is the title of Pulitzer Prize winner Bill Raspberry's op-ed piece in today's Washington Post. He writes about wrestling with the question of believing the warnings on terrorism. While I think the entire piece is worth reading, and thus provide the link here:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A50945-2004Aug8.html
I think his last three paragraphs say it all:
"This anti-terrorism business is tough, fiendishly so when the enemy is clever, resourceful and patient. I wish our president the greatest success in combating it. We need it.
But we need something else. When our president tells us that our security is at risk, that attack is imminent -- when the shepherd boy tells us that the wolf is already among sheep -- we need to be able to believe him, without doubt or reservation.
As I recall Aesop's fable, the shepherd boy survived his mendacity, losing only his job. It was the sheep that took the hit."