[RTO]

Don’t shoot the messenger... I had mixed thoughts about the deal, ranging in degree from your stated concern, to those of the other insights posted here.

RTO

[cmsgop]

Yeah, It was just a Tough Sell to the American Public overall, also how long would that arrangement last ??

[Attention Surplus Disorder]

Sorry, I didn't mean to shoot the messenger and I apologize if you took it that way. My arena of contention is strictly: "Is/was this a good idea?" It might have been. It might not have been. There was really no way to tell. But so soon after 9/11, even with the surveillance opportunities it probably would have created, it seemed to me like a very high-stakes gamble. Perhaps it was reactionary to nix the deal; We were entitled to that vigilance, IMO. Conceptually, it was astoundingly dissonant to grant a franchise to folks who had just attacked us. Given that so many of the 9/11 hijackers were from Saudi Arabia, a so-called ally; and given that with Islam, we are dealing with a culture that has demonstrated a ready willingness to shift allegiances over stuff we flat out do not understand, I don't think it was wrong to err on the side of caution. After all, a major theme of 9/11 was to turn our technology and infrastructure against us.