CAN AL QAIDA BE DETERRED ?
Some interesting but lengthy reading from RAND. I haven’t finished it myself yet but this study has useful information and conceptual strategies for dealing with international terrorism, particularly al Qaida.
A QUESTION OF PRIORITIES
The United States is in the midst of a dangerous war to destroy an apocalyptic and transnational Islamist political movement that is bending most of its energies to engineer our destruction and to remove from power the outlaw regimes that sponsor the ” Terror Masters “. As a result, deficits are rising, military resources are stretched to the brink and other programs are on the chopping block. At such a time can we really afford to continue as well, to the tune of ( at least) tens of billions, the war on drugs ? If this law enforcement program has been the moral equivalent of a war then that analagous war is Vietnam.
The results of the drug war have been a massive ( statistically speaking) demographic and economic disruption to our society, the ballooning of prison populations and the enrichment of foreign criminal syndicates to the point where narcotics traffickers can field armies to battle allied governments. Al Qaida drew funds from drug trafficking. North Korea funds its nuclear bomb program from drug trafficking. Drug trafficking yields untold billions in revenue primarily because it is illegal and these billions represent deadly armaments aimed at the heads of us all.
We are now engaged in a real war, not a political one, where if we falter for a moment, thousands of Americans could again die on a single day. Is this really all that difficult of a choice to make ? Pardon the nonviolent offenders who otherwise lack violent criminal records in a sensible, orderly way and put the vast sums and personnel devoted to the drug war toward securing our borders and killing terrorists. The drug war has eroded liberty, property, privacy and safety while expanding government power at home and destablizing friendly governments abroad. It was in every sense of the word a failure. Social pressure, taxation and medical treatment could achieve the same reductions in addicts at a fraction of the cost.
One would think this is an outcome conservatives would welcome.
FIGHTING FOR DEMOCRACY AND PERHAPS THEIR LIVES
Morgan Tsvangirai of Zimbabwe and Aung San Suu Kyi of Burma. They need the support of the United States and so do their followers who are fighting for their liberty. President Bush needs to speak out. So does the Congress. So does every man and woman running for president.
If not us, who ? If not now, when ?
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“The great difficulty in education is to get experience out of ideas”
George Santayana
LATE NIGHT REBUTTAL TIME
Prometheus 6 responded to my reluctant ( I hate jumping on bandwagons) Hillary! posting:
“The idea of a Hillary Clinton presidential candidacy is much like the idea of a unicorn. Such a creature could exists… it just doesn’t. A Clinton candidacy would do more to energize the Republican base than the return of the Gipper himself. And a Clinton win would likely signal the start of the four year period that culminates in the Second War of Secession.
Not that I’d mind if she won. It would bring the day we see a Black president that much closer. But if you want to gain power you don’t set up your own obstacles. Sen. Clinton would be just as useful and convincing as Majority Leader and far less of an obstacle to regaining and leeping the presidency.
She’s due for a major increase in influence, and yeah, the book is probably part of setting the stage for that. But not as POTUS
I would have to admit Hillary drives some folks on my side bannanas in a psychologically visceral way that ” W ” does to some kinds of liberals. The idea of Hillary as Senate minority leader is an intriguing one though I’m not certain if she’s a clubby enough personality for that difficult a role – getting senators to go along with something is a lot like herding cats. On the other hand HRC could represent her party with total message discipline and raise a lot of cash so if Daschle departs she could easily vie to replace him. Walking away from a presidential run where she could win at least the nomination would torment her to the end of her days – people who live and breathe politics like LBJ or Hillary or Nixon suffer terribly when they end up ” out of the loop ” so I’m betting she goes for the brass ring.
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