Mo1 gave me this one last night; I printed it out and read it and had bad dreams all night:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/11/12/60minutes/main655407.shtml
I am AMAZED at the thought that this guy was anywhere NEAR a position where he could even PASS ON information, much less form policy.
Thanks for flagging me to this article, Howlin.
If U.S. leaders truly believed that the country is at war with bin Laden and the Islamists, they would dump the terminally adolescent bureaucrats and their threat matrix and tell the voters that war brings repeated and at times grievous defeats as well as victories, and proceed with relentless, brutal, and yes, blood-soaked offensive military actions until we have annihilated the Islamists who threaten us, or so mutilate their forces, supporting populations, and physical infrastructure that they recognize continued war-making on their part is futile.
That was how Spain finally got rid of the Islamic invaders, although it took the Spanish 800 years to achieve it. At the very end, after 1492 (the fall of Grenada), when the Muslim leaders had left or been forcibly expelled, Spain let average Muslims stay and even let some of the former kings remain as mayors of their cities. However, within little more than 100 years, the Muslims were plotting against Spain again, killing Christians in truly horrible ways, and scheming to get foreign Muslims back into power. Spain finally had to expel all Muslims and join in the efforts to repel new attacks launched upon the rest of Europe from Islamic countries, particularly Turkey.