My point is that, well, we defeated the Soviets by getting them in a spending war they couldn’t win, basically bankrupting them in an arms race. If these terrorists can get us to spend millions at the drop of a dime, can’t they do the same to us?

That’s exactly the problem. They don’t think like us, so we don’t think like them. So we don’t know what to expect. As for the windmill metaphor, maybe you didn’t intend it, but it’s not in the best taste and actually runs against your argument: they’ve taken down two “windmills” already. And why? Because some people grew suspicious about that small plane full of explosives idea of them and they had to resort to the unthinkable.

Luckily, the people planning the Al Qaeda ops are frickin nuts.

Listen, a couple of teenagers who like to read Soldier of Fortune could wreak massive destruction on the countries infrastructure.

Why can’t Al Qaeda? Because they don’t think like us. They’re off in a fantasy world.

They’re not playing games, because they’re not fighting us – they’re jousting with windmills

Just had the same thought when they took my fingerprints and a picture of myself two hours ago, as I was going through Customs at Logan, and saw all the expensive-looking brand-new equipment they were using at each lane. There has been a lot of talk about oil and the contracts Corporate America is getting in Iraq, but I haven’t read anything about the business of “security”. Who’s profitting from all this paranoia? 30 years of terrorism in Spain has taught us there that the best way to fight it is hard, patient work and good intelligence, not hysterical responses to “chatter”.

Waiting to hear the results of your rethinking. Do nothing? I hope not. What monetary value would you put on each American life?