Here's my simplistic take on foreign policy. The way the music industry is handling the pirating of CDs reminds me of our current "war." The music industry is trying to shut down sites that allow file-sharing and prosecute those who use those sites. They don't want to face the core of the problem, it's much too messy and complicated, and requires some introspection — people feel like most music is crap, and not worth $15 for a CD. And because the industry can't keep up with technology (which is clearly filling a need) they will continue to fail in their efforts.
With the "war" we're in against "states harboring terrorists" — which means we should be declaring war on Montana any day now — we're attempting to bomb them back to the stone-age. Bush and co. don't want to deal with the core of the problem, which is messy as hell and would require cool heads and diplomacy — why do these people want to kill us? And by people I don't just mean the crazy suicidal loons who actually carry out the dirty work, but the many average Islamic fundamentalist Joes who fund and support these guys. Because if we never even try to answer that question, then what the fuck are we hoping to achieve with all of this war crap? What's our plan, to kill them all? Is genocide our aim here? There's a limitless supply of people who are just a few more American-hurled bombs away from being desperate enough to strike back the only tiny way they feel they can, by flying a plane ino a building or driving a car full of TNT into a building. If we start another war on Iraq, I'm going to feel as unsafe as I ever have since Sept. 11. They blow themselves up because have nothing to lose; do we want to assure that they have less than nothing? We will never be able to kill them all, and we will continue to fail in getting rid of the underlying problem.