Just heard that VP Cheney said it might take years, rather than months.
That's a good sign of deliberate, as opposed to precipitate, action.
Tom
It will take all of our lifetimes, probably the lifetime of my daughter,
perhaps the lifetime of her children into the bargain.
I noted earlier (Tuesday or Wednesday) that with Afghanistan alone, just
for example, any long-term solution lies in physical occupation of that
land until a more sane and clear-thinking government might be installed and
ensured against disruptive interests, which itself implies (clearly speaks
to) better education. My guess (at the time and off the top of my head, but
considered nevertheless) is that a working figure might be a couple of
generations, call it 50 years give or take.
Think about that.
This is what you're looking at, that is what it will take. And you know, I
doubt if many Americans or for that matter other peoples around the world,
are thinking along these lines. They're thinking about a fly-by, a missile
attack, maybe some kind of Kosovo UN-inspired "mission" to one country or
the other. We'ave all seen the routine. But none of that's gonna make a
difference in the long run, and our government leaders know all this, of
course.
They've known it all along, by the way. This talk from the president about
"surprise" at these attacks is for public assumption. Which is precisely
what some of (if not most of) the American public wants. Hardly anyone at
this junctures wishes to admit that we've simply chosen to ignore the
realities of world politics up until Tuesday. But we have. And the silly
safeguards I also noted on Tuesday or Wednesday with regard to airport
security (everywhere I've flown, and I travel around) have not been allowed
to be set in place in some vacuum.
This is all about denial on a societal scale. We've been insulated and have
chosen to believe that our society was somehow "different" or "immune" from
these concerns. It was never was, the government knew, yet allowed itself
to go down another path for the sake of political immediacy. Thank you very
much government, thank you very much that part of the electorate which
doesn't bother to vote, thank you very much that part of the electorate
which would rather see money handed over by the gross to "causes" other
than our nation's security.
Go ask the Israelis (if you dare) about the nature of the problem before
us. The thing with governments is that they are composed of political
creatures who pretty much pander to (and prey off from) the ignorant voting
(in America less than half bother, and from what I've read it isn't much
better, and getting worse each year, in other countries) electorate, and so
"truth" is often variably-shaped and -presented commodity. Already there
are marchers calling for peace and compassion in New York! And they're
serious as a heart attack. They don't care to hear truth, they don't care
to embrace the hard facts of life, they will, willingly, stand by and wait
for some fanatic to walk up to them and blow their brains out--and some of
these fools will even then go down singing!
And this coming from a former hippie and long-hair per se. It is high time
for America to wake up. But I don't know. The signs are not all good out there.
Tris
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