McCain Aid: "Terror attack would help McCain"

[Jac Coyne]

Again, I'll voice my objection of Wikipedia as a source, however, if these were indeed the words accompanying the anthrax, they are fatuous enough to make me believe the author(s) was trying to appear to be a wacko Islamofacist; almost a little too hard.

With that said, it does seem odd that an individual, or individuals, would wait for that precise time to mail anthrax if it wasn't connected in some way to September 11, 2001. While I'm not entirely sold on this being a "terrorist" attack, per se, I'll shave a couple of months of an earlier post, with the original intent still intact.

Six years, seven months, and 14 days.

Also, the last I heard, the anthrax was being traced to an Army lab somewhere in the mid-Atlantic region, if memory serves.

Back to the original subject of this thread, I think there are a lot of age-old assumptions about both the Republican and Democatic parties that no longer hold true.

While I do think Republicans are stronger on national security than the pacifist/enabling Democrats, this administration and the previous GOP-controlled congress has done a poor job of centralizing the federal government -- something that was once a keystone of every Republican platform. Likewise, the Dems are no longer the champions of "blue collar" America -- once their key constituency. Dems now attempt to appease every fringe group with a bullhorn and a protest sign at the expense of the working class, thus spawning the reviled "Reagan Democrats."

[Dr. Jason Stockton]

I'm not convinced that invading Iraq stopped the Taliban from attacking us at home.

I never mentioned Iraq, for the record. I merely stated that there had not been another Islamic fundamentalist attack on U.S. soil since 9/11, and our government deserves credit for that. . .in my opinion. That's all. You may disagree with much of what our government has done over the past 6 years, 7 months and 15 days - but it seems they have kept us safe here in the U.S.

A government deserves criticism for their mistakes - it just seems people on the left refuse to give the current administration credit for anything they've done right.

Maybe that would be a fun challenge. Will any Bush-haters in this forum note one positive thing they think the Bush administration has accomplished? That might be a fun discussion. Can you cut through the hatred to acknowlege something positive. . .anything? GWB must have had one good day in the last 7.5 years???

And yes, I expect much sarcasm in response. . .

[jayjaciv]

Are they 12? Do we need to pat them on the head and tell them what a good job they're doing? No, off the top of my head I can't think of anything positive this administration has done. I'm sure there's something, large or small, but it's just been eclipsed by their multitudinous and monumental failures. It's my job as a citizen to criticize the government no matter who's in charge and I'm going to keep criticizing them. They hold enough dinners and galas and events to congratulate themselves. It's not my problem if this administration happens to make it easier to find fault.

On the topic of this administration making us safer because there have been no attacks since 9/11....wow. That is some real down-home self-reinforcing circular "logic." I consider it a failure on the part of the administration that the attack ever happened in the first place, but I'm willing to chalk that up to ".... happens."
How many massive terrorist attacks on American soil were there during the previous recent administrations? The USS Cole -which wasn't even on our soil- and...what? Timothy McVeigh? The birth of Paris Hilton (truly terrifying)?
That this attack occurred and that we have since lost many, many more people to terrorist attacks (but it's okay because it's Over There and not Over Here) is evidence to me that this country is less secure now than it was in any of the previous administrations.
You people are acting like terrorism was invented in 2001.

[FLALAX]

Zamboni_driver you are correct. The reference "God is great" is actually not accurate and was a tip about those letters being a forgery. True islamic speakers know that Allāhu Akbar means "God is the greatest" and it is used commonly in times of battle, stress, etc.

The usage here was questioned because is was not part of a Fatwa. Bin Laden, Al Queda, Al Queda in Iraq, the PLO have issued fatwa's justifying their violence in relation to their causes.

Read bin Laden's 1996 and 1998 fatwas and you will learn about the war on terror. Interesting reading and in some ways shows why this will never be handled as a police issue.

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/terrorism/i ... _1996.html

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/terrorism/i ... _1998.html

[FLALAX]

As to Iraq, that is a much larger question. did the US, Brits, France, Russians, US senate etc all say they had weopons of mass destruction etc and use force to remove them yes.

Did the US need to undertake nation building ala Marshall Plan in Europe and aid packages to South Korea and Japan post WWII? Is so can anyone name a better place?

Can anyone name a strategically better spot to put pressure on Iran? to protect the westernization that is occuring in Dubai, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, UAE?

How Iraq is viewed now and how its infleunce and success and or failure may not be known for generations. Travel to the region and speak to Arabs and the US presence there is not only overdue but appreciated.

[KnoxVegas]

$5.8 million for scientist in anthrax lawsuit

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Justice Department has agreed to pay $5.8 million to settle a lawsuit with former Army scientist Steven Hatfill, who was named as a person of interest in the 2001 anthrax attacks.
Hatfill claimed the Justice Department violated his privacy rights by speaking with reporters about the case.

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D91IL9QG0&show_article=1

He was the last one that I heard the government was trying to pin the 2001 Anthrax attacks, even going so far as to drain several ponds in Maryland looking for evidence of Anthrax.
http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/South/06/09/anthrax/

[Dan Warren]

I never mentioned Iraq, for the record. I merely stated that there had not been another Islamic fundamentalist attack on U.S. soil since 9/11, and our government deserves credit for that. . .in my opinion. That's all. You may disagree with much of what our government has done over the past 6 years, 7 months and 15 days - but it seems they have kept us safe here in the U.S.

The evil within the Bush Administration carry out the 9-11 attacks, start taking away our freedom and constitutional rights in the name of "homeland security", and invade Iraq. Then no more "terror attacks" happen, and they look like heroes. Brilliant....but I'm not buying it, and more and more people are starting to think the same way.

[More Cowbell]

The evil within the Bush Administration carry out the 9-11 attacks

...Seriously?

[Dan Warren]

yes

1) AWOL Chain of Command
a. It is well documented that the officials topping the chain of command for response to a domestic attack - George W. Bush, Donald Rumsfeld, Richard Myers, Montague Winfield - all found reason to do something else during the actual attacks, other than assuming their duties as decision-makers.
b. Who was actually in charge? Dick Cheney, Richard Clarke, Norman Mineta and the 9/11 Commission directly conflict in their accounts of top-level response to the unfolding events, such that several (or all) of them must be lying.

2) Air Defense Failures
a. The US air defense system failed to follow standard procedures for responding to diverted passenger flights.
b. Timelines: The various responsible agencies - NORAD, FAA, Pentagon, USAF, as well as the 9/11 Commission - gave radically different explanations for the failure (in some cases upheld for years), such that several officials must have lied; but none were held accountable.
c. Was there an air defense standdown?

3) Pentagon Strike
How was it possible the Pentagon was hit 1 hour and 20 minutes after the attacks began? Why was there no response from Andrews Air Force Base, just 10 miles away and home to Air National Guard units charged with defending the skies above the nation''s capital? How did Hani Hanjour, a man who failed as a Cessna pilot on his first flight in a Boeing, execute a difficult aerobatic maneuver to strike the Pentagon? Why did the attack strike the just-renovated side, which was largely empty and opposite from the high command?

4) Wargames
a. US military and other authorities planned or actually rehearsed defensive response to all elements of the 9/11 scenario during the year prior to the attack - including multiple hijackings, suicide crashbombings, and a strike on the Pentagon.
b. The multiple military wargames planned long in advance and held on the morning of September 11th included scenarios of a domestic air crisis, a plane crashing into a government building, and a large-scale emergency in New York. If this was only an incredible series of coincidences, why did the official investigations avoid the issue? There is evidence that the wargames created confusion as to whether the unfolding events were "real world or exercise." Did wargames serve as the cover for air defense sabotage, and/or the execution of an "inside job"?

5) Flight 93
Did the Shanksville crash occur at 10:06 (according to a seismic report) or 10:03 (according to the 9/11 Commission)? Does the Commission wish to hide what happened in the last three minutes of the flight, and if so, why? Was Flight 93 shot down, as indicated by the scattering of debris over a trail of several miles?

[Dan Warren]

and I don't expect to convert everyone to my way of thinking by a couple of posts, but I ask you to do a little research outside of the mainstream media like Fox, CBS, CNN, ABC, etc...there are plenty of good books filled with facts that do not support the "official conspiracy theory" that is spoon fed to you on TV.

just check into it without automatically thinking it is "crazy"...

[FLALAX]

Thanks for those last few conspiracy posts. I now have the neccessary material I have been longing for, someone's words or actions that are qualified for submittance to the Darwin awards. Granted, no one had died but those statements might qualify outside the normal criteria.

[Zamboni_Driver]

yes



2) Air Defense Failures

5) Flight 93
Did the Shanksville crash occur at 10:06 (according to a seismic report) or 10:03 (according to the 9/11 Commission)? Does the Commission wish to hide what happened in the last three minutes of the flight, and if so, why? Was Flight 93 shot down, as indicated by the scattering of debris over a trail of several miles?

I always love these when they come together under the conspiracy. If i understand the rationale, and we purposely had our Air Force fail, then how did we shoot down Flight 93? If we are to agree to certain parameters we have to apply them consistently and not overlook them when it fits a second plot in the story. Thus if we had our air defenses on standby and still shot down the plane, we are awful at carrying out our own pre-meditated attack on ourselves.

[LaxRef]

Thus if we had our air defenses on standby and still shot down the plane, we are awful at carrying out our own pre-meditated attack on ourselves.

That's the most believable part of the whole conspiracy theory thing yet!