{"id":4383,"date":"2003-09-12T08:06:56","date_gmt":"2003-09-12T15:06:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/?p=4383"},"modified":"2003-09-12T08:06:56","modified_gmt":"2003-09-12T15:06:56","slug":"the_pause_that","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2003\/09\/12\/the_pause_that.html","title":{"rendered":"The Pause that Confuses"},"content":{"rendered":"

Two years ago, yesterday, an incredible, massive, horrific act of terror and violence occured in this country.<\/p>\n

Since then … nada<\/i>.<\/p>\n

Why?<\/p>\n

Was it an all-or-nothing gasp of an organization far less organized and potent than we know (or are being told), and so no longer much of a threat? <\/p>\n

Was it all a big conspiracy by the cabal of Bad Men Who Run Things, to get us all running around in chicken-squawking alarm, thus more easily manageable?<\/p>\n

Have the terrorist organizations been so damaged (or their sponsors so cowed) by US actions since then that no further attack has been possible? If so, have we accomplished our purpose, do we need to maintain our vigilence, or should we press our advantage?<\/p>\n

Have the “homeland security” measures taken by the Bush Administration been so effective that they’ve forestalled further attacks? Should we know that? Can we know that?<\/p>\n

Were our protections already so good that the 9\/11 plot was even more of an aberration than it would seem, the one-in-a-million shot inevitably paid off?<\/p>\n

I mean, I can’t believe that, two years later — a couple of Christmasses, some Fourths of July, a 9\/11 anniversary or two, not to mention a pair of wars launched — there was no “magic moment” when, if they could<\/i>, al Qa’eda (or others) would not have struck. Two years in Geopolitical Time is like two years in Internet Time — a lifetime. It’s possible that OBL or his heirs are still slowly plotting and putting things together with infinite patience for an even greater attack — but, jeez, even a few less dramatic acts of terror would have had an amazing impact.<\/p>\n

Unless that’s their plan — having struck out at the US, seen the response, and realizing the next step needs to go for the jugular, not the balls.<\/p>\n

I don’t know.<\/p>\n

I don’t know the answer. I don’t know we’ll know for another decade or three or ten. If ever. But it would sure be nice to, to know what’s known in the halls of power, here in the US, and in Paris, and London, and Riyadh, and Karachi. Not to mention in a cave in Afghanistan, or a small house in Tikrit, or …. <\/p>\n

The problem is, not knowing, we, as an electorate, can only guess, and try to elect the folks we feel we can trust to act wisely, with restraint when needed, with vigor when needed, whether we think They know all the answers we don’t or not.<\/p>\n

And I’m not sure we, as an electorate, can afford to guess wrongly.<\/p>\n

UPDATE<\/u>: Here’s someone else <\/a>who’s noted the same thing — and therefore concludes that everything is <\/i>just peachy and terrorism is simply a government bogeyman. Riiiiiiight.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Two years ago, yesterday, an incredible, massive, horrific act of terror and violence occured in this country. Since then … nada. Why? Was it an all-or-nothing gasp of an organization…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[29,10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4383","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-9-11","category-geopolitical-brouhaha"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":133639,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/06\/10\/colorado-further-tightens-civil-asset-forfeiture-laws.html","url_meta":{"origin":4383,"position":0},"title":"Colorado further tightens civil asset forfeiture laws","author":"***Dave","date":"Sat 10-Jun-17 8:57am","format":false,"excerpt":"But not enough, in my opinion. Any process that allows the state to seize your property without compensation or without charges being filed (let alone proven in court) is, if not unconstitutional, highly unethical.The corrosive effect of such laws is demonstrated by the arguments being levied against this reform act.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1328,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2002\/01\/24\/ah_the_internet.html","url_meta":{"origin":4383,"position":1},"title":"Ah, the Internet","author":"***Dave","date":"Thu 24-Jan-02 7:41am","format":false,"excerpt":"They say you can find out how to do anything on the Internet. As further proof of this hypothesis, I present you with a site on how to perform your...","rel":"","context":"In "Potpourri"","block_context":{"text":"Potpourri","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/potpourri"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7519,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2005\/02\/15\/whats_in_a_name.html","url_meta":{"origin":4383,"position":2},"title":"What’s in a name?","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 15-Feb-05 3:15pm","format":false,"excerpt":"A very cool graphical \"baby name\" widget, showing distribution of names over time (and which display changes as you type in further letters). Fun. (via Doyce)...","rel":"","context":"In "Potpourri"","block_context":{"text":"Potpourri","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/potpourri"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3756,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2003\/04\/01\/tradition.html","url_meta":{"origin":4383,"position":3},"title":"Tradition!","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 1-Apr-03 6:35pm","format":false,"excerpt":"I know I'm kind of a conventional guy, but who'd've thought that my blog would come up #1 with a Google search for \"definitions AND missionary style\"? Further deponent sayeth...","rel":"","context":"In "Blogging & Internet"","block_context":{"text":"Blogging & Internet","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2003,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2002\/03\/27\/speed.html","url_meta":{"origin":4383,"position":4},"title":"Speed","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 27-Mar-02 5:29pm","format":false,"excerpt":"As a follow-up to the New Jersey speeding study from yesterday, the results of the study have been released, as well as further info on the methodology. The US Justice...","rel":"","context":"In "ZT & PC"","block_context":{"text":"ZT & PC","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/zt-pc"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":50162,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2015\/04\/26\/the-politics-of-fear.html","url_meta":{"origin":4383,"position":5},"title":"The Politics of Fear","author":"***Dave","date":"Sun 26-Apr-15 9:51am","format":false,"excerpt":"This feels intuitively obvious, but apparently is demonstrably true: people vote (and donate to politicians and political causes) less out of love for their own party than from fear of the other. Further, as party affiliation further polarizes and the two \"sides\" become less like one another, that \"fear\" has\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4383","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4383"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4383\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4383"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4383"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4383"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}