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Was 9/11 really that bad? (I KNEW IT WOULD COME TO THIS)
Los Angeles Times ^ | 1/28/07 | David A. Bell

Posted on 01/28/2007 10:29:05 AM PST by paulat

Was 9/11 really that bad?
The attacks were a horrible act of mass murder, but history says we're overreacting.
By David A. Bell
January 28, 2007

IMAGINE THAT on 9/11, six hours after the assault on the twin towers and the Pentagon, terrorists had carried out a second wave of attacks on the United States, taking an additional 3,000 lives. Imagine that six hours after that, there had been yet another wave. Now imagine that the attacks had continued, every six hours, for another four years, until nearly 20 million Americans were dead. This is roughly what the Soviet Union suffered during World War II, and contemplating these numbers may help put in perspective what the United States has so far experienced during the war against terrorism.

[snip]

Has the American reaction to the attacks in fact been a massive overreaction? Is the widespread belief that 9/11 plunged us into one of the deadliest struggles of our time simply wrong? If we did overreact, why did we do so? Does history provide any insight?

[snip]

The people who attacked us in 2001 are indeed hate-filled fanatics who would like nothing better than to destroy this country. But desire is not the same thing as capacity, and although Islamist extremists can certainly do huge amounts of harm around the world, it is quite different to suggest that they can threaten the existence of the United States.

[snip]

Even if one counts our dead in Iraq and Afghanistan as casualties of the war against terrorism, which brings us to about 6,500, we should remember that roughly the same number of Americans die every two months in automobile accidents.

[snip]

So why has there been such an overreaction?

(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Foreign Affairs; Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: alqaeda; democrats; elections; terrorism; wot
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1 posted on 01/28/2007 10:29:07 AM PST by paulat
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To: paulat
It's because the Bush Administration has kept us safe, you moron!!!
2 posted on 01/28/2007 10:30:06 AM PST by paulat
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To: paulat
If you need to ask that question,pal,you'll never understand the answer.
3 posted on 01/28/2007 10:32:35 AM PST by Gay State Conservative ("The meaning of peace is the absence of opposition to socialism."-Karl Marx)
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To: paulat

What a gross distortion of the truth. Liberals are very good at that. What a strange way of looking at things. It doesnt effect them it doesnt matter too much. Sick cookies.


4 posted on 01/28/2007 10:33:29 AM PST by Lady GOP
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To: paulat

Hmmm.... Let's see. A terrorist act designed to take out as much of our government as possible is carried out. The same act is designed to disable aspects of our financial system. At the same time, 3,000 people are murdered in the attack--and for all we know they were actually trying to murder 10,000 or so--they just attacked too early in the day.
Hmmm...nope, no overreaction that I notice.


5 posted on 01/28/2007 10:34:21 AM PST by Clara Lou (John Kerry is scum. Feingold isn't much better. I guess I don't respect Democorats.)
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To: paulat

"history says we're overreacting."

We should have waited until the terrorists unleashed some WMD -- nukes or bioterror -- killing millions of people, before reacting. (/sarc)

If Clinton had reacted more strongly after the WTC bombing in 1993, maybe we wouldn't have had 9-11. THe terrorists will keep escalating, if we let them. I can see they are already promoting the new Dem policy -- the pre-9-11 let's keep ignoring terrorism one.


6 posted on 01/28/2007 10:34:29 AM PST by FairOpinion (STOP HILLARY! http://www.TheVanguard.org)
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To: paulat
Even if one counts our dead in Iraq and Afghanistan as casualties of the war against terrorism, which brings us to about 6,500, we should remember that roughly the same number of Americans die every two months in automobile accidents.

Interesting... It was the LA Times and their liberal leftist media sisters hammering every casualty number in our heads, to show how bad we are losing the war... BLAM ...and now it fits their politcal agenda to tell us, it isn't so bad at all... HYPOCRITES!

7 posted on 01/28/2007 10:34:30 AM PST by SolidWood (Sadr lives. Kill him.)
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David A. Bell, a professor of history at Johns Hopkins University


8 posted on 01/28/2007 10:36:54 AM PST by CTSeditor
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Comment #9 Removed by Moderator

To: paulat
Yeah, Bell, now that you mention it, I guess we did, as well, kinda fly off the handle a bit after Pearl Harbor...(/sarc)
10 posted on 01/28/2007 10:37:17 AM PST by GoldCountryRedneck ("Idiocy - Never under estimate the power of stupid people in large numbers" - despair.com)
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To: paulat

We are at war because war has been declared on America
twice by Muslims:

Aug 23, 1996 – formal declaration of war by Muslims against American military.

Feb 23, 1998 – formal declaration of war by Muslims against American population both military and civilian.

Then we were attacked by them on 911.

This is a war between the United States and Muslims.

Why do some people have such a hard time understanding this?


11 posted on 01/28/2007 10:37:53 AM PST by mjp
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To: GoldCountryRedneck
Yeah, Bell, now that you mention it, I guess we did, as well, kinda fly off the handle a bit after Pearl Harbor...(/sarc)

LOLOL!!! Isn't this guy incredible??

I'm sad to say, though, there are many people who think like him....

12 posted on 01/28/2007 10:39:40 AM PST by paulat
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To: paulat

So now the freak left thinks 3,000 souls killed by terrorists on 9/11 isn't so bad, but 3,000 soldiers killed in Iraq constitutes the worst war in history.


13 posted on 01/28/2007 10:40:14 AM PST by Proudcongal
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To: CTSeditor

And he also specializes in French history:

david.avrom.bell@gmail.com


14 posted on 01/28/2007 10:41:36 AM PST by jimbo123
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To: GoldCountryRedneck

Sure, its overblown. That's why everyone in the ME is scared of Iran and why we have to bring carriers into the gulf. Pay attention la la land.


15 posted on 01/28/2007 10:41:50 AM PST by ClaireSolt (Have you have gotten mixed up in a mish-masher?)
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To: paulat
97 Reasons Democrats Are Weak On Defense And Can't Be Trusted To Govern In Wartime

We're in a war. Something always goes wrong in a war, and our military leaders have made mistakes in Iraq. But quitting and leaving would amount to defeat for the U.S. in the global war on terrorism and create chaos. Quitters never win.

16 posted on 01/28/2007 10:42:00 AM PST by FairOpinion (STOP HILLARY! http://www.TheVanguard.org)
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To: paulat
OVERREACTION?

Damn all liberals!

17 posted on 01/28/2007 10:43:22 AM PST by LibKill (ENOUGH! Take the warning labels off everything and let Saint Darwin do his job.)
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To: paulat

Thank God Bush "overreacted" or those hypotheticals the author cites may have indeed happened.


18 posted on 01/28/2007 10:43:38 AM PST by Proudcongal
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To: paulat

Overreaction ?
I thought we were rather restrained.


19 posted on 01/28/2007 10:43:50 AM PST by 1066AD
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To: CTSeditor

Mr. Bell has clearly spent way too much time isolated in his educational surroundings. He's been thinking to much and not experiencing the real world enough.


20 posted on 01/28/2007 10:44:11 AM PST by Clara Lou (John Kerry is scum. Feingold isn't much better. I guess I don't respect Democorats.)
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