Bush is a great leader and the first sign of a great leader is to think of exit before going in...
Also the first sign of a good trader! <g>
There are several impressive focii of cooperation in this effort:
- U.S. with Russia and C. Asian "stans"
- U.S. and European counterterrorism units (a major Euro-plot was just broken up: French found the ring leader and arrests have been made in no fewer than eight countries);
- even within U.S. law enforcement (however, one needs to read this article to understand the challenge facing U.S. efforts:
suntimes.com
- not to mention the difficult job of coalition building among the U.S., Pakistan, and India.
Regarding that booty call:
1. Bin Laden is an important prize, but we absolutely need to get al-Zawahri (allegedly on walkabout in Balkans) and a couple of other key lieutenants to assure the disruption of al-Qaeda's global command and control.
2. State sponsorship of terrorism must be shattered. Not disrupted. Not censured. Not pressured. Annihilated. Iran's cleaved civil-religious leadership is playing with the hottest of fire with their conflicting pronouncements. Syria has, for too long, provided refuge and succor to the most vile of terrorist organizations. Iraq hardly requires further analysis. George Will's latest piece lays out a possible strategy, along with the risks of inaction:
washingtonpost.com
Herbert Hoover said that the President should be allowed to have three people shot, without explanation, every year. One reporter asked him if that would be enough. He said it was: he would just send out letters telling each recipient he was under serious consideration for next year's list.
I understand the impulse to sit in a circle and sing Kuumbaya, but the Hoover Doctrine is the better guide to prosecuting this war (World War IV, for anyone counting).
I am impressed by the restraint and subtle diplomacy my government is demonstrating (high praise from this skeptic of the state). However, when it is time to take the hill, take the damn hill! I am not going to surrender every shred of my civil liberties in lieu of eradicating these vipers from the face of the earth.
Not that I have an opinion, mind you...
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