Ouch! That post was painfully long (for me at least), but...

I'm a little ADD so I couldn't finish it, it overwhelmed me!  However, I agree with you.   How could it be that a country with supposedly such superior intelligence, etc., etc., could be so easily be made a fool of????  At the time I had internet friends from Arab countries and Pakistan and one in particular kept telling me it was all a hoax but I, in my "patritotic" zeal was enraged and blocked him.  It took 9 years for me to accidentally come accross videos on Youtube about it all being a government conspiracy and then I saw all the dots connecting.  The true pitiful thing was that Anthrax hoax, yet it was so very effective we consented to have all our mail spied on... 

The best part was that our collective FEAR made it very easy for Bush to get the infamous "Patriot Act" signed into law immediately.  We gave up our rights in exchange for "protection", just like (supposedly) Benjamin Franklin said:  "Those who sacrifice liberty for security deserve neither. 

But the sad part is that so many are so utterly convinced that our government would "never" do anything to hurt us they consider this utter blasphemy and people like us nut cases that can't be taken seriously.  But personally, knowing how ahead of things I've been many times it really doesn't bother me, I've never or rarely been one to "run with the herd" so I've had plenty of chances to see how others can blindly flock to their own destruction like good little lemmings.