After reading
this article on bbcnews.com, I would be very, very surprised if Al-Qaeda and other assorted US loving characters didn't plan something pretty huge.
I reckon that if they have the resources, and that is a big if, they would plan all sorts of attacks, mostly on easy targets such as Afghanistan and Iraq troops.
The worst thing they could do is attack some sort of memorial that will be going on on the 11th. But I very much doubt that they have the capabilities.
I find this, and all sorts of terrorism, disgusting and unjustifiable. If you want me to even for a second entertain your pretensions, then concentrate your attacks on military targets only - a single civilian death is unjustifiable.
Nonetheless, current US policy is going to lead to huge problems. I think that, in general, Americans underestimate the damage they are causing to others, to their image, and to their global relations.
If 9/11 taught us anything, it's that no none is beyond the reach of retribution, and hatred. As Jean-jacques Rousseau - whose philosophy is closely linked to that behind the United-States' creation - said it, "le plus fort n’est jamais assez fort pour être toujours le maître, s’il ne transforme sa force en droit, et l’obéissance en devoir": loosely translated, that means "the strongest nation is never so strong to forever remain the master, unless it transforms its power into law, and obedience into a duty".
George W Bush, or his administration, are leading the US into a one-way street they have already been down - the repercussions of US action since 9/11 only serves to prove that the lesson was not learnt. The cause of 9/11 has become its effect; and that effect will be the cause for a repeat tragedy. It will take a truly great leader to break the chain of events, and I don't believe the American People will be ready for that kind of foresight until much more blood has been shed, blood that will all too slowly demonstrate the futility of the Bushesque Cowboy attitude.
What the American People need to realise is that they are being attacked by individuals who constitute a virus to all, not least to the countries they come from. Terrorists are the virus living in the benign petri-dish.
Yet this virus thrives on hatred, and when the US attacks the innocent by-standers, they start to hate, and when they hate, they start considering joining such organisations as Hamas, Hizbullah et al.
So what should the US do? It should collaborate with nations that are friendly. Instead of wasting billions on warring in Iraq, an enterprise which will only end in tears for all, they should spend millions rewarding those that work with it - that way, they can set up a network of helpers in the lion's den, all the better to root out the individuals that really hurt it.
For as long as Uncle Sam continues to shoot indiscriminately at all things bearded, all things Muslim, all things different, the United States will suffer from vengeful acts of desperation such as 9/11. You CANNOT, alone, beat the hydra with nothing to lose that is anti-American terrorism. The only way is to do so with the collaboration of the locals, in the hope that they may burn the stumps as the US cuts of the heads that bite, leaving the others to thrive under the precepts of a "free and democratic society" (you can bash it all you like, but the fact is that it's as close as we've come to the utopia we dream of, so until someone finds better....)
So the US needs to understand its enemy, understand the people that live beyond its borders, and apply the same principles they hope to apply within their borders overseas - otherwise, an American will never feel truly safe.
worried