the first sign of him stonewalling the investigation.

[htuttle]

8. Step one: Take the Taliban up on their offer to turn over bin Laden

Even if it's to a 'neutral country' (probably would have been Pakistan). If nothing else, we'd at least have a better idea where he was. Invading Afghanistan was PRECISELY what he was wanting and expecting us to do. It's is his 'home field', for crying out loud. All we had to do was present our case to the Afghans -- which isn't any more than what the US requires before we allow someone to be extradited from the US. It was worth a try, but we didn't try it.

Step two: Press down on Pervez Musharraf. Make him crack down on his I.S.I., or we pull our support and go to the Security Council regarding his coup. Tell him we'll sell advanced weapons to India if he doesn't cooperate entirely. India could be a huge help here, but we put our money on the little dictator in Pakistan instead.

Step three: Pull on all the money threads connecting to bin Laden no matter where they go -- even if they go to the Saudi Royal Familly. Work with the Russians on this regarding Saudi funding of Chechen rebels and the Chinese regarding funding of the rebels in Xinjiang. I'd be willing to bet they would cooperate.

Not saying the US wouldn't be kept busy doing all this, and I'm not sure it would work. I AM sure that it would NOT play into bin Laden's plans as Bush's actions have. And I'm also sure we wouldn't have lost all the goodwill we engendered after 9/11. Those two things alone would make a world of difference compared to today.

[Career Prole]

9. Why start "coulda-woulda-shoulda"s at reactions to the attack?

We shoulda gone into Afghanistan and dragged OBL out kicking and screaming.
But in the realm of coulda-woulda-shoulda, we shoulda been reacting to rather specific warnings of an attack in which case 9/11/01 woulda been just another day in NYC and DC. Buckfush.
:shrug:

[LynnTheDem]

11. 1. Allowed the Taleban the chance to hand OBL over to a neutral nation

as they said they would do.

IF they then refused to do so, we could have attacked. But BUSH decided the Taleban wouldn't hand OBL over to Pakistan for trial anyways so what point in even giving them a chance to do so. BUSH is an ignorant asshole.

2. IF the Taleban had reneged on their offer to hand OBL over for public trial, THEN attack Afghanistan and FINISH THE JOB that STILL isn't finished in Afghanistan, 3 years later.

3. Implement border and port security, fund first responders, start having ALL cargo at our ports & borders and airplanes properly inspected.

4. Make damn sure all airlines know; pilots WILL NOT open the cockpit doors FOR ANY REASON while in flight; that has been the LAW for years. It's very unfortunate they didn't bother obeying it.

5. PROSECUTE PROPERLY and BY THE LAW and WITH the world in prosecuting all people who were involved in the attacks; GERMANY has been UNABLE to prosecute some, because BUSHCARTEL have refused to hand over evidence that would have convicted them.

6. STOP the "the enemy of my enemy is my friend to be used until I turn on them" bullshit America has used as "foreign policy" for decades. Ie start WALKING the TALK America constantly spouts.

7. STOP overthrowing democratically elected governments, and START helping other nations WHEN THEY ASK us to, not when WE decide it's in our own interest to "help", whether they want us to or not.

8. Work WITH the world in ending the causes of terrorism, rather than bush's bullshit "with me or with the terrorists".

9. Realize that America is NOT the first nation to suffer terrorist attacks; Turkey loses an average of 3000 people every year to terrorism. The world does NOT revolve around America.

10. Understand WHAT terrorism is and what CAUSES it; there is NO SUCH THING as a "war on terror" or a "war on terrorism"; one is an EMOTION, the other is a CONCEPT.

11. When the going gets tough, THAT is when it becomes VITAL to uphold laws and rights.

Realize that that when it's difficult to take the high road and follow the rule of law by the letter, THAT is when it's MOST IMPORTANT to do so. It's EASY taking the high road when it's easy to do so; it's VITAL to take the high road when it's DIFFICULT to do so.

It's EASY to NOT TORTURE people and to ALLOW people their RIGHTS, when it's easy to do so; it's VITAL to NOT TORTURE people and to ALLOW them their RIGHTS when it IS difficult to do so.

Otherwise, everything we say we stand for is nothing but hollow easy words; fair-weather friends.

I think the above would have been a damn good start.

[judy]

12. First of all NOT SAY that 9/11 was an "Act of War"

It wasn't an Act of War. An act of war has, by definition to be perpetrated by a specific Nation State, i.e Pear Harbor attack.

I think (but what do I know?) that the only sane reaction to September 11th 2001, would have been to call it a Crime against Humanity.

#2: Investigate the attacks, and track down all the possible people connected to it. I mean track down the people who bought the put options on UAL, AA, and Axa insurance, and follow the money trail ALL THE WAY to the top. DO NOT assume that it is OBL without having proof.

#3: Once you have proof, start putting pressure on the Taliban to deliver OBL. Methinks that they would probably have delivered him. But remember "what part of no negotiation don't they understand" was what our fearless leader was repeating ad nauseam. Without the support of OBL, and the support of the USA, I also think that the Taliban days might have been numbered without having to bomb the country into the Stone Age. But remember, Afghanistan was not really about OBL, but about the TransCaspian pipeline. Remember?

#4: Once you have the perpetrators, or a reasonable group of them, start building a case to present in front of the ICC in the Hague. The point here is to first put Terrorism itself on trial. Then, (and I have to say I am against the death penalty) lock them up in isolation. I think it is OK to provide them with ropes or things that they could kill themselves with if they so desire.

#5: Pledge to support the United Nations, and unite Interpol and the CIA in a common fight against terrorism on all sides, in a law enforcement, NOT a MILITARY context.

#6: Stay the hell out of Iraq.

#7: Put 100% resources to achieve Peace in Palestine and Israel. Make sure these 2 countries are involved in the anti-terrorism task force.

That's my 2 cents...
(Edited for clearer formatting, and for appreciation of LynnTheDem's post :) )
There was a chance for World Peace, and the US did exactly the opposite of what should have been done.