Or that al-Quaida is on another upward curve of learning how to outfox our lax security? This latest threat succeeds because of its utter simplicity, yet it's the same wild animal we're dealing with, and we're merely training it on what our defensive shortcomings are. For us, it's another good-news, bad-news lesson in vigilance and mending the holes in the fence.
Still, how do you fight a war that's ultimately about the enemy's warped ideology whose weapons are anonymous bombs? It doesn't leave us with many palatable options that are also effective. Come to that, it seems that a good deal of the unpalatable ones aren't all that effective, either.
But there is no doubt that, as Chicago Rabbi Brant Rosen points out, "We're all in this together":
Thank you for sharing your thoughts (and links) on this latest terrorist bomb plot, Rabbi Rosen. You are reliably engaged and thoughtful, and it’s a pleasure reading your blog.
The AP story on this event is captivating for its details and chronology. One fact I noted in the story is this: “The addresses on the packages were outdated locations for two Chicago synagogues. The recipients were figures from the Crusades and the Spanish Inquisition — historic episodes in which Christians persecuted Muslims.”
This somewhat childish conceit provides a squint of insight into the collective mind of an organization whose scattershot approach to terrorism reveals that destruction is the endgame, regardless of the target.
And you are right to point out that there are political opportunists and professional cynics who will use this latest episode to fuel their own agenda, and that the U.S. seems intractably tone-deaf to its own culpability both in terms of public policy and covert ops.
Still, you rightly conclude regarding this seemingly endless war that we’re all in this together. I’m reminded, too, of this quote: “If you’re not free, I’m not free.”
Blessings and peace to you –- Crimea River
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