Bridgette,
I am still formulating my ideas as to what should be done (as if my ideas mattered one iota to the people making the actual decisions). But mostly it comes down to enforcing existing laws. If people are not supposed to be in this country, as the hijackers eventually became from staying here too long, then the authorities should track them down and enforce the existing laws. They used fake IDs. There are laws against that too -- enforce them.
What else? We are used to being searched in an airport. That is an unconstitutional unreasonable search since it assumes we are all guilty until proven otherwise even though they have no reason to suspect us individually. Yet I find I can't quite bring myself to demand my rights in this case. I think our modern society, which demands the full access to weapons, need to check those weapons on occasion. And since I can still choose not to fly if I want to stand on my principles, it is not something I object to. In fact, search me more if it will help. I have less objection to loss of privacy when I am in public than I do when I am in my own home.
I also think those who committed this crime should be brought to justice. COMF asked if this was a new principle for me, since I have objected to the death penalty for McVeigh. No, this is not new. McVeigh was no longer a threat, and therefore his death served only to make him a martyr. In the case of the people responsible for this crime, they are still a threat, and evidently will remain so until put to death. That's why in this case I want to see them killed. All the folks who are throwing strawman arguments at me in the assumption that I don't want the criminals killed can now see that we are on the same side here.
Will this prevent terrorism? Of course not. But it might help reduce it if they see that there will be punishment every time they try it. As you said, Israel at least gets to survive, even if they get cafes blown up now and then. It's the same thing in London. If you live there, you live with the possibility of a bomb going off at any time. Does life go on? Sure. What else can you do, other than doing your best to prevent it, knowing you will never be 100% successful.
Remember, this was not the first time terrorists blew up the WTC. It happened in 1993 first, when a car bomb went off in the garage, killing people. They hoped it would undermine the foundation and cause the towers to collapse. They failed, as it happened. So what happened this time wasn't even new, other than the number of people killed. People are running around saying, "America isn't safe now!" Well, it wasn't safe a month ago either. We've seen since 1993 that terrorism is here to stay, and yet we've managed to live the last 8 years in relative quiet and peace. I think that's the way it will be in the future, something that Europe long ago adjusted to: terrorism will happen, but you live your life in the meantime. We're late to the party, but since 1993 we've been there. It's a shame that many Americans didn't catch on until so many died here.
If the Immigration Service had been doing its job (that is, if they had enough funding to do its job well) since 1993, they might have caught some or all of thsese hijackers ahead of time. We don't need to ban encryption (they didn't use any), we don't need more wiretap laws (the NSA already captured their phone calls), we don't need to pass new laws (just enforce the existing laws for a change). And we need a new mindset: We are like the rest of the world at last -- a target for random violence at any time. Let's react to this threat, but not overreact in a way that will make things worse.
