While I am definitely a person of the mind frame typically that thinks "there is nothing more complex then avoiding the obvious"
I still clearly think you are being overly simplistic regarding the issue above (17 terrorists were Saudi, therefore no Saudi's should be coming here to the States).
That just isn't how the world works today. Again, the first thing serious adults have to do (in any aspect of life) is to make choices from options that are actual available to them (wishing for pie in the sky solutions...isn't one of those).
The Saudi situation is much like the situation in Pakistan (again, to a degree) in that the leaders of these nations have to do somewhat of a balancing act to stay in power.
With that said, that does not mean we are just allowing "anybody" from Saudi (or other ME countries) into the United States. That just isn't the case.
In this WOT our CIC has steadfastly lead our nation and the World. Since Sept 11th, our enemies have suffered one strategic defeat after another...we have not suffered one. Yes, we most certainly are taking this WOT very seriously (that doesn't mean one has to agree with every aspect of how it is being implemented).
But as I said before, I believe this is a time in our history to stand shoulder to shoulder with our CIC and say come hell or high-water I'm going to fight and see this war through. (that doesn't mean I agree with everything some of those fools in the GOP Congress do...not by a long shot...but on the whole this CIC cannot afford to have the ilk of the Democrat party hold a majority in either chamber of Congress).
Dev, it truly baffles me how a person can lay out information in a very simple manner and someone else cannot understand the significance of that information. We lost 3000 people, three trade center buildings and four 747 aircraft, but you blithley tell me the world just doesn't operate in a manner where we can chose who will or won't enter our nation.
Then you have the gaul to make reference to adult vs childish perceptions to boot.
We have twenty thousand Saudis entering this nation this year, and you evidently think we have all the manpower needed to run exhaustive background checks on each of them.
I don't think we do. I don't think we even make an attempt to check them all out. And furthermore, I don't think we have a chance in hell of keeping tabs on 20,000 individuals.
I simply cannot fathom why you would want to take another chance like this, after the price we paid four and a half years ago. What would it take?