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Philip Palin, one of several writers at Homeland Security Watch has posted a commentary on President Obama's speech on terrorism. In addition to being insightful (routine) it was also written (pleasantly surprisingly) in the form of poetry. The first of nine stanzas reads as follows:
Banality breeds barbarity
Beginning with brittle self-regard
Combining with vague resentment
Finding in a convenient other
Sufficient blame for the fatal infection
Yeah, they're pretty cool over at HLSWatch.
In response a commenter asked:
Is there then any thoughtful effective concrete policy position with which to respond to terrorism?
Your's Truly replied:
Which terrorism?
Terrorism is a tactic not an ideology. Terrorism will be with us so long as there are persons willing to inflict fear, harm, or death upon innocents in order to affect the political will of populations and the actions of governments.
In his speech Obama said
We must define the nature and scope of this struggle, or else it will define us.
He should have said
We must [re]define the nature and scope of this struggle, or else it will [continue to] define us.
Al Qaeda spent half a million dollars and 19 lives to trigger two wars and untold sectarian strife, resulting in the sacrifice of thousands of military lives and hundreds of thousands of civilian casualties, the unplanned and unfunded expenditure of several trillion dollars (in the US alone), and evoked a willingness to abandon our foundational moral and legal principles.
Obama’s comments do not go far enough to remind us how vulnerable our (and his) moral compass is to the actions of a wicked few.
So, with respect and admiration, I find the message of Philip’s poetry applies as much, if not more so, to the architects of the Global War on Terror® and the Drone Wars Signature Strike Program®.
At some point in this century’s battle with today’s terrorist monsters we gazed so long and deep into the fear-filled abyss that we didn’t notice when the view became – at least in part – our own reflection.
Awesome image credit: http://www.militaryphotos.net/forums/showthread.php?93412-Post-a-photo-you-have-taken/page1532
