Like him or hate him, dubya laid it on the line Thursday night. My feelings run across the spectrum of dread, fear, and desperately wanting to kick some serious Taliban butt. Mostly though, I can't do a damn thing about any of this terrorist crap. Where are you at with all of this "different kind of war"?

-- Anonymous, September 21, 2001

Answers

Even though I didn't vote for him, I thought the speech was brilliant and probably just won Buch 4 more years. However, just technically and physically speaking how are we suppose to wipe out all of the terrorists.....simultaneously invade all the caves all over the world?

The speech inspired all remaining pickup truck drivers to put a flag in all of thier back windshields.

-- Anonymous, September 24, 2001

I don't think we have to wipe out all the terrorists. We just have to work on it one "cave" at a time. Of course, those "caves" can be in Afganistan, Iraq, Hamburg, Houston, San Diego, or anywhere else. For the terrorists cells that remain, they will rationally conclude that it is better to conduct terror in non USA/NATO countries. This is a job for the intelligence community, and they have been asleep at the wheel. They admit it. But things are quickly changing.

The other side of the problem is those guys with the Amercian Flags in the back of their pickups. Someday, they may decide to "go smack a few Muslims upside the head". This is predictable. It's also probably part of the terrorist's strategy to incite "holy war".

But as a Nation, we have "been there and done that". Twice actually. First with the Irish Americans in the 1840's, and then with the German Americans during World War II.

The Irish were well assimilated in the USA from 1770 through 1840. The potato famine and the desire for unionization were significant causes of the Catholic riots in 1840 Philadelphia. Today, the Irish Americans have a pretty hard time making a case for being "suppressed". Jeez, our Police Commissioner in Philadelphia is Irish.

The predominant ethnic composition in Pennsylvania is German. During World War II, Pennsylvania was an industrial powerhouse and vital to the war effort. The vast majority of German Pennsylvanians went from "Bund" rallies in the 1930's to "buying Liberty Bonds" in the 1940's.

This is what the Taliban/bin Laden fails to acknowledge. This is why holy war won't happen in the industrialized nations.

As an aside, former Pennsylvania governor Tom Ridge is our new czar for homeland security. He has vast resources available for researching and understanding the earlier Irish American and German American issues. He is superbly positioned for dealing with the new Muslim American problem, if it ever happens on a large scale.

-- Anonymous, September 24, 2001