| The lesson from 911 | The Bush response |
| Disarming foreign powers won't work because now terrorists are using our own "weapons" against us | Disarm foreign powers, starting with Iraq |
| Increasing homeland security won't work because there are way too many holes and we can't make our airports safe even today | Increase homeland security |
| The new threat is from the people of friendly nations, not the governments of unfriendly nations | Attack governments of unfriendly nations. Focus efforts on perceived threats, rather than actual threats. Attack any government that we think might be a threat to us. Create false sense of urgency. Prioritize to attack the country that is least threatening to the US first (Iraq) and save the biggest, clearly real threats (North Korea) for last. Completely ignore the countries where the terrorists were from. |
| We are too dependent on foreign oil. The only way out is to reduce our demand. | Don't do anything about reducing demand. Attempt to increase supply instead, e.g., drilling in ANWR. Take actions that will increase our net dependence on foreign oil such as providing additional tax breaks for businesses that purchase large SUVs, i.e., incentivize inefficiency. Do not provide any incentives whatsoever to car manufacturers who voluntarily increase their average fuel economy. Vigorously oppose increasing the fuel economy of new cars (CAFE standards), thus ensuring that our dependence will continue to grow every year. Seek expensive new sources of oil within the US(ANWR) that will provide only a little new oil in 10 to 20 years from now, and nowhere near enough to compensate for the increased consumption. Don't ask Americans to sacrifice. Don't ask Americans to buy fuel efficient cars. Do absolutely nothing to incentivize plug-in hybrids, proven technology that can dramatically increase gas mileage and lower emissions without any significant disadvantages compared to a conventional gas vehicle. |
| People don't like us overseas because of our hegemonic foreign policies | Don't let foreign opinion influence our decision, but try to get foreign support. If we can't get support based on the merits of our case, try forcing them to make a black-and-white "if you are not with us, then you are against us" decision. If that doesn't work, offer billions of dollars to convince them of the merits of our argument. If that doesn't work, then just ignore them and do what we think is best, even if it means increasing the level of animosity towards the US and even if 90% of the people of the world are against us. Adopt a new outlook on getting along with others: "if we think you might be a supplier to terrorists, even if we have no hard evidence that anyone believes, we're going to invade your country and kill your people." |
| The biggest threat isn't the attack itself, it's now our response to the attack | Launch an attack on a country that has never threatened the US, has never attacked the US, and was not in any way responsible for 911. Risk millions of human lives and hundreds of billions of dollars. The cost in human life and financial cost may both easily dwarf the cost of the 911 attack. In short, use the American government to amplify the human and financial cost of the original attack. |
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