It's pretty clear that Al-Qaeda etc accomplished at least some of their goals. The 9/11 attack drew the US into Afghanistan and Iraq. And chaos in Iraq has been a huge factor in the growth of ISIS. 9/11 has also corroded respect for the US Constitution. The CIA got into torture, and the NSA maxed out its intercept and analysis capabilities.

So yes, it "sadly looks like the terrorists have won" :(

Edit: Deleted "('just a piece of paper' according to W)".

mirimir, that W quote is false.

http://www.factcheck.org/2007/12/bush-the-constitution-a-god...

Please check your facts before spreading false rumors. Thanks!

I'm going from memory. That quote was in the news, at the time. But yes, http://www.factcheck.org/2007/12/bush-the-constitution-a-god... tells me that it's probably bogus.

Thanks :)

While we're all busy checking our facts, the site you linked to does not state the quote is "false", it says it is "extremely unlikely".

It says it is "extremely unlikely" in the second line. If you read slightly further you will see:

> We judge that the odds that the report is accurate hover near zero. It comes from Capitol Hill Blue...

> Update, Feb. 21, 2011: The author of the Capitol Hill Blue story has now withdrawn it.

> If you read slightly further you will see:

Good point. Because I mentioned two words that appear at the top of the page, that means I obviously didn't read any further.

If you read the article you'll know that nowhere does it say false, as the other poster claimed.

Why don't they say it's false, if it's false? What's stopping them?

The fact that someone eventually removes something from their site does not mean it was false.

Someone using the contrived sentence "the odds that the report is accurate hover near zero" - rather than just saying "it's false" - also does not make it false.

I don't believe it happened either - sorry if you used your 500+ karma because I didn't issue a disclaimer to that effect - but that also doesn't mean it's false.

My point was about someone whining about getting facts right, by linking to an aticle that bends over backwards to not say what they think it says.

So, 5-10 years on, will people be claiming that Romney didn't diss Obama supporters in 2012? There is that video clip. But by then, it could probably have been faked. Reality is such an ephemeral thing.