When Osama Bin Laden offered us a "truce" why didn't we at least open up talks?
140159
Would you trust this man???
680027
We are not all so tolerant. It makes some of us very ill to think about.  The war was suppose to be about 9/11 and terrorism.  There are other countries with dictators as bad or even worse then Saddam.  He had nothing to do with Iraq and yet Osama has his job still.  Some Americans here say that "they hate us for our freedom" but I guess they don't realize we are not the only free country in the world.  There are other counries that have more freedom then we hve here.  Our country is a mess and many of us pray for this time to pass.
19707
No one has to date, been willing to pay the hostage fee. Will we never learn that we cannot negotiate with terrorists?
926654
Osama was a bit of a spent force already then. He's always been the paymaster of the organisation rather than its Supreme Commander, so I'm not sure that much would have been achieved (except for a propaganda blow to al-Queda) by simply napping him. I agree with the administration's decision that the whole network in Afghanistan had to be crushed, not just a few figureheads. That said, though, I blame Bush & Co. for letting Osama get away with how many top men and active fighters when they had them holed up in Tora Bora. All because they feared massive American losses if they had to fight up hill. So they allied themselves with cash-hungry local warlords. Lesson one: if people can be bought once, they can be bought twice...
1123915
To be honest because both sides misunderstand each other, and it seems to be human nature to react fearfully to those things we don't understand.\n\nUnfortunately, it's our nature also to try to avoid being attacked by things we're afraid of by making the first move and starting the fight on our terms so, at the very least, we have a good chance of getting out of it alive.\n\nCan we live in peace?  \n\nI don't know.  \n\nDo you want to?\n\nPeace will be achieved when that's what people genuinely want before anything else, and have the bravery to lay down their arms and walk toward their enemies with open arms, even in the face of harm or death, to embrace them as brothers and sisters.\n\nAs for me, I'm an American, and I will freely extend my hand in peace and friendship to each and every Arab out there who simply wants to live in peace themselves.
669946
In his latest audiotape which was released on January 19th, Osama ben Laden had declared: "If you [Americans] are sincere in your desire for peace and security, we have answered you. And if Bush decides to carry on with his lies and oppression, then it would be useful for you to read the book _Rogue State', which states in its introduction ... " He then goes on to quote the opening of a paragraph (which appears actually in the Foreword of the British edition only, that was later translated to Arabic), which in full reads:\n "If I were the president, I could stop terrorist attacks against the United States in a few days. Permanently. I would first apologize -- very publicly and very sincerely -- to all the widows and the orphans, the impoverished and the tortured, and all the many millions of other victims of American imperialism. I would then announce that America’s global interventions -- including the awful bombings -- have come to an end. And I would inform Israel that it is no longer the 51st state of the union but -– oddly enough -– a foreign country. I would then reduce the military budget by at least 90% and use the savings to pay reparations to the victims and repair the damage from the many American bombings and invasions. There would be more than enough money. Do you know what one year of the US military budget is equal to? One year. It’s equal to more than $20,000 per hour for every hour since Jesus Christ was born.\n"That’s what I’d do on my first three days in the White House. On the fourth day, I’d be assassinated."\nThe stunning victory of the Islamic Resistance Movement Party Hamas in the Palestinian elections underlines the central contradictions in the Bush administration's policies toward the the Islamic World. Hamas' stunning victory underlines the contradictions, hypocrisies and double-standard in Bush's Mideast policies.\nDemocracy depends not just on elections but on a rule of law, on stable institutions, on basic economic security for the population, and on checks and balances that forestall a tyranny of the majority. Elections in the absence of this key societal context can produce authoritarian regimes and abuses as easily as they can produce genuine people power. Bush is on the whole unwilling to invest sufficiently in these key institutions and practices abroad. And by either creating or failing to deal with hated foreign occupations, he has opened our minds to the fact that only militant Islamist movements that gain popularity because of their honest credentials is only the way forward.
577510
It seems that our government has failed us at every level to me... first with Clinton, as you have stated, but his failures is no excuse for the current presidency not taking further action to catch bin Laden now... I'm not even going to talk about pre-911 failures, which I think there were some by both Bush and Clinton\n\nNow that we have seen what he is capable of, we still haven't caught him... which to me is much less excusable than not catching him before we knew what he was capable of... and I think we're open to other attacks now... \n\nwe should not look to the past and pointing fingers anymore, at Bush or Clinton, but talk about what we should be doing now... which if you ask me, is focusing on Bin Laden
544195
Yeah. If USA was not intervening with other countries' business, it would have been prevented. From the way US is acting in Iraq and with Iran, I am not sure what US have learnt from 911 though.. Osama and his people are devils trained by US.
737628
He has a good point. We're not really targeting the key players, we're not making it difficult for them to recruit by killing the enemy in large numbers, and we're not saying, "HEY! Moderate Muslim dude, tell your fundamentalist neighbor to quit blowing people up!"\n\n\nNo wonder we'll eventually lose this war and the Middle East will become a degenerate, ignorant sinkhole.
53728
Look up Mr. bin Laden on the internet. Then look up some info on alternative theories to 9/11. Give yourself a full rounded education on the man. Also, you may want to check out "House of Bush/House of Saud." Good read, and you may be surprised to see how close our president is to this freedom fighter/terrorist. Also, You have to understand that not every country agrees with us, and how would you feel if another country was coming into the US and kidnapping people and taking over our country. As US citizens, would we not fight? Would we then be "freedom fighters" or "terrorists" when we launched attacks on the country which was invading us?
327109
I think we need to send covert operations in to destroy their nukes and then send in air strikes to finish the job.  Negotiation is used only as a stalling tactic by Islamic nations. They do not accept anything but unconditional surrender or absolute defeat.\n\nWhat most westerner's don't understand is that lying is considered normal and acceptable in Muslim culture.  It is assumed that sellers will try to swindle buyers in the marketplace and that enemies will act like friends when it serves their purpose. It is assumed that family will compliment each other profusely when they are together and then insult each other in the privacy of their home with their spouses.
184292
You think youre pretty clever coming up with this. Ok, now let me tell you something. Not long before 9-11, Bin Laden was treated at the American Hospital in Dubai, where he was also visited by a local chief of the CIA. Also, throughout the 80s Bin Laden was funded and armed by the CIA to fight against the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Al Queda has communicated with government leaders from Russia to Pakistan. Communications prove nothing. By the way, I highly suggest you watch this video on 9-11:\n\nhttp://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8260059923762628848\n\n\nPeace
440515
Believe me, there is nothing we would like more than to have peace! the problem is that there are so many arabs \nthat hate us and instead of making peace, they bomb us.\nunfortunately, i do net see any solution in the short term. at least not a civilized one lol
713007
The attacks were not stopped because honestly, at the time our additude was: Hey, we're America! nobody can **** with us. We weren't prepared for an attack, and quite honestly, the attack was executed perfectly. Osama's smart! Just because he's not an american does that mean he's an idiot? Osama will never be aprehended, thats how it is. Bush sucks, yes, but other than an overthrow of the government, what can we do? \n\nHere's something to lighten the mood:\nWhats worse? screwing an intern or screwing the country?
955653
Yes I do because at the battle of Tora Bora in Afghanistan in December of 2001, we had Osama Bin Laden cornered, and rather than using Special Forces troops to either nab him or just kill him, our military paid Afghan War Lords to go after him, and god knows where he went or what happened. Point being, he got away. Ever since then, I think America has had a black eye because the rhetoric of our president after 9/11 was we're going to get him dead or alive, and it never amounted to what he promised.
1100479
That would be better especially because as we try to eliminate terrorists were just making more enemies. However, how are  you supposed talk to them, and what are you goin to say? It's best if we wouldn't get people angy in the first place. Besides were not having a war on terror, thats just an excuse to get Iraq's oil.
51765
According to pre-release comments by al Jazeera, he will propose a truce.  But considering he's already said we all must die at Muslim hands, I don't trust anything he says.  If he actually is trying to make a truce, its only because he feels close to being beat.  It appears we must have really creamed the remnants of his top command with these last attacks in Pakistan.