Blowback
Some of you may remember me but most probably do not. I found DU almost 10 years ago when our country had invaded Iraq illegally and it was hard to find a place on the internet with people who were against the war in 2003. During most of the Bush admin, I was here on a daily basis, I protested the Iraq war in the streets here, I called Congress, I even met Senator Obama while campaigning for Tammy Duckworth in 2006. My life has changed from those times and I do not post here often anymore. I do still try to keep up when I can and still cannot stand right wingers.
There is one simple fact that nobody can deny. In 2003 we invaded a country on lies and in the past decade destroyed it and killed a million of its citizens. We also invaded a country in 2001 and whether you agree with that decision or not, we destroyed that country and killed thousands of its citizens. For every one of those dead people as a result of those wars, there is a son or daughter, mother, father, uncle, wife, husband or whoever it is, who lost a loved one because of our invasion of these 2 countries.
Whether we agreed with the wars or we protested in the streets, to the people of these countries we invaded, to the ones who lost loved ones, there is a good number that think the United States as a country killed their loved one. Maybe some have forgiven us, maybe some realize its not that simple, but its pretty much a given that if we did not invade these countries, most of those people would be alive today. Those 2 countries would not be in ruins.
In science we are taught To every action there is always an equal and opposite reaction. For a while in the past decades I bounced around MIHOP and LIHOP and thought the terror threat was overblown. I cannot say for certain I believe the official story of 9/11. None of us probably will never know exactly what happened. However, in reaction to it, justified or not, the fact remains that we invaded those countries. At least a million dead because of us. Is it not unreasonable to believe that there are those now who wish to get back at us? Perhaps the threat of terror is way overblown, but is there not the incentive there after what we did for the past 10 years?
Now this NSA phone records program, I do not know the details and am left to wonder what is really going on. This is not the 1st time we have heard of this story, at least not long time DUers and those of us who were parked on DU during the Bush years. Do we need this program? Does it work? What does it do? Has it stopped attacks on our country? Those questions need to be answered.
Do I trust President Obama to use this program more responsibly than President Bush? Definately. Does he need to be more forthcoming in its details? Definately. Do we really need this program and does it work? We need answers to that.
This issue is not so simple, it is not so cut and dry. The balance between freedom and security is forever a delicate balance. Whether you think the terror threat exists or not, there most certainly is an incentive.
= new reply since forum marked as read
The picture pretty much says it all. 
The over-reaction to 9/11 is tragic. The war in Iraq. All the lives lost in another country. We overreacted, I agree.
