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A brief response to commenter MR:
I will say that the first thing you do in any war is ... attack your enemy. Despite what the administration said, Saddam Hussein was not responsible for the attacks on 9/11. You said the "intel' on
I do not believe in turning the other cheek as all it does is present your enemy with another target. That being said, I do not believe in shooting yourself in the foot.
Fighting the "Global War on Terror" (GWOT, as the administration has labeled it) requires that you have a full panoply of weapons at your disposal: diplomatic, intelligence, economic, police, military. The terrorist organization does not consist of a uniformed, standing army representing a recognized state. Instead, it is an amorphous, highly ideological, multi-national, and decentralized entity that, as Mao Tse Tung said, "swims in the ocean of the people." Its fighters appear to be highly motivated, well financed, and well trained for their missions. Do not confuse the way they are fighting their war with the way we fight wars. I've long felt that the better model for this war was the war against organized crime as i see many similar elements in motivation and organization. Finally, I think our large scale military operations ultimately work in favor of the terrorists on so many levels.
You ask me to speculate on Bush's "motive" for going to war in Iraq. I will leave the discerning of "motive" to Bush and his therapists. All I can try to understand are his actions.
Finally, you ask, "Should you despise the President or the people who elected him?" That's a false construction. I despise the President. I disagree with the people who elected him. I believe a lot for people who voted for him would make another choice today.
Thanks for writing, MR.
TRM
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At least 11 people died in an annual two-day kite festival in Punjab Province. Officials said two died after their throats were cut by kite strings made of wire, used to damage rival kites. Five died after being hit by celebratory gunshots, and two people were electrocuted trying to untangle kites from overhead power cables. Two others fell from roofs.
The police arrested more than 700 people for using sharpened kite strings or firing guns. The authorities had temporarily lifted a ban on kite-flying that was imposed after deaths at last year’s festival.
-NYTIMES, Feb. 27
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