Futility is a magnifier of fear when the enemy is the unknown or undefined. What you are calling terrorism is a criminal event that could and should be handled by the policing function. Bush hyperbole has led the US down a path that's more like a movie plot, except that it's an inter-active movie---sorta like the Rocky Horror Picture Show. A recent post by David had an rather ubiquitous posting of terror events in the past 30 years or so. And it would have been funny if it weren't so verytragic and stupid. Al Qaida was the designated threat and that post connected the IRA (both regular and provisional), the Basque ETA, Black September, Symbionese Liberation Army, and every other foreign group that used terror as a tactic and lumped them with Al Qaida. I am sure the Al Qaida cells would bask in this recognition of their power and influence even though they had no more connection with these groups, or authorship of their distructions that they do with the Klu Klux Klan, Aryan Brotherhood, Mafia, or any of the other 141 groups of domestic terrorist the US Treasury Dept. maintains on their listing.

The "War on Terror" is as bogus as the "War on Poverty," "War on Drugs," or any other cutsey name political slogan that has been used to attempt to focus attention on a political agenda. Terrorism is real, it is a war the weak wage unilaterally against the stronger opponent and its purpose is get media attention and use the publicity to get attention to their cause. The Bush administration has use terrorism to create an industry to funnel money to friends and supporters of this administration. Mr. Bush has created "Terrology" and designated the terroristic disruptions of every dissident group as being part of the Al Qaida threat.

It is peculiar that no mention has been made of either the state being the terrorist, or state sponsored terrorist. We have hundreds of examples of both. Latin America saw the US trained School of the Americas right wing death squads maintain their version of stability that is coming back to haunt us in the generation later rise of socialistic governments coming to power through democratic elections as did Sr. Chavez. And no mention of the state sponsored variety of terrorism such as the US funded, directed and used as typified by Jonas Svimbi and UNITA in S. Africa, or our former sponship of the Taliban in Afghanistan.

Again, ain't it peculiar? Apparently this "War against Terror" is a limited war and is being waged without any moral, ethical or military conventions being followed like the minor impediments of the Geneva Convention. Funny how the language is manipulated by the Bush minions that prisoners are now taken as "enemy combatants" and so not entitled to the status of prisoners of war.

Publius