Our Way of Life?
Another thought about the supposed targetting of Las Vegas: by casting the enemy as “hating our way of life,” the administration leaves no room for compromise. If the terrorists seek to reduce U.S. influence in the middle east, then there are various concessions that might be made; if they want to destroy our way of living no matter what, then there’s no room for compromise. Although we don’t negotiate with terrorists, we do know how to avoid calling regimes terrorist when we want to negotiate—e.g., North Korea.
Similarly, a “war on terror” is unwinnable: terror is a mode of action, not an entity. The war on Troy is won when Troy falls; when does the war on terror end? When no one thinks of using terror as a tactic anymore?
Many others have written about the potentially perpetual nature of this war, and even administration officials have suggested that this could last decades. This could conceivably rival the cold war as an engine to drive the military-industrial complex. I wonder how clearly people could see the cold war unfolding in its incipiency.