I, too, thought that we would have awakened as we did after Pearl Harbor. For all of the comparisons with that event evoked by the presstitutes and publicity-seeking politicos regarding 9/11, we remain asleep. I thought (naively so, as it turns out) that FINALLY the American people had finally realized what kind of a place the world was, and that we'd finally clean out the SOBs that make this world miserable. So, where was the declaration of war? Where was/is the mobilization of resources to fight the billion (or 2 or 3) that hate us for being free and prosperous? We are STILL ASLEEP - what will it take to reawaken the sleeping giant and to fill him with a terrible resolve, the atomization of several cities?
Rather than preparing for what our enemies are preparing for us, we look to gestures of appeasement. Does not the Islamic world appreciate the presence of General Zinni? Do we not give billions to Arab countries? Did we not save Kuwait and Muslims throughout the globe? Who in the Arab world could really think that the murderous Taliban were preferable to the present more enlightened government in Afghanistan? And although Middle Eastern males blew up our planes, people, and monuments, have we not had a national discussion about the evils of profiling those from the Middle East in our airports and stations? Don't Muslims tell their kindred back home how much freer they are in America than in Iraq or Syria?
Don't get me wrong - Bush has done a decent job of smashing the Taliban and putting Al-Queda back into the caves, but this isn't enough. Neither (esp. the latter) would present any kind of real threat to civilization without the support of nations like Iraq, Iran, China, Syria, Libya, not to mention Saudi Arabia (well, OK, I will mention them),our supposed ally. However, he has failed like his father did to really tell us why we have to go to war, and to be successful like in WW2, or else we will cease to exist. Churchill he ain't, but at least he could try a bit harder. He is much like Reagan in many ways, but the Gipper was head and shoulders above him in explaining why we had to struggle against the Evil Empire.
President Bush: the Axis of Evil is out there, but it is far greater in scope and resources than the 3 thuggocracies you mentioned. You must know this, but you'll never be truly successful in the War on Terrorism until you truly explain our situation to the mass of the American public that doesn't know better (or doesn't want to know better). This is a war for our survival - we must begin to act like it, soon, or we will suffer grievous losses in the future and possibly lose. We must take the initiative and destroy the various terrorist regimes ASAP, before they have an opportunity to acquire and develop effective WMD arsenals. We'll need very large and well-equipped armed forces to accomplish this, along with near limitless ammunition. Currently we have neither. Tell the voters and taxpayers the dimensions of the problem, and we'll support nearly any measure necessary to prevail.
With Pearl Harbor, we had a much more tangible enemy that did not simply shrink back into the shadows.
Also, we had scores of leaders explaining that Islam is a religion of peace and focusing on Osama Bin Laden.
The big problem with that is people are not going to put up with really rooting out and destroying the problem. We have minimized the problem to a police action in a backwater nation that is already rubble.
Even now we are begging permission from the very people that put up the cash for September 11 to go after those responsible for putting up the cash. Hello? Is anyone home?
Agreed, but you know what? We don't have the resources to take on that big a job. Eight years of Clintonsizing of the military and supporting industry has left us unable to mount anything even approaching Desert Shield/Storm. Even the tiny effort in Afghanistan is straining our resources. Admittedly most of the "targets" are much better located for logistical purposes, but they are also much better armed.
The modest cuts under GHW Bush were followed by massive cuts under Clinton, aided and abetted by the Republican Congress that was put in office in '94 to damp the excesses of the Clinton regime. They did poorly is about all I can say. Even after 9-11, I see no real effort to expand the military, but rather only some modest measures to pay for unanticipated operational expenses, and buy a few more smart weapons, but still at rates below replacement level compared to expenditures. It will take time to build the military back up. Time we may not have. If it runs out, our only recourse will be to nuclear weapons. Yet another "unintended consequence" of Clintonian rule.