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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: CountofMoneyCristo who wrote (5845)	10/17/2001 3:46:25 PM
From: Original Mad Dog	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

All of this points out why dealing with terrorism at its source and not at its point of impact is the only solution. Sure, you can irradiate every truck that come into the country. Sure, you can hire ten million people to be security guards instead of doing something which creates value and raises our standard of living. But in the end, if you do that, you are living their way and not our way. I love living in a country with open spaces and relatively open borders and huge amounts of commerce moving in both directions at every port. It is part of the fabric of the greatest country (far from perfect, but greatest nonetheless) the world has ever seen. A relative handful of thugs whose failings make them unable to participate in this civilization are not a reason to radically change our society. They are a reason to scour the ends of the Earth until they are eradicated like the cockroaches they are.

To: CountofMoneyCristo who wrote (5845)	10/17/2001 3:49:49 PM
From: Michael Watkins	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

I am not in denial, perhaps its just that I have an acute sense for the scope of the international shipping problem. I used to do importing in a prior life. And as a youngster, drove a big, big, truck. Never had to worry about it being hijacked or stolen, now all truckers are thinking about that potential {especially the gas tankers I fear}. Every delay also adds to the economic impact, as well. Clearly there will be changes and security will most certainly improve, but unless we turn 100% inwards (dooming the world, I think), the risks will remain. So the war on terrorism (both political and economic) most certainly has to work on all fronts and at the moment, the root cause is going to bring about the quickest, most tangible, payback. PS, let me say that the thing that I admire about US (and to some extent Canadian / British and similar cultures) is that we tend to fix our problems. Prior to the attack I had a good sense that the economy could be repaired in the not so distant future despite the speculative investment bubble and related problems. Why? The US just has a Lets Get On With It attitude to such things. I'm not so sanguine now since I feel that the attacks are targetted at our economic underbelly (not just the obvious symbolism of the WTC attack) as much as the political scene. Its going to be hard for business to deal with that, and arguably many businesses are going to be much weaker. The Lets Get On With It attitude is clearly present in the military side of the conflict but there's much work to do elsewhere. I have a lot of hope just the same.