Why are you widening the argument? im not defending America unconditionally and stop assuming so damned much, its childish and arogant.

Then please give me examples of wageing war for the sake of justice.

"I don't care what anyone's done in the past, at some point one nation or the other is going to have to be the "bigger man" so to speak and let it go and walk away, otherwise nothing will change."

That is so Gandhian! Blessings dear Amperage!

I was just thinking I wonder what would have happened if we did not even respond to the 9/11 attacks.

I wonder if it would have aggravated them even more, encouraged them, or done like the child who is ignored and they would have lost interest....I'll guess we'll never know.

Of course there are ways to respond without resorting to violence.

What does it show about hypocrisy, I meant.

It would have legitimized the operation among the masses. Without retaliation it would've been denounced throughout the world.

However, it would've also made the US seem impotent to the fanatics who orchestrated it and another, larger operation would have followed.

therein lies the problem. The system is such that when someone attacks a nation, that nation almost has to respond.

The problem is nothing will change until one nation rises above that. Until a nation is willing to "bite the bullet" as it were, and risk losing face with some, things will remain the same. But then again....that's sort of wishful thinking on my part

This all presupposes that other nations would care. Or would be willing to do the same. If they weren't, then it would certainty be a loss.

I guess we'll never know.

If this mentality was put into practice in the animal kingdom, such an animal would surely be destroyed/die/starve. But then again we are much more enlightened than animals.

Then again the problem is and always would be those wanting to take advantage of others generosity/kind ways.


I've heard it said that everybody dreams of a world of happiness and sunshine where everyone loves one another and trust one another.......one half dreams of living in that world, while unfortunately the other half dreams of exploiting that world.

You are attempting to treat the symptoms not the disease.
It is not about "not reacting." it is about not behaving in a way to provke an attack. If every American and American business was required to treat every human on the planet as if they were Americans with all the same rights, then we would not have half the problems we have now.

The reason we were attacked on 9/11 has nothing to do with the American People, it was an attack on American business that has been raping the natural resources of the arab world for the last 100 years.

If WE hold our businesses accountable, others won't have to.

thanks.

I think that was well said, however, such situations are never simply about how one side behaves or doesn't behave. The other side always has the option of how they respond. But in general I agree with the sentiment.

I think that was well said, however, such situations are never simply about how one side behaves or doesn't behave. The other side always has the option of how they respond. But in general I agree with the sentiment.

How unfortunate. The sentiment is nonsense. What provoked the attack was that America was interfering with Osama's attempt to establish a Caliphate. That cannot, and will not, be permitted.

How unfortunate. The sentiment is nonsense. What provoked the attack was that America was interfering with Osama's attempt to establish a Caliphate. That cannot, and will not, be permitted.

by "in general I agree with the sentiment" I meant that I think that if we take care of our own problems, we will cut down on a lot of the outside issues.

Obviously there were "reason we were attacked on 9/11" but that doesn't mean they were justified. But to say we played no role would be, of course, wrong.

But we were taking care of our own problems. The control of the Middle East by hostile forces would be a disaster for the United States, and for the rest of the first world (and even the third world).

hostile forces we trained and supplied during the cold war era....
and hostilities we helped perpetuate by keeping (corrupt)people in power whom the nations clearly didn't want(see Shah of Iran circa 1979 or so heck see South Vietnam) and using a secret police to arrest those who opposed simply because of our fear of communism and desire to control oil producing nations.


"....would be a disaster for the United States, and for the rest of the first world (and even the third world)."

I guess we'll never know. Have you ever seen the movie Minority Report? I wonder what side of the fence we each fall on some of the time. Would we arrest people before the commit a crime?

If the United States and the rest of the world were deprived of oil, it would collapse economically. We know that.

I'm not disputing this.

In fact I'm not disputing anything....including our actions. I just see that neither side is innocent.

How is the United States to blame?