If picture ID's had been required before 911, the terrorists certainly would
have had them. If terrorists use planes again it will be a comfort to us
all to know that they have picture ID's in their wallets.

The biggest problem with all the public relations oriented crap is that it
makes us less safe by diverting money, human resources, and public pressure
for real security solutions.

The mother of all feel-good responses was the war in Iraq. Yes, Sadam was a
danger. He should have been booted. The US should have taken the lead on
it. US troops should have been sent in. But, not in a way that used up 90%
of our resources, alienated the nations we need to help us in the struggle,
created thousands of new and more radical terrorists, and not rushed to try
and get it over with before the election.

There is a basic misunderstanding of terrorism. The purpose is not to scare
or force us into changing our policies. The terrorists know that we have
more spine than that. The primary purpose is to create more terrorists.
These guys think about nothing else and they know history. They know that,
when a critical mass in a society is committed, nothing can stand in their
way. That's what brought the Berlin Wall and the Soviet Union down. The
purpose of terrorism is to create that critical mass WITHIN THE MIDDLE EAST
COUNTIES. They do that by prompting the nations they attack to do things
like rush into invasions with inadequate planning in a way that creates the
chaos that is the perfect breeding ground for new recruits. So far, we have
responded as if Bin Laden wrote the script and had a direct red phone line
into the White House. They have been aided by an administration craven
enough to equate any questioning of their simplistic fantasy of the world
with being unpatriotic and not supporting our troops.

Supporting our troops does not mean keeping your mouth shut. It means their
being sent in with a plan, with sufficient equipment, when the time is
right. Above all, it means that many of them should have been from other
nations, just as a matter of numbers, we already stretched thin. Just ask
the Nation Guard members on their second rotation. It was also vital to
preventing the radicalizing effect of this being all US invasion.

If Jr. had had the brains and foreign policy skill of his father, and had
not viewed the war on terrorism just as a domestic political opportunity, we
would have been invading Iraq about now. The country would have been
blanked with troops, many of them Muslims. There would have been
reconstruction resources in place. We would have been prepared to seize all
the weapons and medical radioactive materials that disappeared. Sadam would
have been no more dangerous. Above all, we would have first better secured
our other fronts of vulnerability. Doing this would have required
explaining to the American people and the world why we weren't doing
anything right now before the end of the next news cycle. That takes
leadership, something we are totally lacking. Leadership means leading
which means showing the way and changing the direction things are going.
Marching along in a fancy uniform ahead of a parade and going wherever it is
going is not leadership however grand it looks.

Don't tell me Kerry will do a worse job just because he's a Democrat and all
democrats are idiots. No one can know how he will do but anyone willing to
put their partisanship aside and look at just look at what's going on as
they would an engineering or business problem, cost/benefit,
resources/expenditures, system function, ought to be able to see that this
has all been screwed up beyond imagination.

--

Roger Long



"kontiki" wrote in message
...
If have heard not one single tangible bit of evidence from anyone
that requiring a picture ID for pilot license will do anything
to justify the cost and inconvenience when it comes to enhancing
national security.

There hasn't been a single case of terroristic use of a GA airplane
that I am aware of. The whole case in question revolves around 9-11
with commercial airliners and did not even involve the pilots. It
was a failure of a governmental agency to determine whereabouts and
activities of foreign nationals (i.e. non-US citizens).

In my opinion the whole picture ID thing is feel-good lawmaking
that will cost more money and inconvenience in order to provide
an illusion of greater security. It is akin to locking the barn door
after the horse has escaped. When it finally becomes obvious that
the measure did nothing to prevent future attacks there will be
even more measures and restrictions which will be proposed.

This is my opinion and I'm sure most people will disagree with me.