The people writing this stuff are the usual gang of idiots, and they dearly want us to fail. The usual buzzword "justice" is mentioned, with the usual mental blankout that follows any question as to exactly how this "justice" is to be carried out.

For the record, you can bomb ANYONE into submission if you drop enough bombs. At some point, no one will be left to resist.

I assume everyone else remembers the writeups of Saddam's elite troops, the almost godlike, unbeatable warriors that were going to be marshalled against us in the Gulf War.

As paving material, they had their finest hour.

Our enemies are going up against the most advanced technological force on the planet. The best brains, the strongest industries, and the most money.

In the circles I listen to, I hear about military technology that is almost unbelievable, things that almost approach sorcery, things that people have been dying to try out under these circumstances. Some of these things will take a little while to get up to speed, but they're coming. A jet-powered version of the Predator drone is one of the most mundane of these advances.

Many nations assume we are impotent, apparently not realizing that eighty percent of our efforts consist of trying not to totally obliterate our enemies. If we had the lack of morals our enemies did, we would never fight a war that lasted more than a day. There would be nothing easier for us than genocide, if that was the way we thought.

We are going to win.

"Don't come back till you have him!" the Ticktockman said, very quietly, very sincerely, extremely dangerously.



They used dogs. They used probes. They used cardioplate crossoffs. They used teepers. They used bribery. They used stiktytes. They used intimidation. They used torment. They used torture. They used finks. They used cops. They used search & seizure. They used fallaron. They used betterment incentive. They used fingerprints. They used the Bertillon system. They used cunning. They used guile. They used treachery. They used Raoul Mitgong, but he didn't help much. They used applied physics. They used techniques of criminology.

And what the hell: they caught him.



- "Repent Harlequin," Said The Ticktockman

by Harlan Ellison