As a service member, I couldn't help be moved by this topic...
Don't blame an administration for what happened, it's our (as in Americas) fault we became complacent and arrogant enough to believe no one would cross the oceans to attack us. Too friendly to the north, to weak and unorganized to the south. The Canadien PM spoke out against our actions in an effort to gain some French favor and the reaction of the Canadien citizenship was pheonominal, mostly telling him to sit down and shut up. Canadiens and Americans have thier differences, however we are 2 of the best allies the any could have. Normally our support of the other (previous to this statement) was unconditional and we realize our survival on both countries accounts have been due to the bilatteral success of both of our countries. Canada and America will always remain unequalled partners even if we don't support what the other does.
DUE TO LACK OF A REAL THREAT: Our nation diverted spending on Intelligence and Military shortly after the demise of the USSR. Again, complaicency and arrogance. Unrealistic shifts of concern.
28% of our national budget is dedicated to foriegn aid...whom exactly do you refer to when u say we don't share the wealth...Need I remind you Canada and England have free Medical services and thier budget in this issue highly resembles ours...yet we pay an arm and a leg (mostly moneys that can not be afforded by the ones needing the attention) for medical services.
Americans have short memories...take a guess how long it was after the attacks the first groups of people started saying we're spending too much in the military side of the house. Tommorrows battlefield won't see large force on large force manuevers. It will see an abundance of robust units capable of dealing heavy shock with minimal man power. This demands monsterous Tech resources and a must to be in cutting edge developements if you want your brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, fathers and wives to come home safely.
Modern Armies generally do not run around haphazardly shooting, killing, maiming and raping. I have worked with bth Canadien and British operatives and we work pretty much the same. Our mission peramiters and outlines are very specific and deliver an exact result. It's far from the days of giving a kid a gun and saying "walk that way until you get shot at, then shoot back." We use flyovers, sattelite imaging, physical reconnaisance and populous information to ascertain enemy locations. Not perfect by far (IE...Saddam and Osama) but leaps and bouds above the derrigeables of WWI and WWII.
Why have I posted such a long reply...here we are bickering over petty and insugnifficant differances, when in reality, terrorism will never be gone...The fanatic/Zealot?Lunatic will always be present. We will have to deal with them as they come up. Our ploy has no religeous or political motivation. It is simply to protect the rights of people to make "I Hate Americans" posts such as these. We are willing to lay down our lives in order to ensure you have this right.