Smile for the Camera - While We Fight the Last Battle

The military - and governments in general - almost always prepare to fight the next war like they should have fought the last one. Unfortunately, the world and our enemies do not remain static. They evolve, change. So nearly always, militaries must learn on-the-fly during a war how to fight this evolved enemy. We are seeing this clearly in the aftermath of the latest Gulf War; we went in thinking we were in for a tank-on-tank, division-on-division open territory battle like Gulf War I. Instead, the Iraqi army faded into the population in the cities and, along with insurgents and a few foreigners, are fighting a guerilla type warfare.

We are also seeing this failure to learn and adapt by the Department of Homeland Security. Today began their latest program of photographing and fingerprinting visitors to the US (only from certain countries) in the hope of catching someone on the terrorist watch list coming in through major international airports and cruise ports. In the details there are concerns about privacy, but in general this is probably not a horrible idea if executed correctly and fairly. Most importantly, though, is that this is how the last group of successful terrorists made it into the country to perpetrate 9-11. It is unlikely they will use this method again.

While Secretary Ridge screws around with taking care of the last threat, the most likely avenue for a future threat remains woefully unprotected: our major cargo ports of entry. With incoming cargo ships loaded with almost uncountable containers inspected at a rate in the low single digits (if I remember the last report correctly), this remains our most vulnerable spot. But because it is nearly unseen by most Americans it is nearly ignored in favor of more visible actions.

But we shouldn't be surprised at this; this administration is all about the appearance of action. Appearances can be deceiving, but only if you're not paying attention. And I guarantee you: al Qaeda is paying attention. You remember al Qaeda, don't you? They were the ones really responsible for 9-11. Of course with BushCo. paying so little attention to them, you could be forgiven for not remembering.

That's my job - to remind.

Don't be fooled; we are not safer since the capture of Saddam, hiding incommunicado in his hole. Al Qaeda remains a potent foe dedicated to doing our country harm.

Remember.