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Yep. I got about three pages into this (at work, will have to read later), and already agree. Back on September 11, I thought for sure we'd have a draft by this time. Fact that we don't indicates the War On Terror isn't really serious - a PR campaign and not the real thing. Decades of appeasement and illusory prosperity have left America vulnerable - we want to have our cake and eat it, too, ease and luxury along with national pride and world domination. Can't have both, as the Roman and other empires have proved through history. Bush doesn't get the entire blame for 9/11 and its aftermath, because it all happened too soon in his term, it's still Clinton's anemic military, etc. The next attack - and there will be one - will be all GWB's fault, and watch those approval ratings plummet.

I have a feeling after the next attack, approval numbers and a large portion of the rest the hollow trappings that we regard as important will suddenly be anecdotes of a seemingly ancient history.