<story><title>Whistleblower Binney says the NSA has dossiers on nearly every US citizen</title><url>http://www.networkworld.com/community/blog/hope-9-whistleblower-binney-says-nsa-has-dossiers-nearly-every-us-citizen</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>euroclydon</author><text>&lt;i&gt;Its actually surprising that US fell for it.&lt;/i&gt;&lt;p&gt;Yep. Bush would have been a hero if he hadn&apos;t fallen for it.  Compassionate conservatism, expressed in Medicare Part C. Tax cuts combined with modest military expansion would have held the deficit in check.&lt;p&gt;But remember the pundits saying, &quot;this one calles for boots on the ground&quot;? Even Jon Stewart showed a clip of Bush or someone making a compassionate statement, and commented &quot;you&apos;re killing my blood lust.&quot; And he meant it!&lt;p&gt;I don&apos;t guess Clinton wouldn&apos;t have fallen for it -- he didn&apos;t during all of OBL&apos;s significant attacks in the 90&apos;s.</text></item><item><author>kamaal</author><text>Muslim here.&lt;p&gt;I never understood both sides and their actions. I mean I find both Islamic fundamentalism and American actions all round globe both equally dumb.&lt;p&gt;I don&apos;t think OBL ever had it as an explicit aim to pull down US militarily or culturally transform US into a Islamic state. That is impossible, and I assume somebody like him already understood that. I guess his aim was to drag US into a war and then reduce them to a state USSR, now russia was in 1990 post Afghanistan war. Long wars benefit nobody. They are a huge drain on man power, economy and morale of a nation. Its actually surprising that US fell for it. I was expecting more of a Intelligence based response where the CIA would hunt him down and kill him, instead of wasting trillions dollars.&lt;p&gt;On the other hand. Afghans seem to be very stubborn people. They don&apos;t give up easily no matter how shitty state they are in. Its just in their blood and culture to not accept foreign occupation over them. Even the British that had the entire Indian subcontinent under them couldn&apos;t conquer them. In the recent history alone, every body knows what has happened of USSR after going there. So no matter how bad the Taliban is, they still consider them as their own country men compared to Americans who actually released them from their bondage.&lt;p&gt;As a moderate muslim, I feel bad every time I&apos;m pulled up for an ideology which I have nothing to do with. I&apos;ve been a subject of religious discrimination many times since 911. I&apos;ve been asked to come for extra rounds for job interviews, pulled up separately and checked at building security points, had troubles to open bank accounts, asked to delay visa filing for visiting abroad etc innumerable number of times. I feel having an arabicized name a huge liability to carry, a kind of burden for which you have to pay no matter even if you have nothing to do with their ideology.&lt;p&gt;On the other hand I see so much turmoil in the west, due to the war ordinary people like me having to pay for no mistake of theirs. Wars, economics crisis etc.&lt;p&gt;When I look at all this, I can&apos;t help but wonder that perpetrators of these crimes actually won.</text></item><item><author>bobsy</author><text>If this is true doesn&apos;t it mean that Bin Laden won the war on terror?&lt;p&gt;Every time I go to the airport I think this. Those full body scanners? Thanks to Bin Laden, now you practically get strip searched for every flight. You have to take off your shoes. You cannot take drinks on a plane.&lt;p&gt;You then have everyone on edge no matter where you go. You and a friend play CounterStrike. You get on the bus and start talking about good locations to plant the bomb. You will probably be wrestled to the floor by some over-zealous commuter.&lt;p&gt;It doesn&apos;t surprise me if this is true. The US attitude to privacy and civil rights have been becoming more like China&apos;s every year since 2001.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>milfot</author><text>What the hell are you talking about man? They bombed the crap out of Iraq during Clinton&apos;s term.. 93, 96, 98
And almost continuously from 99-01.</text></comment>
<story><title>Whistleblower Binney says the NSA has dossiers on nearly every US citizen</title><url>http://www.networkworld.com/community/blog/hope-9-whistleblower-binney-says-nsa-has-dossiers-nearly-every-us-citizen</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>euroclydon</author><text>&lt;i&gt;Its actually surprising that US fell for it.&lt;/i&gt;&lt;p&gt;Yep. Bush would have been a hero if he hadn&apos;t fallen for it.  Compassionate conservatism, expressed in Medicare Part C. Tax cuts combined with modest military expansion would have held the deficit in check.&lt;p&gt;But remember the pundits saying, &quot;this one calles for boots on the ground&quot;? Even Jon Stewart showed a clip of Bush or someone making a compassionate statement, and commented &quot;you&apos;re killing my blood lust.&quot; And he meant it!&lt;p&gt;I don&apos;t guess Clinton wouldn&apos;t have fallen for it -- he didn&apos;t during all of OBL&apos;s significant attacks in the 90&apos;s.</text></item><item><author>kamaal</author><text>Muslim here.&lt;p&gt;I never understood both sides and their actions. I mean I find both Islamic fundamentalism and American actions all round globe both equally dumb.&lt;p&gt;I don&apos;t think OBL ever had it as an explicit aim to pull down US militarily or culturally transform US into a Islamic state. That is impossible, and I assume somebody like him already understood that. I guess his aim was to drag US into a war and then reduce them to a state USSR, now russia was in 1990 post Afghanistan war. Long wars benefit nobody. They are a huge drain on man power, economy and morale of a nation. Its actually surprising that US fell for it. I was expecting more of a Intelligence based response where the CIA would hunt him down and kill him, instead of wasting trillions dollars.&lt;p&gt;On the other hand. Afghans seem to be very stubborn people. They don&apos;t give up easily no matter how shitty state they are in. Its just in their blood and culture to not accept foreign occupation over them. Even the British that had the entire Indian subcontinent under them couldn&apos;t conquer them. In the recent history alone, every body knows what has happened of USSR after going there. So no matter how bad the Taliban is, they still consider them as their own country men compared to Americans who actually released them from their bondage.&lt;p&gt;As a moderate muslim, I feel bad every time I&apos;m pulled up for an ideology which I have nothing to do with. I&apos;ve been a subject of religious discrimination many times since 911. I&apos;ve been asked to come for extra rounds for job interviews, pulled up separately and checked at building security points, had troubles to open bank accounts, asked to delay visa filing for visiting abroad etc innumerable number of times. I feel having an arabicized name a huge liability to carry, a kind of burden for which you have to pay no matter even if you have nothing to do with their ideology.&lt;p&gt;On the other hand I see so much turmoil in the west, due to the war ordinary people like me having to pay for no mistake of theirs. Wars, economics crisis etc.&lt;p&gt;When I look at all this, I can&apos;t help but wonder that perpetrators of these crimes actually won.</text></item><item><author>bobsy</author><text>If this is true doesn&apos;t it mean that Bin Laden won the war on terror?&lt;p&gt;Every time I go to the airport I think this. Those full body scanners? Thanks to Bin Laden, now you practically get strip searched for every flight. You have to take off your shoes. You cannot take drinks on a plane.&lt;p&gt;You then have everyone on edge no matter where you go. You and a friend play CounterStrike. You get on the bus and start talking about good locations to plant the bomb. You will probably be wrestled to the floor by some over-zealous commuter.&lt;p&gt;It doesn&apos;t surprise me if this is true. The US attitude to privacy and civil rights have been becoming more like China&apos;s every year since 2001.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>Tloewald</author><text>I think the invasion of Afghanistan was inevitable, but not Iraq. Afghanistan was a big mistake (even Rthe USSR, with a land border, couldnt handle it) but Iraq was worse and bizarre.</text></comment>