I just think it's sad that so many innocent people have died during that day. Moms, Dads, Sister, brothers and more all died. I could not imagine how much pain people went through. It makes me so sad and almost makes me feel like crying! I mean, imagine if your mother or father died and you wish you could have at least told them "Goodbye" before they died. It's so sad how there are always war, fighting, and killing going on. This world needs peace and love. Not hatred. It's just so sad.

That is in a nutshell utter bollocks. The United Kingdom has been the victim of more terrorist attacks on its territory than America has. In 1984 the IRA blew up a hotel our then Prime Minister was in, destroying the bathroom of her hotel room but leaving her unharmed. They still managed to kill 5 people. In 1979 the IRA assassinated Lord Mountbatten, uncle of the Duke of Edinburgh, consort of the Queen. The British are far from ignorant about the threat of terrorism, in fact we are far more aware of both the effects of terrorism & both tactics which failed & those which worked & brought the IRA to a cease-fire & ultimately disarmament.

Draconian tactics against Republicans in Ireland ultimately failed. But that's neither here nor there on this topic. Iraq had the square root of fuck all to do with Al Qaeda. Saddam Hussein was loathed by Bin Laden. Now Al Qaeda are firmly established in Iraq & waging their Jihad against the Shi'ite majority along with those who are trying to establish some sort of vaguely stable democracy. The west fucked up in Iraq. Saddam Hussein was a shit of a human being but far more civilians have died post the Western invasion (& notice how I'm saying Western & not US? Because this isn't about petty nationalism. My country waded in without thinking too, as America's wee lapdog. So did plenty others) than would have if we left him in place. Hundreds of thousands of innocents just trying to get by in life. Invading Iraq for no reason has also increased anti-American/Western sentiment (& so increased support for Al Qaeda) in various other Islamic nations like Yemen, Saudi Arabia & currently Pakistan is spiralling into chaos. The post 11/9 reaction has been nothing short of a clusterfuck.

And even if you accept that going into Afghanistan on the basis that the Afgahni government weren't willing to hand over the perpetrators of the atrocities (well in fairness, you didn't have an extradition treaty with them, you didn't even recognise them as the legitimate government of Afghanistan!) you can't deny the mission has been a mess. From the off the American military forces were poorly equiped & lacked the appropriate training in a campaign that would involve winning support from local people who are fiercley independent & essentially tribal in nature: winning hearts & minds as they call it.

What on earth was the point?

And on top of that, what is the point of being proud of where your parents decided to bring you up? Be proud of something you actually did, reflecting in other peoples glory is just odd.

Well see, this is called the "Serious Debate" forum. "Debating is a formal method of interactive and representational argument." In essence, you add nothing to a debate if you state yes or no without some reasoning behind that yes or no.

Not strictly true. You could, if you were arguing "for" the motion, "Can a debate be settled with a single word response?"

Then you lose. If the answer is no, then you must elaborate. By merely answering no, you have actually agreed to the motion, and thusly, have answered yes. Your no was a yes.

Then why the shite did you quote me?

Was pointing out that your "see how easy that was" line was pointless & added nothing to the discussion, that's all. Nobody cares what your opinion is. But they might if you can justify it well enough. Also, yes you did take part in the thread previously. Lets recap what you said.

Post 1, the general jist was I agree with Raph. Raph saying "I don't blame the families of people who died for being sad on a time like that, but do they have to talk about it and make countless of mentions and specials on TV and everywhere else?".
Post 2, "We got attacked. Were we supposed to sit back and not do anything?" You then basically stated that discussion about it was pointless because it happened. Which is a daft position to take in an internet discussion but OK. Also some odd mention about how war was coming anyway? Which...I have no idea where you get the idea that NATO was planning on toppling the Taliban. Speechless.
Post 3, "How we chose to remember that day is our business." An odd contradiction with Post 1s general "get over it" vibe.
Post 4, "So I'm gonna actually answer the question of the thread with a simple response; Yes."
Post 5, The post that I've quoted above.

Now, after reading all that, it proves that actually no, you have not stated your reasoning for WHY you think 11/9/01 could have been prevented. Now I'm not trying to discourage you from entering these discussions, the more the merrier, but if you are going to accuse someone as anal of me as having not read the thread in its entirity (how I browse is thus. Read a thread. Decide to comment or not. Next time I come on I read on from where I last read. So yes, I may forget something that was said 2 or 3 days ago, though I didn't in this instance. But I have read everything that was written in this thread & most threads in the Serious Debate forum, whether I have contributed to them or not) then you probably need to make sure your accusation is on the money. And like I said, extrapolate on your point, on why you came to that conclusion.

And GK, while technically you'd be right, I can't imagine that being the most interesting debate of all time. :P Certainly not one that would pass for "serious" debate in my book either!

Edited by user 15 September 2011 13:41:52(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified