Wow Kerry took the Florida primary!

[kandrathe]

Ok, but what about Sudan? What about Bangladesh? What about Indonesia? The Phillipines? It will never stop. There will always be another place more down trodden to run off to and build another network of the disenfranchised. If this thing is going to be stopped, you have to cut off its head. Yes, use intelligence to figure out what a cell might be up to and take out that limb, but also you must cut out the heart.

Ultimately this is a psychological war, and so you must prove that these means are worthless. If the reaction of the world is capitulation to their violence (such as our weak response to the embassy bombings in Africa, our pulling out of Somalia, and launching a few Tomahawk missles once in a while at dubious targets), then of course it will embolden them and there will never be an end to it. Of course, we have seen that the reverse is true. If you respond to these heinous acts with a cool resolve, and instant and appropriate repercussions they seem to stop. The ultimate answer is equality, education and opportunity. A young man with the prospect of a good education, raising a family, and having a useful and meaningful life would be less likely to throw it all away to follow the likes of OBL.

We can't stop at Afghanistan, because most of the surviving bad guys have moved on and regrouped somewhere else. Probably Bangladesh, or Indonesia, or maybe they are still dispersed. We are probably still chasing some around the upper wastelands of northern Pakistan, but I think that is just subterfuge. I think al Queda would only leave a token force in Afghanistan to funnel new recruits from the madrasas into their network, harrass the Americans and the new Afghan government, and wait their time to return. Maybe when another weak and pathetic American President takes office and begins the hand wringing again. Their best tactic is not to directly confront soldiers, but kill them with road side bombs and blow up their barracks when they are sleeping. I believe they will focus on the tactics of terrorism that have worked for them in the past, and that is choose random weak targets with a huge impact. Like Spanish commuter trains. Whatever is most valuable that you are not protecting. All they need to do is wait for a good target to present itself to show that your government is powerless to stop them. Do that enough and a cowed and terrorized nation of people will demand their government to capitulate.

Whatever you might think about the US invasion of Iraq, to me another truly ruthless despot has been brought down with a minimal loss of life. Far less than that which suffered under his miserable regime, and to me that is a good thing. But we can't just be the reckless cowboy nation that charges into to every hell hole in the world either. In one regard the Bush doctine against terrorism is right on the mark, a world united against terror can win. Unfortunately, the Bush administration are terrible salesmen.