Curmudgeonly & Skeptical

Cuzzin Ricky sent me Tipping Points in the War on Terror, with the suggestion that it was "worthy of consideration."  The author, Mark Goldblatt, asserts that the war on terror has produced the most ironic paradox in the history of warfare:

"... ordinary Americans, who sponsor a military capable of incinerating every Muslim city, town and village in which terrorists operate, lie awake at night worrying about the mood of the Muslim Street, but ordinary Muslims, who know full well what the American military can do, lose no sleep whatsoever worrying about the mood of the American Street."

But, there are tipping points, and maybe a reverse-tipping point, that could change the nature of how we fight these terrorists.

"What if there were a moment at which the American public became so appalled by the casualties and costs of the Iraqi occupation that President Bush felt compelled to bring the hammer down … a moment when C-Span was filled with hard-right demonstrators demanding that Bush subdue the terrorists by any means necessary, a moment when a revered Republican senator quoted Pulp Fiction director Quentin Tarantino, urging the president "to get medieval on their asses," a moment when conservative pundits clamored for Bush to, say, level Tikrit to pacify Fallujah, or level them both to pacify Baghdad?"

Of course, I am hi-liting the stuff that makes me feel good, but, yes, it is worthy of consideration.