War on Terrorism

As the dust settles it's fairly evident that the 'War on Drugs' was a multi billion dollar boondangle that's principle political end was to arm and fund  police and coast guard services possibly so these could be used against the collective citizenry.  The cost to health care and education and civil rights is apparently an abomination.  It's as offensive as the long gun registration in Canada that depicted farmers and outdoorsmen as enemy of the state for the rightful ownership of necessary tools taxing them outright and providing jobs for political appointees.
That said, the war on terrorism appeared to many to be the latest brand in government abuse.  This was naturally a consequence of the high cost that the war on drugs in general and abusive political agendas had on eroding public confidence.  The war on terrorism, following close on the discredited war on drugs, carried a lot of the baggage from one campaign to the other.
Yet, I lived in London when the IRA were randomly bombing public sites. The immediate deaths were not nearly as significant as the collateral damage.  In 9-11 the cost of seeing the World Trade Centre hit by a plane was that hundreds more did not take planes for a year later and the increased fatalities from road fatalities are a consequence of the A Quida terrorism.  In London we were fearful of going to places where the IRA had struck.  My wife at the time came home after being hit by fragments of glass when her window was blown out by an explosion in the building across the street. She was devastated and the consequences of this unwarranted terror to her and hundreds others in the vicinity of the one bomb is immeasurable. I was evacuated repeatedly from the building I worked in.  No bombs were found but the threats had hundreds of us workers out of the television buildings across from Harrods for hours at a time all wondering when the next threat would be real. So one has to consider that a bomb blast is couple with countless threats all doing their own violence.
The War on Drugs is repudiated because of the failure to secure the borders of the United States and the failure of all attempts to eradicate drugs at the source and the networks. One supplier went down and like the Hydra another rose. The fact remained that drugs were bad and the cost of drug abuse to the country is profound.  As a consequence of the war on drugs the highly successful 'drug court' was found.  Further much of what we now know about drugs and legalization and criminalization and white collar crime derived specifically from this time.  Indeed the 'war on drugs' could well be seen as a third world attack on the first world with a biological weapon not so dissimilar from TB and other diseases that inadvertently were a scourge to first nations people when the westerners came to North America.  Marijuana, not a significant problem to the populace in India where it is readily available because the amotivational drug of choice for the slackers of the west costing untold damages in productivity no differently that the effects of alcohol on first nations people when introduced to by British Army, which had learned through harsh measures to remain functional which first nations tribes could not.  In exchange the first nations folk gave Europeans tobacco and we're still reeling from the scourge of what could well be called one of the greatest  weapons of all time.
The tragedy of the terrorism is that it is a serious threat.  It's surprisingly common around the world.  Car bombs and suicide bombers are going off all the time all over the world but we only hear of the worst case scenarios and especially when western bastions are targetted successfully.  The cost of counter terrorist measures are extraordinary as anyone who has waited for hours in lines as airports can attest to. The Bible describes those building the temple being attacked whenever they picked up shovels so that eventually to build the temple they had to divide their forces so that half always carried swords.  That's the situation today.  For me to be able to go to work and focus my attention on healing the sick and education an increasing portion of society is tasked with the job of protection.
Today Ossama bin Laden's journals were released and showed that jihadists support was lost when their terrorist attacks occurred in their home lands.  These people are the furthest thing from Gaia folk who talk of "Mother Earth".  The jihadists are reactionary tribalists interested in their own ghetto at the cost of the city, the country and world.  What is interesting is that they express a need to target the west because their own people turn against them when random arbitrary violence is turned on them.
The psychological effect of people fighting is to increasingly take a third stand against them and blame both equally.  Hence the Americans are blamed equally to suicide bombers in some circles.  People want to be like ostriches and put their heads in the sand hoping a threat will go away.  Yet people who promote suicide bombers or use terror as a strategy in their own hidden war don't just go away.
In Ireland they won.  The British were pushed out.  But the Americans hadn't invaded Yemen yet Yemen suicide bombers were lose on the world.  Terrorism predated Irag and Afghanistan.  Ossama bin Laden was a rich Saudi kid with a resentment and Saudi is anything but American.  Sharia religious law is not something that jives well with anything Canadian yet this one group of terrorists would have it rule the world courts. At the same time religious nutbars in the US would have us all cherry picking the Bible and drinking poison collectively in Jonestown celebrations.
I accept the War on Drugs was mistaken in many parts that we can see retrospectively. but I'm not so quick to conclude the 'war on terrorism' is as fallacious.  I don't think what was done to the Kurds was liberal by any means.
I have on several occasions written to my Prime Minister and Ministers of the government asking for their take on world events. I have received the parliamentary discussions of these events and been rather surprised at how remarkably thoughtful and considered these discussions are. The media gives me increasingly angry sound bites. I 've taken the time to ask for the actual briefings of sitting government and oppositions and learned with great comfort that these great discussions so far above my pay grade are far more complex and reasoned than I'm usually lead to believe.
I'm thankful no one bombed Vancouver. The Canucks Riots fall out was to my mind the reason they lost so abysmally and shamefully as a team this year. But more importantly many Vancouverites, myself included avoided going down town at night for most of last year simply because of the television coverage of nighttime violence in the down town core. The cost to businesses of the riots is still only touched by the multi million dollar estimate.  A few bombs going off in downtown Vancouver and everyone would soon be shopping on line and eating barbecue in their backyards. That's what terrorism does.
I am thankful for the efforts of CSIS, CIA, MI5 or 6, the RCMP and even American Homeland Security for their confronting a problem which threatens the fabric of all civilization as we know it.
I don't want to be evacuated from buildings in Canada because people in Prince Edward Island are unhappy about anything in Canada. I'm thankful that Queen Charlotte First Nations folk with their multitude of grievances aren't poisoning the fish we all eat or blowing themselves up in Vancouver.  I'm thankful that the Quebec French don't have a religion that encourages them to blow themselves up in Saskatoon to get on Oprah or Letterman.  People are poor in New Brunswick but they're not going to the oil sands and shooting Calgarians to promote the re distribution of wealth from Toronto and Montreal.
Those who are and no doubt we have our whackos in Canada are thankfully being stopped by our laws and civilzation. For this I'm thankful.  I'm glad that I can pick up a shovel and get on with building the temple thanks to those who are protecting the backs of Canadians in general.  I don't want to devolve into tribal war with images of Rwanda and Serbia and Chinese soldiers killing Tibetan  Buddhist monks coming easily to mind.