Of course the terrorists will continue. There will always be terrorists. There were terrorists before 9/11 (some homegrown). The point of terrorism is to make people terrified, and the way Americans get so easily terrified, the incentive is sure there. One guy gets on a plane with burning underpants, and the whole American universe comes unplugged.

Like I said, it's a cycle. The British discovered (as have empires before them) that in order to protect their "necessary" boundaries from outside attack, they need to expand their boundaries, which provokes new attacks and so on. Eventually, this collapses from over-extension. And then it is discovered that the "necessary" boundaries aren't all that necessary.   The British (speaking of the British) seem to be doing all right empire-less.

The crazy American problem (due to the fact that their military is so powerful and George Bush was so stupid, and 9/11 was so spectacular) is to keep treating this as a war and legitimizing the terrorists. The British treat these creatures as criminals -- hello, trial by jury -- and once upon a time they resisted to the end treating the IRA as a real "army". I spent the 70s in Britain, and there were bombs going off all the time, and it was a little nerve racking, but that was it. The Yemenis are now about to be given the American gold standard treatment -- the new grand enemy -- and it will play out like all the rest. When you only have a hammer, the world is a bunch of nails. When you have a vast military, everyone is a potential enemy. It's completely pathetic.

Happy New Year.

yours,

Peter T.