[QUOTE] Given that the opportunity only existed after an initial attack, I don't see how it could have been lost.[/QUOTE] They did lose it - their response was to have a national nervous breakdown and then Bush declared "war on terror". They had no idea about how to react because this was the first time they'd had something this bad happen to them. Perhaps it's a little odd when you think how many tens of thousands the Americans have happily directly or indirectly killed in lots of other places. [QUOTE] But I think you're right - America as a culture doesn't really do stoical (tho plenty of individual americans are). Had they said "Is that all you've got?" to Osama on 9/11, then that would have been impressive.[/QUOTE] They thought that because they were American and in America that they were invincible. They were wrong because they were complacent, smug and arrogant and didn't take the minimum of precautions. You only have to see how American tourists react to sirens when we have "an alert" to know that they are not yet really past their national nervous breakdown. [QUOTE] And, in fact, that's what has actually happened - world trade has continued, the towers are being re-built, the US economy is still the biggest in the world. The US is odd for a super power, because it doesn't seem to believe in itself.[/QUOTE] I accept those things have carried on - there's no real reason for them not to. It was hardly the end of the world. I think America has no self belief because it doesn't have a real, historically framed identity.
