>right, but maybe you should have jumped on _everyone's_ case who
>promoted the bring ObL Inc to justice argument. or, at least
>acknowledged that others here have said the same thing on this list.
>no one said a word because it all sounded so, civil....and no one
>apparently wanted to think things through... doug did. so you've
>decided to jump on his case because...why exactly? i don't know.
>but it's pretty fucking funny that all of the people here who now
>have a problem with Doug didn't say the same thing to Yoshie when
>she called on a "bring them to justice" solution early on. or any of
>a number of others who explored the same topic.
Very few people are thinking about this, whether it's the cretins in the administration who can do little more than order bombing runs, or the folks on the left who exhume ancient and largely irrelevant slogans, relics from anti-intervention struggles, apparently not noticing that we were attacked, which changes everything. And the partisans of the cops-and-courts approach, among whom I number myself, apparently haven't thought through just how you go about "bringing them to justice" - when the them in question could be thousands of heavily armed, well-hidden fanatics who will fight to the death.
And, yes, a long-term "solution" requires the U.S. transform its Middle East policies dramatically - which is a polite way of describing a substantial retreat from its empire. Absolutely right and just, but that's serious stuff, and I don't think a lot of lefties urging that have thought through just how profound and difficult a struggle that will be.
Doug