The War on Terror Isn't

Terrorism is a serious problem. That does not mean that it makes sense in any way to "go to war" with it.

Terrorism is a tactic of desperation--not an enemy--and wars create plenty of both desperation and enemies, as well as the fear used to justify decay of constitutional rights. These truths have unfortunately been laid bare in our misguided foray into Iraq: it only became the "central front" of the "war on terror" after we got there. Meanwhile, the real battle against Al Qaeda and the real security risks facing this country have been ignored.

There is some good reading on this topic over at Digby's place, FDL (x2), AMERICAblog, and by Chris Bowers and Matt Stoller at MyDD.