The Billiken's Bluff

RoDB writes:

"because no matter how many cameras you put up, how many cops you have in subway stations or at airports, if a terrorist wants to kill people, then he or she will make it happen"

AND

"it's idiotic to hunt down terrorists, it's just stupid, it's an extremely short-term solution"

I know this is absolutely true, yet somehow I lose sight of this while watching the news and listening to a government's latest plan to fight terrorism at home and abroad.

Witness this justification for why US troops are still fighting insurgents in Iraq...

George W. Bush (and about 2/3 of Congress [including John McCain who I like]) says:

"We want to fight THEM (Arabs/Muslims/Terrorists) over THERE (in Iraq/Afghanistan) so we don't have to fight them HERE (on American soil)."

As RoDB would say, "that is an extremely vague and pretty much meaningless and inaccurate statement."

There is a commercial that everyone is probably familiar with where the US Army tries to attract recruits by featuring a cadet scaling a rocky summit with his bare hands. He then brandishes a sword, slices up a larger than life lava monster, and escapes an avalanche. The slogan flashes on the TV screen:

BE A PART OF THE ARMY OF ONE.



Yay. America. Self-Reliance. It actually inspires me to go out to the gym and do some chin-ups.

But, unfortunately sovereign nation's armies are not armies of ONE.

Terrorists however, can be Armies of ONE.

A Una-Bomber.



The Lone Gunman (not men).



A single suicide bomber.



It's not possible to win the war on terrorism. It's not possible, or reasonable to think that you can fight terrorists in Iraq or on the Moon or wherever and that they will then somehow be...

What?

Worn out?

Depleted?

Dejected?

...and therefore unable to strike in New York, London, Madrid, Cairo, Jakarta, or pretty much anywhere in the world. It gets confusing when fighting them THERE becomes just about ANYWHERE, to prevent them from coming HERE which has also become just about EVERYWHERE.

AHHHHH!!#!@#$!@#$!@$ (that is how all of this makes me feel)

But all is not hopeless. You can try to thwart every would be terrorist by doing the following:

You can search one in every five bags entering the Tri-State transit system.

AND/OR

You can shoot suspicious-looking electricians wearing overcoats 5 times in the head.



And still issue the decree that your law enforcement will be instructed to shoot to kill.

You can give it a shot.