Chaotic Skies
The War Bush Isn't Fighting
By Eugene Robinson
Friday, August 11, 2006; A19
Shoe bombs didn't work, and now we shuffle through the metal detectors in our socks. Liquid explosives didn't work, and now we will fly with unbrushed teeth. We can be sure that somewhere in some anonymous apartment, maybe in Paris or Frankfurt or Karachi, a group of unknown conspirators has absorbed the failure of the London plot and already begun to develop a new approach to mass murder.President Bush said that the uncovered conspiracy is "a stark reminder that this nation is at war with Islamic fascists who will use any means to destroy those of us who love freedom, to hurt our nation." If only the president would fight that war. If only he hadn't turned away from the hunt for bin Laden to chase his neocon advisers' delusions of spreading pro-American democracy at the point of a gun.
Let's check what else was in the news yesterday. In Iraq, a suicide bomber killed at least 35 people and injured more than 100 by blowing himself up near a famous shrine in the city of Najaf, which is holy to Shiite Muslims. Meanwhile, U.S. troops moved into the Dora neighborhood of Baghdad in an attempt to end a reign of lawlessness. All this violence is part of a sectarian civil war that was made possible by the U.S. invasion -- and that is growing in intensity under the open-ended U.S. occupation. Iraq, says Bush, is a vital theater in the war against terrorism.
In other news, Israeli forces continued their systematic destruction of Lebanon's infrastructure by targeting a historic lighthouse in the heart of Beirut, in an apparent attempt to knock Lebanese state television off the air. This comes after Israeli forces had already destroyed every bridge over the Litani River, all of Lebanon's major roads and much of the Beirut airport, all in the name of cutting off supplies to the Hezbollah militia -- and all with no complaint from U.S. officials. Lebanon, says Bush, is another vital theater in the war against terrorism.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice speaks of building a "new Middle East," but the Bush administration construction plan seems to begin with setting the old Middle East on fire. The bungled occupation of Iraq has drawn new recruits to the jihadist cause around the world, and now the disproportionate Israeli assault on Lebanon is doing the same thing. We are at war with an ideology, and pounding it frontally just disperses it. It's like trying to smash mercury with a hammer.
Maybe the discovery of the airliner plot will bring us back to the real world. There are deadly enemies out there, and one way to fight them, as the British demonstrated yesterday, is through intelligence. One way not to fight them, as the Bush administration continues to demonstrate, is through reckless military action that may kill terrorists but also kills innocent civilians and thus creates a new generation of terrorists -- doubtless including some bright young man or woman who will come up with a new idea for downing civilian airliners.
We will end up boarding our flights barefoot, barehanded and buck naked except for a hospital gown they'll make us put on at the airport. And, at this rate, Osama bin Laden will be watching CNN from his cave, smiling contentedly.
My thoughts are with all of you who need to fly in the next week. I had a friend who was supposed to try to get out of Heathrow yesterday; she gave up.
Comments
One of the more important items that was covered in material I reviewed for the CISSP was the tipping point.
One sort is the point at which the payoff of added security measures isn't justified by their cost.
Another sort is the point at which improvements in security impose so high a cost that users simply avoid them or turn them off.
Examples of both abound. I could list off half a dozen of each, off the top of my head. You probably could, too.
For instance, in these days when we have scores of passwords to manage, how many of us reuse them? How many of us write them down, in some form or other?
In order to judge when a tipping pint has arrived or will, it helps to be numerate. Get a quantitative assessment of risk if at all possible. Get a quantitative assessment of the real, as opposed to purported, benefits of the new security. Assess the hidden costs.
Then, do your analysis.
I think a tipping point in passenger airline security may either have just arrived or may be just before doing so.
Because there really aren't many rights of person or possessions left to travelers these days. And convenience is becoming a raveled thread, when you can't brush your teeth on an airliner. Especially one that's crossing an ocean.
I think that reducing airline passengers to the status of battery hens may fairly be considered a win for AQ.
Posted by: Charles Roten | August 11, 2006 07:11 PM