i'm scared

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*Ally*

New Yorker
Joined
Sep 25, 2001
Messages
2,714
Location
New York, NY
more terror attacks, nuclear weapons, a seemingly inept communcation system among different braches of the US government...

what is happening to our country?

sorry, but i just read this article:

Rumsfeld: Terrorists Will Get Nukes
Tue May 21,12:12 PM ET
By JOHN J. LUMPKIN, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) - Terrorists are sure to eventually acquire nuclear, chemical and biological weapons, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld told senators Tuesday.

Iraq, Iran, Syria, Libya and North Korea (news - web sites) are developing such weapons of mass destruction and will supply them to terrorists to which they already are linked, Rumsfeld said.

"They (terrorists) inevitably will get their hands on them and they will not hesitate to use them," Rumsfeld told a Senate Appropriations subcommittee.

Meantime, Tom Ridge, who heads the White House office of domestic security, said new terror warnings have not prompted U.S. officials to raise the nationwide alert status because the intelligence on possible attacks is too vague.

Rumsfeld declined to discuss specific terrorist threats, saying the government sees hundreds a day and as many as 90 percent of them are designed to test the government's response.

"They jerk us around, try to jerk us around, and test us," Rumsfeld said.

Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that while the war on terror has hurt al-Qaida, the terrorist network remains a threat. "Just like a wounded animal is the most dangerous, they (al-Qaida) still pose a threat to our armed forces," Myers said.

Ridge said predictions that terrorists may target unnamed apartment buildings, for example, were not enough to change the nation's security alert from "yellow" ? the third-highest of five stages ? and retain the system's credibility.

"It wasn't actionable in the sense that we're going to change a national level of awareness, but it was informational," Ridge told the World Economic Forum (news - web sites) at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce (news - web sites).

Faced with criticism for belatedly releasing terrorist information it had before the Sept. 11 attacks, the administration may routinely release intelligence information, he added.

"We have two choices: You can either keep it to yourselves or you can share it," Ridge said. "And under the circumstances, depending on the source and the specificity and a few other circumstances and conditions, we may share it."

Ridge was the latest member of the Bush administration to predict that more terror attacks on Americans are "not a matter of 'if', but 'when.'"

The predictions are based in part on new intelligence suggesting plotting by Osama bin Laden (news - web sites)'s al-Qaida network has been on the rise over the past few weeks, said a senior U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

But this sort of increase in volume has happened several times before ? even since Sept. 11.

The official portrayed the intelligence as a new peak in a high-and-low cycle of terrorist threats that counterterrorism authorities have tracked for years. The last peak was in March, when al-Qaida financial activity and communications stepped up. That was linked to al-Qaida leader Abu Zubaydah, who was subsequently captured in Pakistan.

Another peak in threat reporting took place last summer and is now regarded as evidence of al-Qaida's preparations for the Sept. 11 attacks on New York City and Washington. Other peaks have come and gone, and no attack has taken place.

Publicly, officials are making sobering warnings.

"There will be another terrorist attack. We will not be able to stop it," FBI (news - web sites) Director Robert Mueller told a meeting of the National Association of District Attorneys on Monday. "It's something we all live with."

He said suicide bombers like those who have attacked Israeli buses and restaurants are inevitable in the United States. His words ? "I wish I could be more optimistic" ? came one day after Vice President Dick Cheney (news - web sites) said it was almost a certainty the United States would be attacked again by terrorists.

The blunt new warnings are designed to give Americans better notice and protect Bush against second guessing in the event of another attack, said a senior administration official with knowledge of U.S. intelligence and White House strategy.

Under fire for its handling of terrorism intelligence before the September attacks, the administration is fighting Democratic-led efforts to have an independent commission rather than existing congressional intelligence committees study its performance.

Democrats last week pointed to the disclosure of a July 10 memo from a Phoenix FBI agent who was concerned about a large number of Arabs seeking pilot, security and airport operations training at at least one U.S. flight school, along with the disclosure that Bush had been told in an Aug. 6 intelligence briefing that al-Qaida might attempt a hijacking aimed at Americans. The administration has said the information was not specific enough for it to take concrete action.

The Justice Department (news - web sites) said Monday that Attorney General John Ashcroft (news - web sites) did not learn until weeks ago of the Phoenix memorandum.

"The attorney general was not briefed in any detail with any specificity about the document known as the Phoenix memo until approximately a month ago," a Justice official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

But The New York Times in Tuesday's editions reported that Ashcroft and Mueller were told a few days after Sept. 11 about the Phoenix memo. The newspaper said neither Ashcroft nor Mueller briefed Bush and his national security staff until recently about the contents of the memo.

White House press secretary Ari Fleischer (news - web sites), asked repeatedly Tuesday whether Bush had seen the memo, said he was not entirely certain about that, but said Bush has "heard of it now."

Fleischer said it immediately became known in the moments after the Sept. 11 attacks that the hijackers had been trained at American flight schools.

In fact, just hours after the hijackers' identities were determined, government officials had tracked their paths through the flight schools and sent FBI agents to them.

Fleischer repeatedly refused to criticize the FBI or Justice Department for not telling Bush until recently about the Phoenix memo and said that Bush will not make judgments about the agencies based on "the snippet of the day."
 
Dont be afraid.
Live your life like its the last day on earth,
or as if there will be no tommorrow.
In other words live life to the fullest and correctly, milk and savor those moments; and throw the bums outta line who try and sneek in to U2 Shows.
thank you.
mad.gif

wink.gif


diamond

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AIM= diamondbruno9
 
Originally posted by diamond:
Dont be afraid.
Live your life like its the last day on earth,
or as if there will be no tommorrow.
In other words live life to the fullest and correctly, milk and savor those moments; and throw the bums outta line who try and sneek in to U2 Shows.
thank you.
mad.gif

wink.gif


diamond


thanks, diamond! very wise words, indeed. especially that last part....
wink.gif


i know, you're right. there's a better chance of me getting hit by a bus on my lunch hour than there is of falling victim to any terrorist assault. but i guess i'm just scared of what's going to happen to the US in general... i know i sound naive- i am naive. but i grew up feeling secure- never really worrying about things like biological warfare or suicide bombers. i guess i'm just afraid for future generations...
frown.gif


but your words are very wise, mr. bruno! we should all live each day to the fullest.
smile.gif
 
Blah. Now I remember why I felt safer all those years living in a ?wild jungle? in South East Asia than when I?ve lived here in the USA.
frown.gif
 
Originally posted by diamond:
Dont be afraid.
Live your life like its the last day on earth,
or as if there will be no tommorrow.
In other words live life to the fullest and correctly, milk and savor those moments; and throw the bums outta line who try and sneek in to U2 Shows.
thank you.
mad.gif

wink.gif


diamond




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When life hands you a lemon, say "Oh yeah, I like lemons. What else you got?" --Henry Rollins
 
don't be scared ally. just because the public wasn't aware of these kinds of things in the past doesn't mean the threat didn't exist. it always has, so there's no use worrying over something you can't control.
 
Originally posted by *Ally*:
thanks, diamond! very wise words, indeed. especially that last part....
wink.gif


i know, you're right. there's a better chance of me getting hit by a bus on my lunch hour than there is of falling victim to any terrorist assault. but i guess i'm just scared of what's going to happen to the US in general... i know i sound naive- i am naive. but i grew up feeling secure- never really worrying about things like biological warfare or suicide bombers. i guess i'm just afraid for future generations...
frown.gif


but your words are very wise, mr. bruno! we should all live each day to the fullest.
smile.gif



Me too, Ally. I know there's nothing we can do about it, but it still frightens me. I just hate the thought of being so young and having all this happen around me.
frown.gif


Btw, very good advice, guys.
smile.gif



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Let's pray for something
To feel good in the morning
 
I am as well Ally... I read one of the articles in the Boston Globe that was along the same lines, and it freaked me out too. I dont think you're being naive or anything either, especially since I think you said you weren't too far from the WTC back in September. I agree with advice given - but I also think that it's easier said then done, I'm a little freaked out here still.

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Say Goodbye, Don't Follow.

Rest in Peace Layne.
 
Originally posted by sulawesigirl4:
Blah. Now I remember why I felt safer all those years living in a ?wild jungle? in South East Asia than when I?ve lived here in the USA.
frown.gif


PSSSST! Sula!! PSSSTTT!! move away from the states then!! *coughtocanadacoughcough*
*coughcoughmoveherecough*


Hmm... Im not really a big fan of people and the horrid intolerance of everyone else, innocents are going to suffer in the end because of this, and its complete bullshit, and youd think that Id be more worried or scared or what have you but Im really not. I really dont care. Fact of the matter is that its just an eventuality. The doomsday clock was moved back to 7 minutes to doomsday, as opposed to 9, the mark at which it had previously been sitting. The last time it was at 7 was during the cold war, with the threat of widespread nuclear destruction. Not a happy thought, thinking that this is just a neocold war type deal... But again... its just a matter of time, I just dont want to be caught in the middle when ppl start blowin shit up.

I think itd be a step in the right direction though, if people would stop telling cultural minorities in uprising that 'we know what youre going through' cuz honestly, until youve grown up in a war torn 2nd/3rd world country, you have shit all experiance and idea on which to base your statement, wow we know what youre going through, yes know of it, but not know what its like. Politicians need to get their fat heads around that, and the fact that you cant expect people to rebuild on their own... see ideally I could cause a massive military uprising of likeminded individuals and overthrow all the governements into one big socialist state to put everyone on equal plane, everyone with equal rights, everyone with equal social standing, none of this upper class lower class bullshit, none of this wed like to think we know what we're talking about and help you in no really valid way just to make ourselves look better, but to actually get things done and fix this fucking world and put it back in order. I could write for hours about how it would unfortunately become necessary to spill blood to acheive those goals, and how the governments would probably defeat the people, and how it would be looked down upon just as communism in russia was looked down upon, and how things wouldnt end up changing, people looked down on the dictatorial nature of revolutionary russia, but honestly, if people would have butt out of their business, they could be a lot better off than they are now, the states bankrupted russia through the arms race and the cold war. Its funny that a system of goverment for the PEOPLE of the nation was such a threat to the money grubbing capitalist nation of the states that it caused such great conflict. Freedom to run a successful business in a free market, make shitloads of money, cause widespread corruption through all the beauracratic bullshit and money handling and law agencies and necessity for other business, when people could all work for mutual benefit. BLARGH BLARGH BLARGH BLARGH BLARGH!!
 
I feel the same way Ally except I lay awake at night and worry about the world I have brought my kids into. They are only 15 and 17 and I wonder what life on this planet will be like for them when they are my age. I also wonder what will happen to them if I'm hurt or killed in the event of another terrorist attack. I try to tell myself that the chances are remote but just the fact that there is a chance scares the crap out of me.
 
Originally posted by sulawesigirl4:
Blah. Now I remember why I felt safer all those years living in a ?wild jungle? in South East Asia than when I?ve lived here in the USA.
frown.gif
the human animal is defintely more frightening than any animal you could encounter in the 'wild jungle'.
i still feel safer here (San Antonio, TX USA) than any other place on earth.



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Is it getting hot in here or is it just ADAM??
*+*MaRiA*+*
 
Originally posted by diamond:
Dont be afraid.
Live your life like its the last day on earth,
or as if there will be no tommorrow.
In other words live life to the fullest and correctly, milk and savor those moments; and throw the bums outta line who try and sneek in to U2 Shows.
thank you.
mad.gif

wink.gif


diamond



I'm sitting here at home on my lunch break watching CNN, seeing more reports about possible targets, including The Statue of Liberty and The Brooklyn Bridge, apartment buildings, etc...

While I can't help but feel a little afraid myself (I live in an apartment building)...I whole-heartedly agree with diamond.

We cannot live our lives in fear

We must live our lives as normally and fully as possible, but we must still at the same time be cautious.

If we live our lives in fear, alter our normal routines, then whether there's another attack or not, then they will have won.

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Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one.
-Albert Einstein

[This message has been edited by ABEL (edited 05-21-2002).]
 
Originally posted by *Ally*:
more terror attacks, nuclear weapons, a seemingly inept communcation system among different braches of the US government...

what is happening to our country?

A 20 year trend of irresponsible tax cuts, deregulation, and a "government is bad" / "business is God" mantra. You get what you pay for, folks.

Melon

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"Still, I never understood the elevation of greed as a political credo. Why would anyone want to base a political programme on bottomless dissatisfaction and the impossibility of happiness? Perhaps that was its appeal: the promise of luxury that in fact promoted endless work." - Hanif Kureishi, Intimacy
 
thank you for your replies, everyone. it's nice to know that i'm not the only one who is afraid. and i completely agree with you all, that we can't let the terrorists win and that we have to go on with our lives.
smile.gif


i guess i'm just yearning for the way my life was a year ago. and i KNOW it's naive- please don't yell at me for being the stupid sheltered american. this is zoo confessionals- and i'm confessing how i feel. i guess i just didn't realize how lucky i was before all this started happening. and it is all made a little more difficult because my office building is sandwiched between the statue of liberty and the brooklyn bridge, a block from the Stock Exchange, 4 blocks from the WTC...

but you know what? i LOVE new york. i made a decision about a month ago to spend the next 3 years of my life here (law school in the city)... i just get scared sometimes. and i needed to vent.

so thank you all for comforting me! i really do feel better...

smile.gif
 
*hugs Ally*

I love New York too...I forgot to mention earlier that my brother and sister in law live in New York City too, on 15th street, about 2 miles north of the WTC. I've been there many times...so it kinda freaks me out a little too.

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Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one.
-Albert Einstein
 
Me too, Ally... especially since it is all over the news more and more. .how it is imminent and a matter of when not if. If you think about it too much it becomes paralyzingly scary. I was thinking of this this morning, and wondering how Rainbow does it (She is an Interferer who lives in Israel). The feeling of having no control is so scary.
 
I'm scared too, but not really for me.
I know whose I am. I also know that HE is greater than any and all terrorists put together. Does that mean that I won't get blown up by some terrorist some day? Not necessarily. But it means I know that my eternal residence was decided long ago, and that whatever comes my way, I'll be okay if I just put my trust in The Lord.
What I wish is that
(1)People of the world would fall on their knees before God and confess and turn away from sins. The hour is getting late...time is running out.
(2)People would shower love on others; treat others as they would be treated themselves.
 
I am scared too.

Yesterday after all teh NYC hype, we heard fire trucks sirens outside. As I am across the street from the New York Stock Exchange I fully believe it is a target. After hearing the sirens, the fire marshall of our building came on the building PA, and when we heard his voice, half the office jumped up and grabbed their coats. It turned out just to be a fire in our gym, but EVERYONE here is on edge.

This sucks.

What I am most afraid of are suicide bombers, that I am certain will hit the New York Subway System...
 
Yeah, it's no fun working in/next to a known target.
frown.gif


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Beneath the heart of darkness/ Lies an old machine that's reeling/ Forgotten dust and sunlight/ Silent and removed from feeling/ The peace in my mind is drowning, fading down/ There's nothing left burning, it's all out
 
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