Saturday, April 19, 2003

De-fense! De-fense! De-fense!
On offense in this war, you face outgunned opponents and, mostly, you kill them. On defense you face industry lobbyists, civil libertarians, investigative gadflies, pork-barrel politicians, employee unions, campaign consultants, tort lawyers, budget police, bureaucratic red tape, the Bill of Rights and the laws of physics. You can wage a war without deferring to allies or sharing the spoils, regardless of the wisdom of that, but the home front doesn't put up with unilateralists — except maybe Alan Greenspan.

On offense, victory may be expensive and bloody and it may give way to an ugly peace, but it is assured. You can declare it, date it and celebrate it with a parade. On defense, the overwhelming odds are that no matter how rigorously the government prepares, America will again suffer what the administration calls "terrorism of catastrophic proportions." Every day without a terrorist attack is not a victory, merely a reprieve.…
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/04/19/opinion/19KELL.html

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