<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by suranyi:
I've never understood this. Why should the terrorists care whether we have to undergo increased security or not? In THEIR minds, I'm sure this has nothing to do with whether they consider themselves to have won or not. I mean, do you really think Osama Ben Laden cares whether we have to go through an X-ray machine?
In their minds, they will have won when we are either all dead, or all devout Muslims.
Ed
[This message has been edited by suranyi (edited 12-06-2002).]</font>
Terrorism is about destroying a way of life that they don't agree with. The ultimate goal may be death to us all but I am sure they take some pleasure in knowing that they have chiseled away many of our freedoms. Things that we as Americans took for granted pre 9/11.
The events of 9/11 have changed the way we live. These changes will affect us and many generations to come for a long time. Terrorists know this and think this is great.
What concerns me is how far we as a country are willing to take this. Terrorism is something that I believe can never be eliminated. It has been around for hundreds of years and will be around for hundreds of more years. We are fooling ourselves if we think we can win this so called war. Just like we think we can win the war against drugs.
We are fighting an enemy with no rules, no boundaries, and no country we can invade. No one leader that once killed will cause the rest of the structure to self-destruct. Terrorism is something I fear will be around for a long time.
I think there is one way that terrorism could be wiped out but it comes with a heavy price, it comes with the elimination of our personal freedoms. Will the government be so focused on winning this war that they there will come a time when they don't care what rights are violated or eliminated?
I do not consider myself an alarmists, I consider myself a realist. Let the deluge of criticism begin.
rawbert