WHAT WE KNEW THEN

Even before the tragic attack of 9/11 on the World Trade Center in New York we knew that Bin Ladin's primary goal was to bleed our economy dry by provoking us into an expensive long drawn out war in the Middle East. We eventually found and killed Bin Ladin but not before he "accomplished" his mission. Immediately after 9/11 we had the entire civilized world on our side. For that brief moment in history it was within our power to set an enduring example of how to defeat terrorism -because the only weapon that will ever truly defeat terrorism  is public opinion. Had we simply turned the other cheek, buried our dead, and gone about the business of rebuilding -Osama Bin Ladin's strategy would have backfired and he would have become an International outcast.

Prior to our invasion of Iraq in the "Second" Gulf War we already knew from our prior experience in Afghanistan the utter futility of attempting to convert an ancient Middle Eastern style tribal society into a modern Western style democracy.

Terrorism shares certain characteristics with Ebola and other viruses. It erupts in conditions of poverty and lack of opportunity . It only ends when it burns itself out and there are no more bodies or minds to infect, or when public opinion finally turns against it. 

We can not force our values and ways of governing on other Nations but we can provide an example of a better way to deal with the complexities of governing. Ways that treat every citizen fairly while providing opportunities to all. Now is the time to end these wars which we can not win and start setting an example for all the world to see. We must first look inward and re-discover  some of the democratic values which we've lost sight of recently. A good way to start would be to clean up our own elective process which has become far too ugly and too contaminated by big money.