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I haven't called anyone a frothing-at-the-mouth war- monger. I certainly disagree with you that this is a time for killing. We've been killing enemies for as long as either of us have been alive, and we still have enemies. In fact, it appears that every time the U.S. kills one of its enemies, another one pops up.
I certainly haven't said we should do nothing; I thought I'd explained this to Homeboy a couple of weeks ago. But why don't we TRY something else that doesn't include the "collateral damage" of dead UN workers and other civilians? How many more Bin Ladens have we created in the last three days by bombing hell out of a country that's already been bludgeoned back to the Stone Age? I don't know, and neither do you. So why are we doing it?
If we had built a coalition, maybe we could have de-fused some of the hatred that has built up toward the West over the last 40 years. Iran felt almost sorry for us right after September 11. What if we had taken advantage of that opening to try to establish more normal relations with them? Instead, we dropped tons and tons of bombs, and any soft feelings that many Islamic countries might have had toward the U.S. have hardened back into resentment and hostility. We frittered away an incredible opportunity to make something positive come out of the despicable crimes of September 11, in my estimation. That is, IF this administration is interested at all in the causes of peace and justice. And I know that's a big if.
The other point I'd like to make is that dropping bombs and taking other military action is ALWAYS available. Why did we do that first? By building a coalition of other western democracies (a pretty simple task in the aftermath of September 11) and then blasting hell out of a bleak landscape, we squandered whatever credibility we might have had with wavering Muslim countries. There's very little chance that any of them will go against public sentiment, which has been whipped up against the U.S. in the same way U.S. public sentiment has been whipped up against the Taliban. Discussion of other avenues becomes fruitless against the backdrop of night-time explosions, destroyed homes, and dead bodies.
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