Well, there wasn't a lot of thinking done before today's Thomas Friedman, NY Times online) column was written

(http://www.nytimes.com/2004/01/08/opinion/08FRIE.html?th)

Or maybe there was, but nothing new.

Anytime I hear the phrase "there are only three things that can be done," I start to hold my breath, because I'm almost always right, the list is a disappointing row of plastic ducks set up by the author in order to be shot down by him, personally. Meanwhile, in the background, and all around the carnival, an abundance of rare birds squawk and preen.

No, those aren't the only birds in view, Thomas.

The fact is, the attempt to build up the fundamentalist threat into a big deal is simply the Bush party line... The loss of the Soviet block as the arch enemy is a great loss for the conservative crowd. And now we are cobbling together a loose association of disaffected terrorists (i.e. - people with no real jobs and no future anyway outside of the jihad subculture) into a flimsy straw man so we can again enjoy the presence of some kind of rival.

This is so lame and obvious as to be laughable. There is no enemy. There is no rival. Ther is no war against terrorism. War is between nations. Terrorism is a social rather than a political problem.

Here we have this enormous country brought to its knees by a handful of disaffected zealots. And the big country figts back in ways that spawn thousands more of the little rascals.

This is a lose lose scenario.

The best hope is not rooting out and destroying these tiny cadres of bad boys. It's (partially) taking stock of what we have done to create these enemies, and stopping those behaviours.

Political thinking could do well to borrow from pop psychology for a moment. In the world of relationships, no one gets away with blaming other people for ther problems any more. It's all about taking responsibility.

It's well known in the coffee table crowd that we are all responsible for our own actions and what happens to us. Claiming respooinsibility creates freedom: freedom to change, freedom to move on, freedom from occupying the victim position.

Yet, in the geopolitical milieu, since 9/11. perfectly intelligent people have been blathering on about how victimized we are by these little groups of thugs.

I just don't get it. Is the world completely run by brain dead men who haven't been listening?

Read my lips: When you take responsibility you move toward freedom. When you feel attacked, you only give the attacker power.

It's thinking like Mr. Friedman's that keeps us stuck in the mud with these little disaffected Al Qaeda types, and completely seals and assures their victory. They are victorious if we take them seriously, if we attack and harry them.

They will evaporate and disappear if we address what we have done to create them, and what is going on in their cultures to give rise to this stuff.

A terrorist only has the power we give to him.

The old slogan is "know your enemy." No one seems to understand these guys. Terrorism won't go away with the application of more bullets. Only the application of more knowledge will help.

plus this:

http://peacebeginshere.org