Or Why We Can’t Win the War If We Let the Other Somewhere in a cave in Afghanistan or a high rise in Riyadh "We’ve got to do something really dastardly to the infidel invaders "I have thought of just the thing," slyly intones Faisal. "It came to "Let me see," crowed Faruk, craning his recently shaven neck at the "You must think me an idiot! Flying’s too dangerous these days. No, "And how do you intend to do that?" "Easy! The infidels are tapping so many phones and emails they barely Total cost of this terrorist operation – $2.95 in connection time. Meanwhile, in a windowless room in a basement in Virginia, or a wardroom "What’s up, Webster?" The crew-cut chief dork ambles over for a look. "This email, Chief, forwarded to us by the Chemical Brothers in Islamabad, "Great Cesar’s Ghost! This is what we’ve been looking for! Quick, get "Yessir" "You’ll be getting a promotion for this one, Webster! Good Total cost for our response: $287 million plus indirect costs of lost Conclusion: Relying on technology is fine, especially when you have the best in the |
-
Archives
- September 2020
- August 2013
- February 2012
- January 2012
- September 2011
- August 2011
- February 2011
- January 2011
- September 2010
- August 2010
- June 2010
- May 2010
- April 2010
- June 2009
- April 2009
- March 2009
- December 2008
- September 2008
- August 2008
- July 2008
- June 2008
- May 2008
- April 2008
- March 2008
- February 2008
- January 2008
- December 2007
- November 2007
- October 2007
- September 2007
- August 2007
- July 2007
- June 2007
- May 2007
- April 2007
- March 2007
- February 2007
- January 2007
- December 2006
- November 2006
- October 2006
- September 2006
- August 2006
- July 2006
- June 2006
- May 2006
- April 2006
- March 2006
- February 2006
- January 2006
- December 2005
- November 2005
- October 2005
- September 2005
- August 2005
- July 2005
- June 2005
- May 2005
- April 2005
- March 2005
- February 2005
- January 2005
- December 2004
- November 2004
- October 2004
- September 2004
- August 2004
- July 2004
- June 2004
- May 2004
- April 2004
- March 2004
- February 2004
- January 2004
- December 2003
- November 2003
- October 2003
- September 2003
- August 2003
- July 2003
- June 2003
- December 1969
-
Meta
Waiting to hear the results of your rethinking. Do nothing? I hope not. What monetary value would you put on each American life?
Just had the same thought when they took my fingerprints and a picture of myself two hours ago, as I was going through Customs at Logan, and saw all the expensive-looking brand-new equipment they were using at each lane. There has been a lot of talk about oil and the contracts Corporate America is getting in Iraq, but I haven’t read anything about the business of “security”. Who’s profitting from all this paranoia? 30 years of terrorism in Spain has taught us there that the best way to fight it is hard, patient work and good intelligence, not hysterical responses to “chatter”.
Luckily, the people planning the Al Qaeda ops are frickin nuts.
Listen, a couple of teenagers who like to read Soldier of Fortune could wreak massive destruction on the countries infrastructure.
Why can’t Al Qaeda? Because they don’t think like us. They’re off in a fantasy world.
They’re not playing games, because they’re not fighting us – they’re jousting with windmills
That’s exactly the problem. They don’t think like us, so we don’t think like them. So we don’t know what to expect. As for the windmill metaphor, maybe you didn’t intend it, but it’s not in the best taste and actually runs against your argument: they’ve taken down two “windmills” already. And why? Because some people grew suspicious about that small plane full of explosives idea of them and they had to resort to the unthinkable.
My point is that, well, we defeated the Soviets by getting them in a spending war they couldn’t win, basically bankrupting them in an arms race. If these terrorists can get us to spend millions at the drop of a dime, can’t they do the same to us?