President Bush says we can't win the War on Terror and the Kerry campaign immediately jumps all over it like dingos on a crippled sheep. And they should've, because it was an incredibly stupid thing to say.

You. Just. Don't. Say. Things. Like. That.

No matter how much truth there is to it, and don't think for a second that he was wrong, because he wasn't. We can't win this war in a conventional sense. There won't be a peace treaty signed and POW's returned and victory parades, because it's a different kind of war. To Muslim radicals, it's not even really a war, it's a form of worship.

Admittedly biased, I think President Bush was speaking plainly, without nuance. I also think a lot of Americans will think about it and quietly agree without the defeatist hand-wringing we're currently hearing from certain quarters. It also gave Kerry something to be tougher on than the President, and that was an unexpected gift that he immediately siezed upon.

I read a science fiction book once (Star Trek?) where the last ragged remnants of terrorist organizations all gathered together for something or other. What stuck with me was the alternate history presented, where terrorist attacks had become more and more brutal and bloody until finally the entire world became disgusted and realized that there were limits to protest. Terrorism died out not because there were no more causes, but because it became unpopular and the results were opposite intended.

They weren't defeated, they became obsolete, but it took a lot of time and lives.

I really wish I hadn't remembered that book.

Posted by: Ted at 06:41 AM | category: Politics
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