">>"Is Homeland Security really so good that it has prevented a whole slew of attacks?"
>Maybe it's worth the billions being spent on it.
Well, maybe... on a positive note, it's also prevented attacks from UFOs and Yetis (or Sasquatches if they were domestic)."
If you are inclined to believe in such things, yes perhaps. Also, probably had some affect on drug trafficing. And the emigration scams.

<snip>
">A bit wistful?? Maybe because we are at war with terrorists. The Japanese didn't really >effectively attack the West Coast after Pearl Harbor. And lost the battle when they tried to> >attack the tiny island of midway.
>Why not?
Wistful?? I strongly resent that. "
Ok, sorry, I thought you might be more radical- though I did "?" the "?".

"Comparing WWII events with terrorist activity makes no sense. Japan didn't send agents into the US (and would have had a hard time doing so with internment and a relatively small Japanese-American population at the time). I don't have any info on it but I suspect there were no major plans to do so."

Oh, I think you quite wrong about this, it's pretty standard practice in any war.

"Japan's motivations and plans were vastly different from those of Islamic terrorists."
Not really. Different in that Japan was a state and terrorists aren't- but both were trying to recapture the past imagined glories. Both were divine wars. Both had no tolerance for the "infidels type"- bigotry/racism.

">>"Is Bush's anti-terror campaign that effective?"
>The thought is kinda of scary isn't it?
"It would be wonderful if it were so. Might make it all worthwhile. I don't believe it for a minute though, if only because the logistics of a perfect defense are impossible... ala Reagan's Star Wars."

The point is to harden the target, not make it completely bomb proof.
The "soft" target is over in Iraq.

">>"I think that only an omnipotent god squarely on your side could have prevented such things >>from happening IF THERE WAS A PERVASIVE AND SERIOUS THREAT."
>>
>Oh my, a lefty believing in God, now things are really getting really bad.
That was pathetic. Firstly, I said god not God. Secondly, I never said anything about beleiving in either. Thirdly, I would think a majority of "lefties" believe in God."

A god is not omnipotent, God is. And no most Lefties don't believe in a omnipotent god; gods, maybe if they aren't completely & utterly arrogant.

<snip>

>>"Does America need enemies so badly that it has to invent them?"
>Like for instance, the Lefties saying Bush is worse than Hilter- apparantly some Americans >need to invent enemies.
Huh? I for one have never said anything of the sort. I think he's worse than a lot of other recent US presidents, but Hitler isn't even in the same realm of comparison. I'm not an American, and I don't need to invent Bush et al... unfortunately they are already there.

Oh yeah, I forgot you are a Canadian. It's a different world up there.

">>"And what really drove the 9/11 hijackers? "
>A few turbine jet engines.
That was funny, in a twisted sort of way, I'll give you that.

But what did the hijackers or their puppet masters intend to be the result of the attacks? "
I think OBL made that quite clear is his various public speeches- but besides that, just a power mad fool.

"Terrorizing the US population? Worked for a while, but it also united them against terrorists, as most anyone could have predicted. If the goal was to terrorize people, a large number of much smaller, less difficult attacks would have done a better job... see the Washington sniper, terror resulting from a couple of idiots with a rifle and no real motivation or plan. If such attacks had occured all over the US, for months, the population would have been terrified, you bet. As I said, didn't happen."
Look, Japan didn't attack America at Pearl Harbor in order to Awaken the Gaint. They thought we were soft, and with a bloody nose, we would sue for some kind of "peace". OBL obviously is utterly uneducated [which by definition makes him non-muslim, btw] he is basically a pretty boy with some monetary backing, who happens to be the serial murder/ Charlie Mason type.

<snip>