Clarification/Follow-up by JBodine on 03/21/06 2:54 pm:
>>Too violent.<<

Hey, you asked.

I assumed you'd like an honest answer, rather that some worn-out cliche that has lost its meaning.

And since the question regarded soldiers, I further assumed you wouldn't mind the opinion of a [former] soldier.

Clarification/Follow-up by ETWolverine on 03/21/06 2:57 pm:
Of course it will happen again, Airhorn. But not under Bush's presidency.

Want to know why? Because the Arab world got a lesson in what happens when you piss off George Bush. He invades your country, blows up your seat of power, and eliminates your government. And THAT is why Iraq and Afghanistan were both good ideas. Now people know not to mess with the USA on our home turf.

Had the same thing happened under Clinton, our response would have been to bomb some pill factory, or maybe an abandoned railroad, and call it a day. And the result of such a non-response would have been more attacks. That is why under Clinton there were at least 13 terrorist attacks and attempted terrorist attacks against US targets (that we know of) including:

- January 25, 1993: Mir Aimal Kansi, a Pakistani, fires an AK-47 assault rifle into cars waiting at a stoplight in front of the Central Intelligence Agency headquarters. Two died.
-February 26, 1993: World Trade Center bombing kills 6 and injures over 1000 people.
-June 1993: Failed New York City landmark bomb plot.
-April 19, 1995: Oklahoma City bombing kills 168 people, 19 of them children;
-October 9, 1995: An Amtrak Sunset Limited train is derailed by anti-government saboteurs near Palo Verde, Arizona.
-June 25, 1996: Khobar Towers bombing -- In all, 19 U.S. servicemen and one Saudi were killed and 372 wounded.
-July 27, 1996: Centennial Olympic Park bombing, killing one and wounding 111.
-February 24, 1997: An armed man opens fire on tourists at an observation deck atop the Empire State Building in New York City, United States, killing a Danish national and wounding visitors from the United States, Argentina, Switzerland and France before turning the gun on himself. A handwritten note carried by the gunman claims this was a punishment attack against the "enemies of Palestine".
-August 7, 1998: U.S. embassy bombings in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania and Nairobi, Kenya, killing 225 people and injuring more than 4,000.
-December 1999: Jordanian authorities foil a plot to bomb US and Israeli tourists in Jordan and pick up 28 suspects as part of the 2000 millennium attack plots
-December 14, 1999: Ahmed Ressam is arrested on the United States–Canada border in Port Angeles, Washington; he confessed to planning to bomb the Los Angeles International Airport as part of the 2000 millennium attack plots
-February 2000: The last of the 2000 millennium attack plots fails, as the boat meant to bomb USS The Sullivans sinks.
-October 12, 2000: USS Cole bombing kills 17 US sailors.

Under Bush, there was 9-11. And since then, his response has been a clear deterrant against terrorism on our soil. Since then we have gone 1652 days without an attack on our soil. Coincidentally (or perhaps not so coincidentally), this is the 2nd longest period that we have gone without an attack on our soil since the 1970s. The longest period was the 2695 days between the murder of Alex Odeh (possibly by members of the JDL which is why it is listed as a terrorist incident) in California on 10/11/85 and the first world trade center bombing on 2/26/93.

THAT is why we need to stay the course in Iraq and Afghanistan... because it clearly works.

Elliot