This pretty much sums it up:
"...But I bet that, if you blow up an American shopping mall and kill a bunch of innocent American kids and parents while they munch some Chik Fil A, or stand in line at Build-a-Bear or try on clothes at The Gap, a whole lot more Americans are going to reach the tipping point. The one where we say enough is enough, push the Instant Win button.Don't go there, Al Qaeda.
Don't test our patience.
We Americans invented fast food because we don't like to wait 10 minutes to eat. We invented the microwave because five minutes was too long. We're the land of instant coffee, Minute Rice, disposable diapers, and short attention spans. We like our comedies in 22-minute sit-com increments and our dramas wrapped up in an hour. We complain when our broadband connection takes half a second too long to load a web page, and honk if the guy in front of us doesn't floor it the instant the red light turns green.
Do you really think we have the patience to put up with you for a 20-year war in which you kill us with random attacks on our soil and we bury thousands of dead husbands and wives and sisters and brothers and moms and dads and children and then respond with pulled punches? We don't. We like quick results and - unlike you - in the War on Terror we have the means to achieve them via the Instant Win button."
I was ready to push the Instant Win button on 9/11. Thank the God/s you revere that I'm not the one in charge, and that more patient souls than I are in control of that little red button.
The fact is that Al Qaeda can plot and hope to hit us like that again. I think that it's quite telling that although there have been several alerts since 9/11, thirty-three months have elapsed since a terrorist attack on our soil. Some unsung heroes are doing a very, very good job of keeping us safe.
However, should al Qaeda succeed in their unholy designs and hurt more of us on our own soil, it will signal a death knell for them and thousands of their brethren. The elitists and apologists could whinge all they wanted to, but public opinion would swing vastly toward extermination.
Note to al Qaeda: you have been warned.
posted by Linda on June 22, 2004 10:52 PMUnfortunately, however, our short attention spans are responsible for all the whinging now about how long the whole Iraq “Occupation” is lasting. It’s sad really how quickly we change our minds once we realize that true work and effort are involved in any lasting change.
And I apologize for lack of real cognative thought. It's early, and I haven't had enough coffee yet.
Posted by: ethne at June 23, 2004 03:12 PMAll of this Islamic violence is causing me to look skeptically at all muslims. I know some muslims, who are decent enough people. But a friend of mine visited Cairo just after 9/11/01, and remarked on the difference in opinions stated by muslims in public, and behind doors in private.
In other words, if you know a muslim in the public sphere, do not assume you know him in the private sphere. That is what worries me.
Posted by: Pablo at June 25, 2004 08:07 PM