"Fighting In A Fog."
Terrorism, since it strikes out of the blue, is unpredictable, and therefore coping is much more difficult--Bush's policy of fighting all the time offers, if nothing else, a predictable response.
Unfortunately, this tactic doesn't work to stop terrorism, to eradicate it at its root source, or even to push it back within check. As long as American troops stand on Muslim soil, there will be a bottomless supply of new jihadists. In interviews last week the official 9/11 commission unanimously declared the failure of our response to the attacks that day.
If you want certainty, there you are. For certain we will keep on financing terrorism through Arab oil profits. For certain the number of terrorists is growing. For certain the worldwide perception of the U.S. is that of an uncontrollable aggressor. People don't want to face these certainties. They accepted Bush's "win the battle at any cost" mentality, but now that conditions are growing ever worse and the Iraqi policy ever more frustrating, there's no way out but to start living with uncertainty.
Two years from now, when right-wing war makers no longer control the White House, we can hope for intelligent, flexible, realistic talk from the next President. Meanwhile, we are fighting terrorism blinded by fog.
Let's hope Deepak is correct in his view that the war-makers are short-lived. Let's hope the machinery of war doesn't set a different scenario into motion.
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