Hi Jay,

Some
people have said that in a way Al Quaida has already won in the sad
sense, that much of the freedom that the US stood for (and freedom
is
what these people hate most) in the past has vanished already.

That's nonsense. Let's not play up the hyperbole *too* much, okay?

The above statement is greatly exaggerated as of today, I will agree on
that. That's why I choose not to adopt it by myself but to attribute it
to other people :-)

The warning it holds is however valid in my point of view. Trying to
extinguish terrorism by a constant increase in security measures WILL
affect our freedom long before it will achieve to make terrorist
attacks virtually impossible.

Bush-haters would have you (and everyone else) believe that our basic
freedoms have been infringed upon in some demonic way, in order to
root out
Osama, and that America has already lost the war on terror. Nothing
could
be further from the truth.

see above. Greatly exaggerated as of today, but not unthinkable to come
true if certain people have their way.

Let's step back for a moment, take a deep breath, and analyze what
has
really changed in our day-to-day lives:

1. We now have to arrive at the airport 2 hours early when we fly
commercially. (Formerly it was 1 hour.)
2. TFRs pop up occasionally when the President travels.
3. Ah, um, hmm.... *Surely* there must be *something* else?

You might be surprised to know how precisely security forces are able
to track your whereabouts already today. To me, this causes uneasy
feelings, although, of course, I have "nothing to hide".

Not. Precisely NOTHING of consequence has changed. Those first two
items
impact a tiny, tiny percentage of our society. 99% of Americans
don't
notice any difference between pre- and post-9/11 America -- because
there
ARE no meaningful changes.

Behind the scenes, "power-to-investigate" kind of stuff *has*
changed -- but
these don't effect most people in any but the most peripheral way.
And most
of THAT impact is philosophical.

Yes, we all of the free societies must stand together to fight this
threat. But to believe that the threat of terrorism can be overcome
by
increasing security and military action more and more will lead to
the
destruction of precisely what we want to defend, the free society.

I take comfort from the fact that we were able to beat the Japanese
in World
War II -- perhaps the single most warped, hateful, suicidal society
in the
history of the world -- and eventually become allies with them.
Hell, if
*that* can happen, anything can.

Willingness to suicidal combat manouvres is only a small part of the
problem with fighting terrorism. After all, the Japanese still had a
country where you could hit them. As was already pointed out, the
terrorists are just about everywhere.

In this war, the trick is to do PRECISELY what Bush has been doing --
fight
terrorists where *they* live.

That is exactly where the problem lies. Where DO the terrorosts live??
See above.

As the Madrid attack sadly proves, neither the war in afghanistan nor
in Irak did the "trick".

If that means Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, or
the entire Middle East, well, that scenario sure beats waiting until
the
*******s put bombs on trains in Chicago, or kill a busload of school
kids in
Des Moines.

That is not the alternative in question. No one says we should just
wait. I just question whether military action in the middle east or
elsewhere is going to stop the *******s (who, to be sure, already are
resident in the US and Europe) from putting bombs on trains and buses.
It also has been proven time and again, that it is still possible to
place weapons or explosives on airplanes in spite of the security
measures put in place since 9/11.

On the other hand, as far as my knowledge goes, even the 9/11 attacks
could have been prevented by more solid intelligence work, for example.
The information was there, only noone took notice because the amount of
data aquired was just to much to be thoroughly evaluated. How is
aquiring even more data (taking fingerprints from every tourist, e.g.)
going to help that?

Bottom line: When you're rooting out an insect infestation, you don't
just
kill the roaches in your kitchen -- you go after the nest.

I have no problem with that, as long as you know where it is. But I
don't think it is wise to nuke your neighbours house, because you
suspect the roaches nest in his basement.

regards,
Friedrich

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