Osama Bin Laden won. Before most people realized what the Patriot Act really was, I downloaded the paper and read it in it's entirety. I did a report on it. How I wish we only had what it was suggesting. The world is much worse off since then, My teacher did say some of my argument was slippery slope and would never happen. Ha!
While I understand that the assertion "Osama bin Laden won" can trigger a lot of arguments, if we narrow the claim to: 9/11 => profound and lasting changes to the entire world, then I think it's essentially correct.
> The Supreme Court is the only institution in our system capable of standing up for the rule of law, fundamental rights, and the separation of powers. Just because it is doing a bad job does not mean we should weaken its powers further.
Dred Scott. Plessy. Bush v Gore. Citizens United. The court has worked against our values just as frequently as it has upheld them throughout the history of this country. Fundamental reform is required if we are to avoid these sort of nonsense decisions in the future.
Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11; the Afghanistan war gave control back to the Taliban. SEAL Team 6 got Bin Laden, but what about the other terrorists like him out there?
I do wonder if George W. would have figured out some reason to topple Iraq. He had a grudge against the Saddam regime from before he was elected. That war felt inevitable once the Supreme Court got involved in the election.
I also wonder how history would have played out if we had President Gore.
The grudge was for trying to assassinate his father. IIRC, one of the soldiers attending Saddam's hanging at Camp Justice got a call on his cell phone moments before the execution and gave the phone to Saddam. Who do you think was on the line?
The provisional government that was hopelessly corrupt and incompetent, although it is arguable that they were ever in charge in any practical sense. That government was a good example of how not to do nation building.
Osama Bin Laden won. Before most people realized what the Patriot Act really was, I downloaded the paper and read it in it's entirety. I did a report on it. How I wish we only had what it was suggesting. The world is much worse off since then, My teacher did say some of my argument was slippery slope and would never happen. Ha!
lol, me too. I still have the paper i wrote from 20+ years ago on this subject.
A CIA plant won? Say more.
> Osama Bin Laden won.
While I understand that the assertion "Osama bin Laden won" can trigger a lot of arguments, if we narrow the claim to: 9/11 => profound and lasting changes to the entire world, then I think it's essentially correct.
https://archive.is/N9SlM
> The Supreme Court is the only institution in our system capable of standing up for the rule of law, fundamental rights, and the separation of powers. Just because it is doing a bad job does not mean we should weaken its powers further.
Dred Scott. Plessy. Bush v Gore. Citizens United. The court has worked against our values just as frequently as it has upheld them throughout the history of this country. Fundamental reform is required if we are to avoid these sort of nonsense decisions in the future.
> Fundamental reform is required if we are to avoid these sort of nonsense decisions in the future.
"Fundamental reform is required if we are to avoid decisions that I disagree with in the future."
Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11; the Afghanistan war gave control back to the Taliban. SEAL Team 6 got Bin Laden, but what about the other terrorists like him out there?
If there was no 9/11, there would be no carte blanche from congress to Bush to send the military off on whatever crusade.
Well before 9/11, US troops were intervening in Somalia, Yugoslavia, Bosnia, Iraq, Haiti, Panama, Libya, Lebanon and Grenada.
I do wonder if George W. would have figured out some reason to topple Iraq. He had a grudge against the Saddam regime from before he was elected. That war felt inevitable once the Supreme Court got involved in the election.
I also wonder how history would have played out if we had President Gore.
If we had President Gore we would have done a lot more and a lot earlier re: climate change. Probably the biggest missed opportunity in our lifetime.
The grudge was for trying to assassinate his father. IIRC, one of the soldiers attending Saddam's hanging at Camp Justice got a call on his cell phone moments before the execution and gave the phone to Saddam. Who do you think was on the line?
Would you mind sharing some sources re: Saddam answering a call moments before being hanged? Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence…
Probably didn't happen. Here's some material detailing that day; https://www.dawn.com/news/amp/589198
Invading Iraq was always part of the neocon agenda. 9/11 provided a useful pretext, but it was always going to happen.
> the Afghanistan war gave control back to the Taliban
I'm very confused. Who was in control before?
The provisional government that was hopelessly corrupt and incompetent, although it is arguable that they were ever in charge in any practical sense. That government was a good example of how not to do nation building.
Right but that government got put in charge after the US-led invasion and war. Before the war the Taliban was already in power.
> the Afghanistan war gave control back to the Taliban
At least the Taliban tends to be relatively isolationist.
> what about the other terrorists like him out there?
A lot of them are funded by Iran.
The other terrorists like him out there use US tax money to blow up Palestinians.