Well said, Henrik. Thanks.

Yes, thank you

> Those who died were fellow human beings

With all my respect, but... do you all know how many people die every day just of hunger?

Yes, and a child dies every second from lack of clean water. Any human life taken premature is bad.

Did anyone else notice that throughout the day, we always knew where 'president' Bush was, but they never once told us where Vice President Chaney was. Could it be that even our own government knows what an idiot "Ol' W" is?

No we didn't always know where he was. We now know where he was, but all we knew at the time was that he was at an air force base, or in Air Force 1 somewhere at 40000 ft. That is very broad information. We had TVs on in my classes all day from 8:30(Central time), so I saw most of it. I am very troubled by these events and hope that problems can be resolved without a major war. We started their hatred of us by taking their land and turning it into Israel for a jewish homeland after World War II. I'm not saying that we know who did this for sure yet, but they have the most reason, that is, the Palestineans.

The UK promised a Jewish nation, but when they pulled out of Palestine, Jews in the area made the country themselves. America was the first country to recognize their independence, but we had no hand in their making of a nation.

This was Biblical actually. I got the next paragraph off of another message board:

...the reforming of the nation of Israel? The idea was ridiculous, but it happened! Read Jer. 23. And how many times throughout history has Israel become an international problem? Give me a break, when these were written, most of the world had not even been discovered yet. The following scripture tells of how the nations of the world will attempt to move the Israeli people from Jerusalem. Not bad, considering Islam wasn't even around yet and there were no Islam-Judaic conflicts over the ownership of Jerusalem.

"'Woe to the shepherds who are destroying and scattering the sheep of ma pasture!' declares the Lord. Therefore this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says to the shepherds who tend my people: 'Because you have scattered my flock and driven them away and have not bestowed care on them, I will bestow punishment on you for the evil you have done,' declares the Lord. I myself will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the countries where I have driven them and will bring them back to their pasture, where they will be fruitful and increase in number. I will place shepherds over them who will tend them, and they will no longer be afraid or terrified, nor will any be missing,' declares the Lord." Jer 23

"This is the word of the Lord concerning Israel. The Lord...declares: 'I am going to make Jerusalem a cup that sends all the surrounding peoples reeling. Judah will be besieged as well as Jerusalem. On that day, when all the nations of the earth are gathered against her, I will make Jerusalem an immoveable rock for all the nations. All who try to move it will injure themselves.'" - Zech 12

Ummmm.... yeah. They're still afraid and terrified, though...

The the announcments of his location probably served two purposes. One, the knowlege of his location brought some comfort to the collective American psyche. The other was to send a message. The base in Lousiana is the command center for all American bombers, and the second base he was at is the where the Strategic Air Command is based (I could be wrong on both of these, but I don't think so).

The American people will survive this tragedy as they have survived all others. After retrieving the wounded and the dead, the entire military might of the USA and NATO will be brought to bear in order to bring the perpetrators to justice.

That person will then be tried and convicted as a war criminal. In my opinion, the death penalty should not apply in this case. I believe that spending the remainder of one's natural life in solitary confinement, no TV or newspaper, just your mind and soul, is worse than death.

Knight/Rocket's 2c.

my english teacher's idea of a just punishment for the terrorist:
to be slowly torn apart bodypart by bodypart over a span of 30 days.
i would tend to agree, but only after serving a close to life sentence in solitary confinement.

Hmm, effective torture methods... Personally, I abhore torture, but in this case, I'm willing to make an exception. Make a shallow incision from collar bone to navel. Make two more incisions like you turning to first incision into a capital "I". Slowly peel back the skin. That should work for starters.

Sounds fun. Count me in. (kidding)

Seriously, though, torture isn't the answer. I'm not sure what the answer IS, but how would torturing someone make us any better than them?

As I have said before, we CANNOT torture because of the unconstitutional aspects of it. We must hold a trial, but without ABSOLUTE evidence of Bin Laden, there is enough reasonable doubt for him to get off the hook, (so to speak).

To expand on my initial idea, I see the perpetrator(s) in white, completely featureless rooms. There is a 200 watt bulb continuously burning on the ceiling. There is no newspaper, TV, radio, or any form of distraction. The only human contact would be for medical treatment, as food would be passed through a gated passage in the door.

I believe that 40, 50 maybe even 60 years of this time, alone with mind and soul, would be sufficient.

Knight/Rocket's 6c.

To be frank, I am not thinking about revenge at present. However, I'm not sure the idea about complete isolation would work with all people. They might be depressed for a while, but I think the human mind is capable of creating forms of diversion. At least, if I were a criminal (I certainly hope that will not be the case :), this form of punishment would not be very effective for me.

The problem is that the "forms of diversion" usually end up in insanity.

Haha, maybe if you're a physicist ;-)

He's guilty of other terrorist acts though. One way or another he's going down.

We hear about acts of violence and terrorism all the time. Every day, I see headlines about the killing in Sudan, Palestine, Israel, Chechnya, Albania, Kashmir, Ireland, and many other places. But our senses are numbed. We are lulled into a false sense of security. Behind the borders of our "safe" nations, we feel a world away from these events that happen all the time.

In a way, this attack was a good thing. It has made a lot of people finally wake up to waht goes on in the world around them. Now I'm not a cold and heartless person. I feel compassion for all those who know victims of the attacks, and I am outraged that a civillian target was chosen. But if the targets had only been the Pentagon, and say Kennedy Space Centre, or Andrews Airforce Base, or something like that, it would've been a perfect illustration of the false sense of security that Americans live in.

The type of terrorism your talking about isn't near as bad as this. The type of terrorism that happens every day in some countries is things like car bombs and throwing grenades into public buildings, not destroying a structure that holds thousands of people by crashing into it with an airliner full of people.

I guess that makes it ok, if it happens everyday ????
Don't underestimate the suffering of those that face the kind of fear New York and DC faced yesterday ,everyday. Fewer people might die within a single instance, but can you imagine living in that kind of fear everyday? Not sure that you won't be a victim the next time? I don't see how it's not as bad. Don't get me wrong, I feel very very strongly for the people that died, the wounded, and the people that lost loved ones yesterday. Noone deserves that. But don't start making judgements on the "seriousness" of other international situations before you experience it firsthand.

Second of all, I just want to make a point to all the christians talking about how Islamic fundamentalists should see the way of God. First of all muslims are supposed to believe in all the prophets, which include both Mohammad and Jesus Christ (and Moses too for that matter). Second of all, I disagree ith the way everything is reduced to Islam. What about all the peaceful muslim people living in places like Malaysia, the Maldives and other peaceful nations. These people are all muslims, and don't hurt anyone.

For the record im not Muslim or Christian.

<<Second of all, I disagree ith the way everything is reduced to Islam. What about all the peaceful muslim people living in places like Malaysia, the Maldives and other peaceful nations. These people are all muslims, and don't hurt anyone.>>

True. It is only a fraction of Muslims (and there are fanatics in every religion) who distort their religion and use it for their own selfish ends.