http://blogcritics.org/ A sinister cabal of superior bloggers on music, books, film, popular culture, politics, and technology - updated continuously. en Copyright 2005 by the authors Thu, 8 Jan 2004 14:40:49 EST http://backend.userland.com/rss Blogcritics.org custom software http://blogcritics.org/archives/2004/01/08/114706.php#comment-35807 you are right that Bin Laden needs to be found and dealt with. But i don't think war is the way to go - two invasions and over two years into the "war on terror" and, to be honest, we seem to be as near to catching him as we were when we first found out his terrorists were responsible for 9/11 There's still a good deal of blood shed between Israelis and Palestinians North Korea still wants to build a decent-sized nuclear warhead arsenal and, if anything, is more scared of the prospect of the US invading them now than it was before the "war on terror" 35807@blogcritics.org Thu, 8 Jan 2004 14:40:49 EST http://blogcritics.org/archives/2004/01/08/114706.php#comment-35802 BJ, I'm not arguing against understanding our enemies from a psychological perspective - knowledge is good - nor am I arguing for censorship. I'm saying we should let the public hear what the terrorist has to say, and then the analysts should rip it apart and emphasize that he and his kind need to be wiped from the face of the earth before they can do the same to us, that it's us or them, that there is no middle ground. 35802@blogcritics.org Thu, 8 Jan 2004 13:28:06 EST http://blogcritics.org/archives/2004/01/08/114706.php#comment-35799 Eric, I think you're right as far as it goes - we need to be relentless in fighting enemies like bin Laden. But we also need to understand him, because we need to be able to diminish his ability to find new followers. To some extent, we can accomplish that by getting bin Laden and demonstrating to those who might follow in his footsteps that the same fate would come to them, but given that many of those folks are actively seeking "martyrdom," a strategy that relies solely on vengeance against known enemies seems inadequate. I have no idea what else might be required, but I can't see how understanding what motivates people to join such movements could hurt. 35799@blogcritics.org Thu, 8 Jan 2004 13:15:24 EST