dive into mark

Terrorist crack. Flying American jets into American buildings is terrorist crack. And I wonder, now that the taste of blood is in their mouths, what will keep terrorists from trying this again and again? The Middle East has what seems like almost weekly suicide bombings and killings and what-not.

Actually, it’s worse than that. I culled these clippings from The Jerusalem Post. All occurred in the past three days since the terrorist attacks in New York and DC.

• 9/14, 17:45 Roadside bomb explodes near Nablus
• 9/14, 12:35 IDF sappers dismantle large bomb near Gaza Strip
• 9/12, 20:30 Palestinian terrorists would Israeli motorist in Samaria
• 9/12, 20:15 Terrorists kill Israeli woman in drive-by shooting
• 9/12, 17:05 IDF kills 10 Palestinians in early morning clashes
• 9/12, 14:30 Two bombs found near southern Jerusalem
• 9/12, 09:55 Palestinians: Nine people killed by IDF

The conflict between the Israelis and Palestinians has well-defined players, arises out of a well-documented historical context, is widely understood by the people involved, and is completely unsolveable. The conflict that the United States is entering into has poorly defined players (we don’t know who did it, who paid for it, or who sponsored it), arises out of a poorly documented historical context (do we understand why people are willing to commit suicide to hurt us? why they attack civilian targets instead of military ones? why they don’t come forth to claim credit?), is poorly understood by almost everyone (quick quiz, which of the following countries are our allies: Israel, Pakistan, Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan; now what were the answers 10 years ago? 20?), and will prove to be completely unsolveable.

A year from now, will the New York Post read like the Jerusalem Post? 5 years? 10? I’m not optimistic.

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