h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I think Osama benLadin(sp?) was a fool, an utter and complete moron.
Ther are two groups of people who will suffer the most form his idiotic attack, the people who are personally connected to the incident by family or friend, and Muslim people all over the world.

Religion, pah..."Convert to our way of peace, love, and acceptance...or we'll kill you."
I am definatly not the first to make that observation, yes, but it's still ironic.
Like Chalemain(sp?) that french dude, when he decided to convert all those germanic tribes to christianity. They told him "er...no, um..." and he killed hundreds, maybe thousand of them in a single day... Although you must admit there was much he did for france, and the entier of Europe at that time, he was a man trying to recover the learning of a time before his (but the Romans, of course, also had their own problems)...all that was lost by the mercadians after him, though, so I don't know if it mattered...
Silly, isn't it...
However, the strike was also made because the US was suppling weapon to the Isralies, and although I by no means profess to know much about that at all, it still seems to me as if that's a little bit stupid.
What were they doing? Playing favorites? I don't know...
This entry poses a lot of questions, I would be much obliged if people would take the time to answer a few.
~Ouen

I think it was pretty smart. Evil, but smart.

Smart? How so? For giving his people all over the world a hell of a lot of trouble they really don't need, not to mention all the other people in his part of the world.
Or do you mean the actual attack? That was pretty well done, I guess.

Well I've not heard that admitted many places, but yeah I guess that's true. Actually, on the next day I heard people commenting on the whole synchronisity of it (think how different it would have been if only 1 tower got hit).

On the point about religion, I'd like to share a few observations:

BUDDHISM

The Buddha taught that enlightened teachers appear in every culture in every time.

If you were to ask the Dalai Lama which is the right religion to follow, he would tell you that different religions are appropriate for different people, and that you should choose whichever one is best for you in terms of helping you to become a wise and compassionate person. He himself says "My religion is simple. My religion is kindness."

The Tibetan flad has a yellow border on three sides which symbolises the importance to the Tibetan people of the Buddha's teaching. The fourth side has no border, symbolising their openness to other cultures and other philosophies.

CHRISTIANITY

The Christian Bible defines religion: "Religion that is pure and blameless in God's sight is this: to give to widows and orphans [ie. those in need] and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world" (from the letter of James. From memory, so the wording may be slightly off)

ISLAM

The concept of Jihad (holy war) is indeed found within Muslim teachings, however it is subject to very strict rules. The core of those rules is that a Jihad is only legitimate if it is fought to protect the right of people to follow their religious tradition.

The goal of the terrorist is to have an effect on his target audience. You can't argue that he accomplished that. He did it without needing any explosives or guns. Just dedicated people, boxcutters and $300,000.

What was the money and boxcutters for?

You're not being serous are you?

I guess I must be stupid - I don't even know what boxcutters are.

Smart but evil - definitely.

No need for missiles for avoid National Missile Defences or satellites, no payload delivery systems - just a few people, a few flying lessons, and a few tools.

And the f*****g b*****d sits laughing up his sleeve in the Pakistani mountains

... or wherever he is.

I was amazed when a senior defence official in the US stated in a public address that "We know for certain that Osama bin Laden is either in Afghanistan, or outside Afghanistan, or dead."

Well duh!

But the US Military went ahead and brought Afghanistan to its knees anyway and installed US troops. Coincidentally securing a route for oil supplies.

A boxcutter is a sort of utility knife that was used by the highjackers. It has a retractable razorblade.

Disrupting the Taliban government does seem to have hampered their operations.

Thank you. Now if somebody threatens to stick me with a boxcutter I will know to be scared rather than stare at them blankly (which actually could be a good tactic in some circumstances...)