Krugman: 9/11 is "occassion for shame"

[opebo]

In all seriousness, what did this sympathy produce, in terms of tangible effects?

Two pointless wars, Bush re-election, and the collapse of the economy.  (well in fairness the economy was going to collapse anyway because of the neo-liberalism, but the wars hastened it).  Basically the Republicans played right into Al-Queda's master plan.

[opebo]

...Conservatives believe the worst aspect about 9/11 was the senseless terrorism.

'Senseless'? How is it senseless?  It worked very well, and all that has happened since has worked very well for them.

I believe with hindsight one could say, for example, that Pearl Harbor was a grievous error on the part of the Japanese (though not 'senseless'), awakening the Sleeping Giant and leading to the destruction of Japan; or, to a lesser extent, pretty much the same thing about the American involvement in Vietnam.  But the 9/11 strike - though one naturally abhors its perpetrators for their religiosity - must be admitted as a masterful and ingenious bit of David-and-Goliath strategy, and about as far from 'senseless' as a human action could be.