Leonidas

"I thought about joining the army. But what happens if I get lag out there? I'm dead! I hear they don't even have respawn in RL!" - FPS Doug

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War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling that thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety is a miserable creature, who has no chance at being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself. -- John Stuart Mill--

"O xein angellein lakedaimoniois hoti tede keimetha tois keinon rhemasi peithomenoi"- Monument, Thermopylae

SmokingTarpan

I'm not saying that it's not possible, I'm saying that the chances of such a thing happening outside of a Red Dawn situation are beyond slim. And, frankly, if Red Dawn were to happen, something is rather wrong with our security, and miniguns aren't going to help that.

If we need such an overt show of force to deter terrorists, why not just park some tanks and APC's out front? Bigger is better seems to be the theme. Unless, of course, that seems like overkill to you. :P

Personally I think that, short of full-scale war erupting in the continental US, we've seen the last of the overt terrorist acts over here for a while. Overt here being something we have an opportunity to deal with before the fact, however time miniscule to react. I'd rather see tax dollars being spent on a legal way to find and intercept terrorists before they show up in their SUV's to launch an assault on a complex.

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[squadl]
"I am the prettiest african-american, vietnamese..cong..person." -SugarNCamo

CingularDuality

So you don't think it's possible for planes to be hijacked and flown into important buildings again right now? I think you're wrong. I think that we, at all levels within our country, have already become complacent.

Which reminds me... It's time to bump a thread.

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SmokingTarpan

Absolutely not (at least in America), for two reasons. One: it's been done, and terrorists are moving on to other tactics that aren't being guarded against so closely. Two: I don't believe there's an American alive right now that wouldn't rush a terrorist attempting to hijack a plane.

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[squadl]
"I am the prettiest african-american, vietnamese..cong..person." -SugarNCamo

Leonidas

1. Maybe, but that advantage will disappear if you get complacent and lower security.

2. Now this part is true. The hijackings of old, where the people on the plane would be retuned mostly intact if damands were met are gone, it seems. The only kind of hijackings you get now are the kind where the plane is used as a weapon, so every passenger and pilot will fully believe that they will die if the terrorists take over the plane.

Also, it has become public knowledge that it is almost totally impossible to get a bomb on a plane, so that ruse will no longer work. It is also almost totally impossible to get a gun on board, so that significantly emboldens and empowers the passengers/pilots.

See my above argument for my stance on the subject at hand. I still fully stand by it.

__________________
War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling that thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety is a miserable creature, who has no chance at being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself. -- John Stuart Mill--

"O xein angellein lakedaimoniois hoti tede keimetha tois keinon rhemasi peithomenoi"- Monument, Thermopylae

Steeler

How many hijackings of either kind have there actually been?

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SmokingTarpan

I'm not saying lower security. Frankly, I think airlines are about as secure as they're going to get, short of putting an officer with a minigun in the middle of the isle. What I am saying is that the terrorists know we're mostly watching and fortifying the front wall of our castle, which leaves the others more vulnerable. Why attack in a fashion that will be expected? Thus my problem with the miniguns; so worried about an all-out army style assault that we are, it makes me wonder what we're forgetting. That is what the enemy will use against us.

As I said before, I'm not worried about an army popping out of thin air, I'm worried about a lone bad guy making it past security.

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[squadl]
"I am the prettiest african-american, vietnamese..cong..person." -SugarNCamo

CingularDuality

Oh, I can think of plenty that would try to reconcile their differences with the terrorists....

I certainly hope that all the terrorists believe you...

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ScratchMonkey

Sucks that they passworded access to the rest of the site. They should have used the Coral Cache to handle the load.

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