The "War on Drugs" and "War on Terrorism", both with will be lost, along with our liberties.
from [url]http://www.sobran.com/columns/020611.shtml[/url]
Endless Wars
June 11, 2002
The arrest of a suspected al-Qaeda agent, another U.S. citizen who was born Catholic but converted to Islam, is more unnerving than comforting. How many of these guys are out there? Can the government’s security forces stop them all before even one of them succeeds?
We already have our answer. Some of our top officials have told us that it’s “inevitable” that one or more of the terrorists will carry out his mission successfully.
In other words, the government’s “war on terrorism” will be just as triumphant and conclusive as its “war on drugs.” Since the first President Bush declared war on the drug trade more than a decade ago, with the same fierce determination as his son has shown in making war on terror, have you noticed the elimination of illegal drugs?
I’m no expert, but my impression is that you can still readily buy controlled substances within blocks of the White House. The government won’t admit that the war on drugs is good and lost, even at the very heart of the government’s power. And it won’t even admit that this war is still raging, lest it call attention to its own futility.
Yet we’re expected to believe that this government will somehow put an end to terrorism. How reassuring that our former “drug czar,” William Bennett, unblushingly endorses the war on terror! When it comes to government, hope springs eternal — the triumph of hope over experience, as Dr. Johnson put it.
Never fear: the cause of the problem, having aggravated the problem, will solve the problem. All it needs is more power — that is, more power over the people it’s protecting — which it is rapidly amassing.
Meanwhile, another suicide bomber has struck in Israel. Now Israel has been fighting terrorism with great determination for three decades. Its government, having no written constitution, is much less hampered by civil rights and civil liberties than ours is. It has some of the world’s most intelligent, sophisticated, and experienced anti-terrorism experts. A few weeks ago it launched a furious campaign to root out “the infrastructure of terrorism.”
Has Israel come within shouting distance of “eliminating” terrorism? Clearly not. So why should this country follow its example?