20 Years On.....

[ToraToraTora]

Knowing what we know now, what should the West have done in response to 9/11 and other atrocities?

[ummmm]

It's very hard to predict. I do believe they are working really hard behind the scenes.

[dannyk13]

TTT, what do you think should have been done?

[Bobbisox1]

I don’t think they could of done any more than they did Tora,
What else could we have done ?

[ToraToraTora]

I don't know danny, many quarters attest that everything that was done has merely fanned the flames of extremism in Islam. I was interested in what possible other approaches there may be.

[1ozzy]

Slowly slowly catchy monkey hasn't worked.
Bomb the daylights out of them?

[saintpeter48]

It seems like another Vietnam, its an unwinnable war and all we will be is throwing billions of pounds at it, sacrificing young men in the military and another 20 years on we'll be in the same situation that we find ourselves today.
Keep well away I say, let Afghans neighbours sort it out, we cannot be the police of the world, never trouble trouble until trouble troubles you!

[Untitled]

Assassinate/arrest Bin Laden and others directly responsible... i do not think it was necessary to occupy two countries to do this.

The air security measures adopted since 9/11 have been very successful even if they are a bit annoying. Probably the most effective single response...

Imo it would have been better to rebuild the WTC exactly as it was before as a big "eff-you" to the people who cheered when it went down... would have shown their actions as futile. I understand the need for a memorial but i think the place just feels like a big grave... gave those people exactly what they wanted.

Other than that... nothing. The extremist ideas which motivated the attacks are exactly that, ideas... you cannot kill an idea...

[Bobbisox1]

Lozzy the sad thing there would be the innocents that this filth hide behind

[Ellipsis]

Hindsight is a wonderful thing.

In hindsight, we (a US-led coalition) could have gone in with a 50-100 year plan to allow the nastier influences in Afghanistan to grow old and die, while "our ways" became embedded. This smacks a little bit of "empire" but ... what the heck?

Alternatively, we could have just gone in after Bin Laden then left when we didn't find him, or not even gone in at all.

We seem to have fallen between two stools. If I had been living in Afghanistan for the last twenty years, I'd be forever grateful for the 20 years that the overseas forces had given me. Those 20 years would be worth a lot to me. And I'd now be rather resentful at the sudden departure, and crapping myself for what the future held, and probably looking for a way out of the country. Or, at best, prepared to give it a few months to see how it went, and then look for a way out.

[roadman]

Not a lot of 911 makes sense / adds up. Maybe in the 20 years there should have been some kind of operation to look whether there is more to the story in the sense that it may have been an inside job / cover up. It's easy to blame radical Islamist terrorists it's even easier to get half of the country to be angry and more importantly scared about it easy recipe for manipulation and control of the masses to implement enhanced security and racial profiling as well as excuses to go to war but you believe what you want to believe and ill believe what i want no need to continue the debate one day it will all come out trust me and then we will see

[Untitled]

Bomb the daylights out of who?

The west has done its fair share of bombing over the last 20 years... certainly we killed some terrorists but bombing will not solve the root problem

[Untitled]

Oh dear a 9/11 "truther"... cringe...

[ichkeria]

There was little alternative in 2001 to doing what was done. Afghanistan was a safe haven for Al Qaeda training and planning attacks on the west.
I don’t think “what we know know” comes into it

[Untitled]

there is no reason to believe 9/11 was an inside job roadman... none at all.

[ichkeria]

What fans the flames of Islamic extremism is more the situation in the Middle East as that is an entirely different thing

[Untitled]

Is it really entirely different ich? I think the "war on terror" - of which afghanistan was the major part - had a lot to do with it

[douglas9401]

I've just had one of those moments, like when a hitherto completely normal person comes up to you in the street and asks 'Have you heard the good news?'.

It's scary what lurks behind the eyes.

[roadman]

LOL OK untitled LOL OK close your mind to free thinking and believe anything the American government tells you sounds a sweet and safe idea

Tragic event RIP but to close your eyes to all possibilities may be disrespectful to those who lost their lives if the truth does come out one day

rip the victims of the event

[ichkeria]

Yes it is entirely different.
2001 was an emergency security situation.
The risk of doing nothing was assessed to be too great.