<It seems a rightist version of Trotsky's "permanent revolution," destroying existing institutions and structures in the millenarian expectation that all this violence will come to an end in a better and happier world.

The Qaeda attacks empowered a policy faction in the United States convinced of America's moral right and political competence to banish "terror" by reordering international society, guided by an optimism that has no empirical evidence to justify it. In practice, this policy has generated disorder, not order. Two radicalisms - Al Qaeda's and Washington's - are at work, and in 2003 they will continue to feed on one another.



The "moral equivalence" card is getting a bit dog-eared, but the Left plays it enthusiastically anyway. Lost in this discussion are any references to motives, and reasons for action against an enemy.

Trotsky and the Communists who followed deliberately destroyed innocent people by the millions. Marxism as a whole has obliterated over 80 million of its own citizens. Not counting deaths related to wars.

Who is America targeting by its policies? Murderous thugs. And in the process sacrificing American troops to try and prevent innocent deaths.

Again, a litany of complaints about American action, with not one workable solution (other than surrender) offered as an alternative.

If we get Saddam out of Iraq, let's just wait and see what the Iraqis say when guns are no longer pointed at their heads.