Is George Bush Gift Wrapping Victory For The Terrorists?

I am not able to pay a great deal of attention to all the MSM goings on revolving around today's auspicious date. I've got to work today. Even my local PBS station has a call in show where listeners were encouraged to pipe in their two cents. But, I don't have a lot of patients today for listening to people spout off about who did what and how we could have done things differently in the aftermath.

Five years ago, after watching the planes dive into the Trade Centers in shock and horror, I did the same thing I am going to do today. I am going to work. It's probably the single most important thing I could have done at that time, and perhaps today.

On that day in 2001, I jumped on my usual public transit commute to work and things were surreal - like a scene out of some movie. There were more police (many with dogs and automatic weapons drawn) than passengers. The eery thing about it was that despite the police presence, I didn't feel safer for it.

Today's date, I think more importantly marks another day to begin the rest of our lives. And life is for the living. Rehashing the events is only as important as it leads us to a better path forward. The wagging middle finger of blame is best put away for the day, and focus turned inward. Beyond that, the rest is ceremonial. And as the Talking Heads sang long ago, it may not matter, "well, how did I get here," more than where are we going from here.

Several questions spring to mind as we move forward into the future. Are we really on the path to "victory" in the GWoT? Might the current path only hand victory to the terrorist thugs with very little effort on their part? Has George Bush fallen victim to the pure intent of these terrorist actions and begun gift wrapping victory and delivering it daily to these thugs?

Having handed the enemy its first gift by attacking a country that had nothing to do with 9/11, Mr. Bush now bestows on them a second: victory on the battlefield of psychological warfare. The President's terror alerts, whatever their motivation, are enough to do it. Osama bin Laden is like David, slingshot at the ready, in the center of the ring. His Goliath, George Bush, cowers in the corner, repeatedly sending out warnings to his people to run for cover.

If indeed, we are now engaged in the "decisive ideological struggle of the 21st century," I don't think we are poised to win it with the current raft of people leading the charge forward. It's time to hunker down and do what we do - which makes us dramatically different than many other nations - vote to change the regime here at home with nary the need to lift a weapon to do so.

Blog on friends, blog on all. And may our memories live with us, for if they don't we are destined to repeat our past mistakes.