Hip, hip, hurray! Some group with a modicum of respect actually understands the "global war on terror"! I'm almost too shocked to find words to write here.

If you are at all rational you have to know that there has never actually been a "global war on terror", nor should there have been one. By the very definition of "terrorists" they are simply criminals, perhaps international criminals, but never a military outfit. The 9/11 terrorists almost to a man were killed in their attacks. They were not even around to be a part of a big terrorist organization. After 9/11 what remained to be done was to identify the accessories to those crimes, arrest them, charge them and convict them.

But, no, our national blood lust required that we mount an assault on Afghanistan as a response, forgetting that not one of the 9/11 terrorists was from that country. In fact the actual plotting for the 9/11 attacks was mostly done in Germany. The financial support for the attackers came largely from Saudi Arabia, as did most of the attackers. Given the good relationship between the Bush's and the Saudis, identifying those who aided in that assault should have been an easy job for the Saudis, and one they would have been happy to do for us, or for the Bushs.

So, now the "central front" in the non-existent "global war on terrorism" is against Iraqis fighting to control their own government against an invader, us. I coulda sworn this was 2008 and not 1984.

When I made this argument about 3 years ago I'd get "How can you possibly say we're not at war?" or something similar. When I made this argument a few days ago no other blogger supported my position although noone argued against me either.

So it's taken 7 years since the originating event to get a report that actually defines critically the problems the US faces. God only knows the military never have.

I think 7 years may be longer than any major conflict since the Napoleonic wars! Over the same time frame the US planned for, mobilized hugely for (not only in people and materiale but also technology), and organized their post-war occupation of both western Europe and Japan after WWII's successful conclusion. And those occupations showed better recovery after greater destruction.

It says much about how this particularly ideological and bone-headed administration works and more about our press and critical abilities that honest debate has been so long supressed and only now coming around to the problem we're actually faced with. The US does not come out well on this, whether judging the administration, Congress, the Courts, the press, or our civic leaders.

Thank god there was never an actual threat to the USA's survival. These guys would have lost the war. Even so, we have lost a lot. The Constitution and habeas corpus, our laws: FISA, extraordinary rendition, torture, no military held responsible for unneccessary infractions, and, worse, no US hired contractors...these are sad days.

So how many lives is that wasted? And just how much money?

That's really pretty disgusting, don't you think?

And it was criminal, too.

A new report from the Rand Corporation says . . . .

"It doesn't take a weatherman to know which way the wind blows."

Promising sixty more years of Slippin' and Slidin' - Shuckin' and Jivin' Motto, The Rand Corporation