I'm worried. I'm concerned about our civil liberties being given up to fight terrorism: when that happens, we don't get them back.
The world is crying out for blood. People are crying out for their loved ones. I am continuing my daily life, going to the dentist, preparing for our sailing trip, drinking coffee. Between high school and college, I'm certain I knew at least a few people in the World Trade Center--both places have turned out a lot of skilled business/financial people.
I'm worried that ignorant politicians and rapacious corporations will use this attack as an excuse to restrict cryptography and invade privacy, notwithstanding that non-Americans are perfectly capable of developing cryptography (in fact they already have, and possess that as well as American research), and close surveillance of Americans is not a good way to catch foreign criminals.
A bothersome thought floats through my head: that this attack was instigated internally. I turn this thought over in my head, analyzing causes and effects and motivations and consequences. I can't rule it out yet, and I don't know if I ever will; if we don't accept that we are being shown all the evidence, then we cannot accept the evidence's conclusion. The benefits for authorities to do this are greater control over the populace, reduced freedoms, more power for the government both home and abroad, as the world steps up to support us (which they have, including China, Iran, and Libya and Cuba, of all places; Pakistan and Afghanistan, whether out of genuine cooperation or fear of a superpower promising to wipe entire nations off the map if they harbor terrorists. Everyone except Iraq, as far as I know. It would be a small conspiracy, organizing one group for the attacks (possibly Americans with axes to grind or nothing to lose, who knows?), and a second, patsy group, of not-too-bright Arabs, easily suspected, easily caught. All signs point to Osama bin Laden (the government holds the intelligence, so who the hell knows if he was actually capable of pulling it off?), and the world screams for an all-out war on terrorism, which is what this is warming up to be.
Just a thought. I don't like it.
I can't wait to be sailing.