(supplimental to Vol.1, no.11)

'Tell me again how the Iraq war has made us safer from terrorism.
Spin for me once more the theory of how, by drawing the terrorist'
attention there, we've made ourselves more secure here. Point out for
me again how we've suffered no terrorist attack since the day
President Bush took the fight to the enemy. You'll have to speak up,
though. It's going to be hard to hear you over the explosions and the
sirens and wails of the maimed in London... roughly 40 people are
said to be dead in the London attack and 700 injured. Meantime, the
U.S. casualty count in Iraq - dead and injured - stands at 15,088 and
rising.'

L. Pitts Jr. of the Miami Herald.

The Twelfth of Never...

The last updated casualty of the London bombings now stands at more
than 50. It was 50 years ago that we went into war with our allies to
save South Korea from the grasp of communism. It has been 50 years at
least, a long, long time that our foreign policy/ies have stayed the
course... but have we paid too high a price? Not 24 hours has passed,
that an ex-intelligence officer of the U.S. government made known to
the public that it's because of our policies that these attacks such
as the one in London are happening. To quote... "We're in the (their)
way because of our policies." The policy of 8 words; that of... the
enemy of my enemy is my friend... Korea, Cuba, Afghanistan and
currently the middle-east. It is much easier to pick ourselves up and
carry on when we know not of someone personally that had lost her/his
life as a result, than it is otherwise... that 1 life, an uncle of
that Iraqi youth that lost him when he was shot and killed, the 1
life of a patriot as his casket is carried across the tarmac off a
transporter or that life that registers as a 1 in the digital stream
of 1's and 0's that make up the number 2,819... did we pay too high a
price?

Richard Clark remarked that was justifiable in supporting
questionable governments and its' leaders presently in the middle-
east cause not doing so will lead to even more unstable regimes.
Are we lost ourselves in the other extreme in our efforts against
despotism and tyranny? Are we lost even in relativism? If not
subjectivism and objectivism?

It is commendable that we're finding ever smarter and better ways
today to combat terrorism and the forces behind it but in the larger
scheme of things it may signal a bigger and larger systemic problem.
Let's hope in exercising the traits of Athena in justice that we not
forget her one other skill... wisdom.

May all your endeavors be a prosperous one...

P. Mavin

Disclosure: Mavin is a fictitious character. Any inference and
similarities to people in real life is purely coincidental.