Maybe we do have lots of time, but I wonder how long the bombing campaign will enjoy general public support in the absence of any clear-cut and tangible results, the “coonskins to nail up” as LBJ liked to put it.

In the wake of 9/11, the USA clearly held the moral imperitive, but a bombing campaign, especially an unsuccessful one, plays directly into the hands of those who hate the United States.

The Taliban will take an entourage of journalists to see this orphanage or that housing row which an errant bomb has leveled, and their propaganda and PR people will be working overtime to keep such stories at the center of the issue. Even the moderate Islamic press will cover these stories, and the extremists will have a field day with further examples of American atrocities against the downtrodden masses of Islam.

And even without the collateral damage, the very act of bombing resurrects a thousand ghosts of American Imperialism in the eyes of many, and plays to the fears of the 3rd World of Uncle Sam as World Cop.

Bombing is easy, but it may not work. I realize the same was said about Kosova, and the critics were wrong. But even the Balkans are not the Hindu Kush, which may be the most difficult battlefied on Earth.

To win this war, we need to be lean, quick and unconventional. Let's hope there are such stirrings behind the fog of war.

sp