In article et,
Steven P. McNicoll wrote:
Finally a sensible statment. Sorry, Jay, as much as I wish it weren't so,
you could spend every dollar in the world on fighting terrorism (just like
the "drug war") and you won't wipe it out.

Why not?

Jumping in hear. The problem with the drug war is that we are
attacking it from the supply side and as a criminal problem (which it is).
However the real problem with drugs is more on the demand side. As long
as teh demand exists people will use and get drugs. Some drugs are easier
to obtain than others (eg. meth vs. cocaine) but if there's a will there's
a way. Further we do very little in prevention and treatment, which has a
small (in fact very small) reduction in demand.
Terrorist are not overly concerned about the legalities of their
actions. Laws ONLY affect people that actually CHOOSE to obey them. And
while we can put in place laws/procedures to make it more difficult to
commit acts of terror (much like drugs) we can not eliminate them. Even
if we lived in a police state you can not control every human's
actions24/7.
There are battles you win, battles you lose and some battles that you
just have to forever keep fighting. Drugs of abuse of existed nearly as
long as record history. And when one looks at human history it is often a
collection of wars (and the mating habits of the nobility). We can no
more stop terrorist than we can stop war, or future wars, or acts of mans
disreguard for the life of other men.
What we can do is attempt to minimize the damage that these people
can inflict on our lives. The question becomes were do we as a society
and each person as a citizen want to draw the line of personal freedom vs.
safety. Some don't mind living in a police state, I do. And I believe
that the USA is not, was not and should not become a police state. I
believe that a free nation should have free citizens and as much as
possible open doors. I believe that part of THE PRICE OF FREEDOM is that
some people will choose to abuse that freedom to commit criminal acts
including terrorism. But _I_ would rather live in a nation that is most
free with risk, even high risk; than a well 'controlled/planned' society
with lower risk, risk never reaches zero.