Here we go again... Complete Overreaction: Take 3

The tragedy on September 11th was terrible. I remember it vividly, remember where I was, what I was doing, how angry I felt. But now, having thought things through, now that I have a clear perspective of things and 9 years have passed, I can safely say that the actions we took after 9/11 were by and large and complete overreactions and many have made us less safe.

The death of 3,000 people caused us to give up our privacy and our constitutional freedom in the form of the quite Orwellian "USA PATRIOT Act of 2001". Freedoms we have enjoyed for hundreds of years and which have made us the envy of many countries and an example of what is possible to many others. After 9/11 we also jumped headfirst into two futile wars which have bankrupted us... One (Iraq) was actually a stabilizing force in the region and by removing Saddam from power we did nothing more than empower the militant forces to conquer, kill, and kidnap at will. Say what you will about Saddam's rape rooms, but at least people in Iraq didn't live under constant fear of being shot or kidnapped by Muslim extremists under his quite tyrannical rule. In 20 years, Saddam Hussein killed over a million innocent people, we are reaching that number quickly, and its only been 6 years.

The greatest casualty of September 11th however, was our common sense. The threat of another attack made us afraid of another attack. So afraid, that when so much as the threat of one arises, we overreact and those in charge of us, trying to look like they are snapping to action, overreact in large, widespread and fearsome ways.

Since then we've had the shoe bomber, we had Jose Padilla, and of course we had the infamous English liquid bottles! If you want to see an example of lack of common sense and another overreaction (Number 2), just look at the the 3.5oz liquid bottles restriction... As if that major inconvenience to travelers is going to do anything to stop terrorists... as if it stopped old "name's too long to write out" (Umar Fahrouk Abdulmutallab) from sewing a condom full of explosive to his tighty whities and trying to blow up a passenger plane.

What did stop him? Balls. Regular old human bravery and courage. Some guy (not even an American, a Dutch man) tore that moron out of his seat and ripped the flaming log from his pants (how phallic) causing himself to get nasty burns all over his hands in the process while possibly saving 300 of his fellow passengers. At the end of the day, terrorists, much like hackers and crackers, will always stay one step ahead of the authorities and no matter how many ridiculous measures you put into place, they will always find another way, so why on earth should we act like the fucking sky is falling when that's exactly what they want and it will do nothing but embolden them?

Tell me how a scan or a pat down or TSA would stop someone from shoving some explosives up their ass, or shit, even getting really hardcore and sewing a block of explosive into someone's body through surgery with a cheap radio shack remote detonator? So what if it's a foreign body, their whole job is to blow themselves up, I doubt they worry about infection... How are you going to stop that? Are we now going to do cavity searches on all airline passengers? Are we going to open up all scars to make sure there are no bombs inside, Perhaps shut down airplane bathrooms so you cant shit out the bomb and force everyone to drop trow and turd into a communal bucket where all passengers get to see what you are doing with your hands at all times?

The reaction to this attempted bombing, yes, it was attempted, it didn't actually happen, has been moronic and insane, you have airlines refusing to pass out pillows and blankets because they might be used to hide a bomb, you have new rules about using electronic devices or GETTING UP during the last hour of flight... Ironic, when you consider that the reason everyone was saved was because someone got up! You have crazy wait times and screening procedures being put into place at certain airports... Hell they are even talking about eliminating carry-on luggage! I always travel Carry-on only if I can help it, why the hell would I wait at a carousel and pay 30-50 in fees when I don't have to?

Terrorists don't lose sleep or hair over these new security measures. They hurt no one but your regular traveler, and if things get too stringent INSIDE the plane, the terrorists will adapt and try to blow up the place from OUTSIDE. How do I know? Because they've already done it... Israel's airline El-Al is considered by most to be safest airline on earth. They have steel reinforced luggage holds, they have code operated double security doors leading to the cockpit, they have reinforced steel bulkheads where the wings and emergency exits are as they are the most vulnerable parts of the airplane, they also have in-flight guard system against Anti-aircraft missiles! Why? Because since their planes are soooo secure, and their security at the airport is sooooo secure, someone just said "fuck it, we'll use a missle on the plane from the ground." This happened in 2002, luckily they missed, because who knows what kind of World War III madness would have erupted from a terrorist attack on an Israeli plane following 9/11.

The Israelis however, take things in stride. Theirs is a country with a richly violent history of suicide attacks and terrorists bombings and hijackings, it is a reality of life for them, and something which they know not to be avoidable in any way. One can only do so much, but at the end of the day you have no choice but to live your life. After 9/11 President Bush asked us to keep spending, to keep doing things BAU, but our government did anything but... They came up with fun, new, color coded ways to scare us shitless,  they robbed us of our civil rights, and there is some evidence (mostly hearsay evidence) that false terrorists threats were used in the summer before the 2004 elections to scare people who may have been thinking there.

The Obama administration and our democratic congress, rather than give us hope and change re-authorized and in some cases expanded some sunsetting provisions of the PATRIOT Act. They have escalated the wars, they have extended the closing of Guantanamo Bay another year, and now there are grumblings about war with Yemen after this attempted attack. I am shaking in my boots in fear here, common sense doesn't seem to hold a lot of sway these days. Some of the people responsible for setting up this attempted attack are believed to be ex Guantanamo detainees, in fact, many experts military and civilian will tell you that Guantanamo Bay, and the inhuman things that have gone on there, may be responsible for creating a whole slew of new terrorists. If you want proof that acting like a third-world dictatorship with our own citizens and other countries' citizens is the wrong way to go, just look at that simple fact, look at how extremism is taking off even within our own country. Two weeks ago, 5 Americans were detained in Pakistan on their way to join a Jihadi militant group at a training camp. This is a far cry from the initial Post-9/11 patriotism everyone in this country felt...

There was a time when the world would have defended us against the insane rhetoric of Islamic extremists, who decry us as war like and evil. After 9/11 they almost all did, but, after the events of the last nine years, torture, taking people out of their homes in the middle of the night like the Haitian Secret police and sending them to Egypt or Syria to be tortured secretly (It's called "Extraordinary Rendition, we still do it, look it up) I have a tough time defending against those claims, as they are, very sadly, true.

I can only hope that America, and we Americans can find our way back from the precipice of moral destruction upon which we have so precariously positioned ourselves.