Duo said:
You know, it's ironic that everytime something like this happens we have the leader of the nation come up and reassure us that our way of life and lifestyle won't change despite the efforts of those behind the attacks, but truth be told the aspects of our daily life change, and a times radically. Look at the US now for example, the creation of the Dept. for Homeland Security and the Patriot acts. I mean now the rights of the US citizens are less and this causes a direct impact on the lifestyle on the average American citizen. Also after the London events here in Brussels security was stepped up a bit and in Paris it army and police rolled into the streets and train stations and other such public places. Controls of passengers and luggage increased and fear and anxiety as well.
I totally agree. Even in Tokyo security was tighten after 9/11. For example they introduce hand bags x-ray scan and visitor registration in most skyscrapers. And it's still there 4 years later. When I left London airport last month, a security woman picked up my wife in the passport queue and asked her to pass through a body scanner. There were hundreds of people around, of all races and ages, but they decided to choose a cute and innocent-looking Japanese girl on holiday. In fact she even cried after as she was wondering what happened to her and why they singled her out.
That's not really the way they'll find terrorists, and indeed had they done their job better at the same month, the terrorists would not have been able to plan and execute their attack.
It's good to hear reasuring words but I mean when one looks around reality is different. Sadly, these people seem to be getting to us little by little. I just wonder how much more it will take until goverments in the west begin to take drastic measures, like new id cards and things like that or who knows...
Sometimes I wonder if these attacks are not organised by our dear leaders themselves. In the US it is clear that 9/11 helped Bush stay president when his victory at the elections was being investigated for cheating. Then it helped him become Commander in Chief (quite a lot of power) and attack Iraq (his ultimate goal, to continue his father's work). It again helped him get re-elected, helped him pass the Patriot Act to increase the government's power and reduce citizens' rights. Whatever angle you look at it, 9/11 was good for Bush and his pals. More power, stay longer in power. And who knows what will happen next ? A dictature ?
I am amazed to see that Bush's political friends, be it Blair, Berlusconi or Koizumi, have stayed in power all the time since Bush was first elected. This is especially surprising for Japan and Italy, where Prime Ministers change almost as quickly as the seasons (sometimes faster). The last Japanese PM to stay in office for more than 2 years was Eisaku Sato from 1964 to 1972. Sato's case is also dubbious as his brother of Nobusuke Kishi, a convicted class-A war criminal later forgiven by the US to fight the communists, had been PM from 1957 to 1960.
The US have a lot of influence on Japanese politics (partly because Japan is bound to them through the US Army). It wouldn't surprise me if the PM who stay long enough receive some kind of support from the US government, while others step down rapidly. Koizumi was elected just a few month after Bush became president. Oh, what a coincidence ! More of a coincidence, Berlusconi was elected the same month. And yet one more coincidence, both of them are still there after 4 years, which is extremely unusual in their country's politics. As for Blair, it is a surpise too that he remained for so long, especially after 2 million people marched in London to protest against his support of the US-led invasion of Iraq. In Japan, any PM would have resigned had 10x less people protested publicly (but even less did).
So what ? Well, what if these guys' plan was really just to scare us, increase security, introduce ID cards (now discussing in the UK) or fingerprint checks (already implemented at US immigration), reduce our rights (Patriot Act), and convince us to go to war with some poor countries to fight the terrorists who may not live there or originate from there.
What if it was just a trick to change our way of life, and stay in office longer with increased political power ?