A world where 911 never happened

bodhi085

My wife asked me this morning if I've ever wondered what it would be like in today's world had 911 never happened. Obviously things happen/happened in history and maybe it's the way it was meant to be,but I just wonder.
When the word terrorist is mentioned now we probably automatically think of country's like Afghanistan and then link that with 911 and bombings in our minds. But is that because of events like 911? How would we have thought had it not happened at all.
Did the world actually change because of it or would it be similar today anyway?

Donkey Oaty

bodhi085 wrote: »

Did the world actually change because of it or would it be similar today anyway?

There would be far, far less suffering and trauma over toiletries at airport security.

Alf. A. Male

The 9th of November isn't that significant a date.

Renegade Mechanic

Feck 'em. Used to be the Irish everyone thought of when the T- word was mentioned!

seamus

Bush would have still invented a reason to invade Iraq. The Middle East would still be pretty unstable.
Airport security would still have been pretty lax internally in the US, but through a series of small incidents like Richard Reid they would still have seen fit to increase security in airports for the sake of security theatre.
There might be a different security model though, e.g. Pay an extra €20 and get security pre-checked before you leave the house- no queuing!
In reality the only major difference is that America would only be slightly less racist against people of Arabian origin but if 11/9/2001 hadn't happened, there would have been another attack at some other time.
The terrorists won on that day in reality. They made half of the planet dislike America. Even the Americans don't trust eachother or their own government anymore; they're all spying on eachother and stockpiling weapons to defend themselves from eachother.

Birneybau

Would 5ive still have existed? Or Blue?

kneemos

Would have deprived conspiracy theorists of many multiple orgasms.

hfallada

We probably would have had a similar attack a few years later. Any security expert will tell you that the airline industry was very vulnerable to a terrorist attack. There was very like security precautions. Now it's very hard to hijack a plane.

Although 911 was a huge loss of life. I can't believe it's massive effect considering it was a one off group of attacks. Where as when the ira were bombing London on a regular bases. People got on with life and didn't let terrorists win

LizzieJones

Alf. A. Male wrote: »

The 9th of November isn't that significant a date.

Darn right it is! It's MY birthday!!

Gmaximum

Probably would have been a 912 instead

umop.episdn

Osama Bin Laden would still be selling rugs in a kasbah today

LizzieJones

umop.episdn wrote: »

Osama Bin Laden would still be selling rugs in a kasbah today

Still better then being rolled up in one and dropped into the ocean by the US military.

Tail Docker

I preferred their 908, it was a purer concept and waay faster.

stefan idiot jones

Well, we wouldn't have freedom would we?

smellmepower

Lads outside the Subway station opposite the site would have to find an income source other than peddling tatty souvenirs and weed to gullible tourists.

Big Nasty

LizzieJones wrote: »

Still better then being rolled up in one and dropped into the ocean by the US military.

You make you're rug, you lie in it. :pac:

Capt'n Midnight

umop.episdn wrote: »

Osama Bin Laden would still be selling rugs in a kasbah today

except as an trained engineer belonging to an extremely wealthy and very well connected family he'd hardly be selling rugs

Tardful Slakerly

It would still be where it is. Planners map out policy and agencies etc. follow through. If something convenient comes along that can be used for purpose then it is. The invasions/"interventions" in the middle east were always on the road map. There would probably be more trust in Americans for their own country as another poster said, less on the security checks. The effect would be seen on popular media mostly, but not world events.

The world isn't a series of unfortunate events, it's a series of orchestrated events when you scale back.

umop.episdn

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

except as an trained engineer belonging to an extremely wealthy and very well connected family he'd hardly be selling rugs

Now hang on a minute! Don't you be bringing facts & reality into this flight of fantasy thread!.........besides, I've changed my mind, he'd be a halal butcher of polar bears for the Eskimo Muslim community

Capt'n Midnight

umop.episdn wrote: »

Now hang on a minute! Don't you be bringing facts & reality into this flight of fantasy thread!.........besides, I've changed my mind, he'd be a halal butcher of polar bears for the Eskimo Muslim community

Are polar bears kosher ?

donegal__road

there would be approx 1,000,000 Iraqis still alive today.

Knob Longman

Renegade Mechanic wrote: »

Feck 'em. Used to be the Irish everyone thought of when the T- word was mentioned!

True.

Bush is the real terrorist.

whupdedo

donegal__road wrote: »

there would be approx 1,000,000 Iraqis still alive today.

Did that many people die ?

Duckworth_Luas

Knob Longman wrote: »

True.

Bush is the real terrorist.

Why do you hate freedom so much?

Lucas Hood

Alf. A. Male wrote: »

The 9th of November isn't that significant a date.

Fcuk you that's my birthday.

bumper234

French fries would still be French fries, or did they change it back to French fries?

dgt

You wouldn't have the analogy in the middle of this (lyrics maybe a bit NSFW...?)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xrGA5SWUCS4

donegal__road

whupdedo wrote: »

Did that many people die ?

This report is from 2008, so you could add a good few thousand to the figure in 2014.

Jonny7

whupdedo wrote: »

Did that many people die ?

Most estimates and body-counts point between 100,000 and 200,000 in the last 10 years. Some go as high as over 1 million. They vary hugely - the most consistent tolls are those of direct deaths which is on average around 100,000 civilian deaths

The unknown number is how many have died due to degraded infrastructure, high infant mortality rate and so on

donegal__road

*btw I didn't mean to drag the thread off topic as we all know Iraq had nothing whatsoever to do with 9/11.

donegal__road wrote: »

there would be approx 1,000,000 Iraqis still alive today.

Augmerson

I still think we would be roughly where we are today, 9/11 gave the US authorities a chance to accelerate greatly things that would have happened eventually. Maybe some other event or war would have happened instead, some other attack that justified draconian legislation that curbed freedoms and started intelligence agencies spying on everyone. Throughout the Clinton Administration the US was bombing, albeit limitedly, Iraq and aggressively patrolling the No-Fly Zones in the north and south. I think Bush Jr would have just orchestrated some downing of a US jet and launched an operation that would have toppled Saddam Hussein and installed a puppet government there.