Originally Posted by
QUERY
Regarding your 1st paragraph, I couldn't say. I'm not an intelligence analyst nor do I have access to any current intel on terrorism in the world.
Regarding your 3rd paragraph, I didn't state the U.S. was "uniquely vulnerable". I stated they(other countries) are not targeted like the U.S. is and, IMO, it was 1 of the most hated countries on this earth due to the previous administration. The other countries you listed, Australia, UK, and Spain, were our allies in the Iraq war. That is probably why they were targeted in recent years, though not even close to the magnitude of the 9/11 incident. Again, you took my statement out of context to make your own point. As for statistics, I'm not sure what that would do for you. There are many terrorist organizations in this world, all with their own agendas. If you are looking for a certain subset of terrorists that hate the U.S., then I would say that it would be the radical Islamic fundamentalists, who probably exist in several terrorist organizations. Israel is hated because it exists and is surrounded by countries that want to destroy it and its people. Because we support Israel, Israel's enemies become our enemies.
My point is that if there are that many people intent on terrorising the USA, as your third paragraph stated, they have lots of scope to do that without involving airplanes. Yet they don't.
Let's say someone broke into my house through the back door and stole lots of stuff. I replace what's been stolen, so I'm still a target for theft. And I earnestly believe that they'll try to rob me again. So I replace the flimsy back door with a double-steel door with three deadbolt locks and an alarm. But the front door still has the same simple lock that the back door had, and there's a window right next to the back door that's open all the time, and one side of the house just has flyscreen for walls. If nothing happens, does that prove that my super-strong back-door was a good investment, or just that the bad guys have moved on? Should I believe that I am more of a target for theft than my neighbors, just because I was robbed once and they weren't?
I'm not sure how you can say I took your statement out of context when I quoted the entire post. The question raised by
AngryMiller was why other countries were doing okay with less restrictive screening. You said
Other countries have less restrictive screening processes because they are not targeted like the U.S. is.
That implies that the US is different from every other country. Different from everyone else = "unique".
I think the whole "everyone hates us" line is a cop-out. In the early/mid-20th century, the US was (or perceived itself to be) the leader in economic power, in technological development, in political influence, in fighting for democracy, and so on. In the last few decades, it has fallen behind other countries in many of those areas. Instead of maturely admitting that it doesn't have to be first or best at everything, and finding a place in the global community alongside other countries, it's sulking in the corner saying "it's not fair; everyone hates us." If it can't be first or best or most loved, at least it will be most hated.
Bad things happen. Mature, well-adjusted adults, when faced with a bad thing, are in shock for a while. They mourn for a while. They go back and learn from the experience. They adjust. And then they move on.
Literature provides memorable examples of the opposite. Miss Havisham in Great Expectations freezes her life at the moment she's left at the altar. She wears her wedding dress until it's rags, and leaves the wedding feast on the table to rot. In the end she's a twisted bitter person who poisons the lives of those around her. Hamlet is so obsessed with his father's murder that he destroys 8 or 10 other lives before he dies himself.
Bad things happen to people; bad things happen to countries. 9/11 was a spectacularly bad thing. There was a time to be in shock. There was a time to mourn. There was a time to learn and adjust (new attitude to hijackers, reinforced cockpit doors, changes to intelligence sharing). And there's a time to move on. Or America will end up like Miss Havisham...