NP The Economist

[Tiarnan O'Corrain]

> That doesn't obviate the need for the 
> confrontation.  As for 
> the battlegroud, 9-11-01 proved we are all on the front line. 
>  THAT'S why we 
> need to drive back the enemy.

But who is the enemy? If it's Osama bin Laden, why do you need aircraft
carriers to get him? Why has no evidence of his guilt been published?
If the USA wants to use the language of criminality, why do they not
publish their evidence? If they want war, why not declare it?

At the moment it seems that the US is gearing up its war machine to
bash the Afghans. If it's anything more than bloodlust, the ferocity
of a cornered rat, then it's a golden opportunity for Mr Bush's
constituency (oil, arms, Saudia Arabia), to enrich themselves at
the expense of the American taxpayer and (more relevantly) the lower-class
American GI. After all, they're the ones that are going to die. In order
to pull this off, you must have a population besotted with
patriotism/jingoism.

Again, who is the enemy, where is the proof?

T.