Raymond et al,
I find it heartening that we've managed to have a reasoned, careful debate here, and come to some shared (??) conclusions. What we've determined is that we are in a war, but a different kind of war than we've ever faced. Instead of facing a nation gearing up with tanks, planes, an armada and tens of thousands of soldiers, we face small, hard to find cells, populated with fanatics. Is one easier to fight than the other? I don't know, I suspect we will find out. The problem with this war is that it will most likely be continuing 30 years from now; no armistice.
We've also determined that we're not just fighting some people but an idea or some ideas. I had the same thought while jogging by the river as was posted later: we have fought strong ideas before, the super race of Germans and the holy Japanese emperor in WWII, the socialist paradise in the Cold War. Just because the ideas are strong and sincerely held, at least by some, doesn't mean that we can't enlighten the benighted. We may have to kill quite of few of them first, as the old joke goes, "just to get their attention."
JQP echoed what I think is a great idea, put this out for hire, let the survivors try to figure out who and what hit them.
For movie fans out there, there's a scene in "Casino" where some wiseguy starts to give Ace (DeNiro) some trouble at a bar. Nicky Santoro (Joe Pesci) is merciless on the guy and you see the guy getting pummelled long after it's necessary as Ace gives the voice over which goes something like: "You never wanted to fight Nicky, if you came with fists, he came after you with knives, if you came with knives, he came with . . ." |
