A clever adversary

The conspiracists are making hay with the WaPo's morning column shining light on the fact bin Laden has never been charged with the 9/11 attacks. Not to worry, he was already on the most wanted posters for other acts.

But ya gotta admit, not tacking the 9/11 job to his rap sheet does seem to heighten the mystery--doors left open, so to speak. Just another in a series of strange happenings in a part of the world that's becoming increasingly difficult to figure out. Just remember, the bottom line is that both Shi'a and Sunni radicals generally want the same fate for the west.

But they tend to obfuscate their mission. Recently the new Zarqawi in Iraq, Adbul Rahman, was quoted as saying the Shi'a Hizballah were "apostates" in the same league as Americans and Zionists, and were nothing but proxies of the corrupt governments in Damascus and Tehran. Yet at the same time we know Saddam's minions have operated out of Syria in support of Abdul Rahman/Zarqawi and their band of Sunni Islamic thugs in Iraq.

As Rummy recently said, these guys are "clever", and he's not just whistling Dixie. Those keeping their eyes open have seen a nearly constant barrage of propaganda eminating from the Middle East, often lapped up by western media outlets who are afraid to challenge the message for fear of losing access to the messenger, or worse, losing their heads to the messenger.

Rummy's brusque declarations ruffled feathers as usual, but his point is valid. Either people believe we're in a global struggle or they don't. Choosing not believe based on the lack of attacks here or because Iraq hasn't become the new Turkey benefits the terrorists and various states who are determined to see us defeated. It's as simple as that.

Our choice is to either side with a form of Pax Americana or join the Pox on Americana crowd. There really is no middle. Sure, we can withdraw from the world, come home and seal up our borders. But we live in a global economy with finite resources, and states like North Korea (who has been working to arm Islamic and Arab despots since the Gulf War), Libya, Iran, Syria, Sudan and others would interpret such a move as victory. Does anyone think they would rest on their laurels?