[MMMMMM]

Some very real concerns are highlighted. One big problem is that we are in something of a damned-if-we-do, damned-if-we-don't sort of situation. If we resist the fanatics, they fight on and try to create more fanatics and try to attack us. If we don't resist them, they still try to do the same things.

It's all a big mess but it would still be all a big mess even if we had done nothing about 9/11. Plus by attacking them maybe we are keeping them on the defensive enough to distract significantly from their offensive efforts.


All the expenses we incurred for decades defending the free world years were immense. It still goes on to a large extent. I do believe the Iraqis should pay the costs in Iraq from future oil revenues.

Note especially how Rumsfeld is pointing out precisely what Kasparov pointed out some time ago in that WSJ opinion piece: that the cost/effect ratio works greatly in favor of the terrorists. This in turn means that solely playing defense in itself is a losing strategy, and that time is working against us. The question then becomes: what is the best way to play offense? Probably through a variety of means and on as many fronts as possible: military, financial, ideological, political.

Winning hearts and minds is part of it too but that's kind of hard when thousands of madrassas teach that jihad against the West is for the glory of Allah and that martydom for Islam is the most noble aspiration.

Hopefully if we can transform Iraq, the resulting prosperity, freedoms and better living conditions will result in many common people taking a more positive view of Western ways in years to come. Nothing will change the minds of the fanatics however, and the world can expect great troubles along these lines for a long time yet to come. How sad that people aren't smart enough to see through all the religious bullcrap. If the average IQ today were the raw equivalent of over 200 (as it might be hundreds of years from now) people would almost all be too smart to fall for this cultish religious nonsense, but I don't have great hope for the masses of the world over the next 50 years. Hopefully before light weapons are developed which give individuals awesome destructive powers, the average person will not be so susceptible to believing in destructive and delusionary nonsense.