This whole notion of waging a war on a tactic was the most ridiculous and expensive exercise EVER dreamed up, well, since the War on Communism anyway. At the obvious risk of being branded pro-terrorist I'll just list some manifestations within our own culture:
Liquid explosive threat, cockpit door issue, water supply threat, suitcase nuclear device threat, container ship threat, border security menace, profiling of Muslims, anthrax mailing, castor bean manipulation . . . you know the drill, please add your favorite one to the list.
Next week there will be a new threat trumpeted on FOX. A gadget, a gizmo, a gimcrack, a geegaw. Anything to keep a gullible American public in a state of fear. The reason the neo-cons settled on the War on Terror is the same reason we have already lost the war, because this isn't a war we're supposed to win so much as it is a theme designed to dominate our lives. This is THE THEME to take the place of the late, great Communist Menace.
I keep thinking of two metaphors:
One is the American people sitting like a slack-jawed hypnotist's subject, staring glassy-eyed at a shiny silver watch swinging back and forth and back and forth. Are you getting sleepy yet?
Is it that the American people are so gullible? Or so overly-trusting in the "leaders" who happen to call Washington DC their home and place of business? Or is it like a hypnotist? A situation where an entire country WANTS to believe some magic will happen. We want to see our leaders define a problem and the solve it, even though it seems impossible.
The second metaphor is one where the American public is living like an extremely paranoid person. Someone who you might imagine in a gated community, with a home security system, a panic room, and a 38-caliber revolver. And someone who scans the news for inklings of incoming threats. I'm sure everyone has know a person like that, locked in an unfortunate mindset that dictates their life.
Human psychology is not something the neo-cons invented, but it is something that they are shamelessly manipulating to their advantage. And to the advantage of the domestic oil industry, the defense contracting industry.
The ultimate "proof" of the neo-con desire to grip the nation in an ongoing war rather than one with an end is the fact that Osama bin Laden has not been captured. Even the most amateur sleuth can see from his own fuzzy video that he remains in a very finite area of the world. This guy could have easily been brought to justice at a miniscule fraction of the cost, in dollars and lives, than what has been wasted in the absurd war in Iraq.
I guess ultimately I might be wondering if the American people, as a whole, are really as stupid as we seem to be. The mainstream media has been almost no help, I suppose because a War on Terror keeps viewers and readers glued to the news and the advertising. But even with the media withstanding, can We The People be so dumb?