Former MI5 chief: Response to 9/11 was 'huge overreaction'

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A former head of Britain's MI5 Saturday described the response to the September 11, 2001 attacks on the U.S. as a "huge overreaction" and says the invasion of Iraq influenced young men in Britain who turned to terrorism.

In an interview with the Guardian, Stella Rimington calls al-Qaeda's attack on the U.S. "another terrorist incident" but not qualitatively different from any others.

"That's not how it struck me. I suppose I'd lived with terrorist events for a good part of my working life and this was as far as I was concerned another one," she says.

Full report in today's Guardian

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Type: Discussion • Score: 10 • Views: 5,384 • Replies: 77

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@Walter Hinteler,

I thought it was an over reaction among the citizens,
but it was an act of war that required a military response.

3 Replies

@OmSigDAVID,

OmSigDAVID wrote:

I thought it was an over reaction among the citizens,
but it was an act of war that required a military response.

Even when Iraq was not behind the terrorism?

0 Replies

@OmSigDAVID,

OmSigDAVID wrote:

I thought it was an over reaction among the citizens,
but it was an act of war that required a military response.

Certainly you can have this idea.

It differs from that one of the former MI5 chief who thinks that it was "another terrorist incident" but not qualitatively different from any others.

Quote:

I'd lived with terrorist events for a good part of my working life and this was as far as I was concerned another one," she says.

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@OmSigDAVID,

I thought the US was a Christian country and that requires "turning the other cheek" and not revenge. Biting back is an animal response and congruent with Darwinian theology.

1 Reply

@Walter Hinteler,

Walter Hinteler wrote:

"That's not how it struck me. I suppose I'd lived with terrorist events for a good part of my working life and this was as far as I was concerned another one," she says.

Had it occured in London, her perspective might have been different.

2 Replies

@roger,

Ane then again. Maybe it wouldn't.

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Act of war it wasn't.

For a war to exist, whole countries have to be involved. They weren't. It was an act of terrorism.

1 Reply

@spendius,

Quote:

I thought the US was a Christian country

Certainly America is filled with Christians; other religions
are relatively small minorities, but technically it is secular,
with a separation between Church and state.

Quote:

that requires "turning the other cheek" and not revenge

Your words invite an interesting metafisical discussion,
but I am skeptical as to this public forum being well suited for that.

Quote:

Biting back is an animal response

While enjoying my HDTV, I 've seen a lot of predatory animals
going out for lunch. It has been superabundantly clear
(depending upon the species of animals involved)
that the lunch 's salvation lies not in fleeing the scene
but rather in counterattacking as brutally as possible
to effectively degrade the enemy's offensive capability.
This applies, for example, to waterbuffalo,
but not to fleet deer whose stamina exceeds that of the predators.

Quote:

congruent with Darwinian theology

He was a theologian ?

David

4 Replies

@OmSigDAVID,

Quote:

He was a theologian ?

Yes. He was big on going forth and multiplying and the patriarchal jazz.

0 Replies

@OmSigDAVID,

OmSigDAVID wrote:

Quote:
congruent with Darwinian theology

He was a theologian ?

Christ’s College, Cambridge; BA examination in theology passed in January 1831, degree awarded 26 April 1831.

0 Replies

@OmSigDAVID,

the United States is full of people who attend Christian churches... the United States is VERY low on people who live the Christian faith

2 Replies

@OmSigDAVID,

OmSigDAVID wrote:

Quote:

I thought the US was a Christian country

Certainly America is filled with Christians; other religions
are relatively small minorities, but technically it is secular,
with a separation between Church and state.

Just wait til Sarah Palin's president. All Christian, all the time. Gonna be fun. Christians love rules. Rules for everybody.

4 Replies

@ehBeth,

I know it seems egocentric for me to say so... but I feel soooooo sorry for Jesus.... and I wish that He, if He truly is an eternal spirit could somehow be sheltered from having to see how His message and the way He lived His life has been twisted and perverted by the human race.

0 Replies

@ehBeth,

Do you wish to try it without rules eh?

And when it comes to rules I don't think the Christian rule book is quite so elaborate of the socialist paradise. And forgiveness is easier to come by in the Christian tradition.

Which particular Christian rules do you object to?

1 Reply

@spendius,

yes one must merely ask for forgiveness and mean it even if it's at the last minute... who wouldn't do that and be sincere about it to boot?

0 Replies

when terrorists can provoke a powerful nation into an ill defined military action that squanders vast amounts of wealth and moral authority then the terrorists win. Electing an known ingnoramus as president, and allowing the legislature to become populated by political hacks, comes at great cost to the American people.

1 Reply

@hawkeye10,

unless you're a repo man....

1 Reply

@Bi-Polar Bear,

Quote:

the United States is full of people who attend Christian churches...
the United States is VERY low on people who live the Christian faith

Yes, Bear.
I must agree with u,
however, this is a very deep question with many levels
of metaphysical depth and differences of opinion
as to what constitutes "the Christian faith", hence
the high number of different Christian churches.

0 Replies

@Bi-Polar Bear,

the nation is on the verge of becoming repoed, by the Asians and the petrol states.

1 Reply

Former MI5 chief: Response to 9/11 was 'huge overreaction'

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