The sad thing is that we should have recognized from the beginning that terrorism is a law enforcement problem, not a military problem. A BBC special the other night ("Jihad.com") showed how Al Qaeda has been able to use the Internet as a recruitment, organizational and training tool making travel unnecessary and national borders and national governments irrelevant.

Sadly, Bush has squandered so much treasure on the misadventure in Iraq that we can't afford to beef up law enforcement in ways that it would make it effective against terror while preserving our freedoms and liberties. (When law enforcement steps on people's rights its usually a matter of expediency, not necessity.)

I had my office next door to the FBI for five or six years and couldn't believe how pitiful their operation was. They didn't even have a toilet within their office space. That's right. If they had a suspect in custody who had to take a pee they had to waltz him across the lobby of the building so he could use the public loo. Insane. Their computer system was joke: down half the time with little access to data that mattered. They used to come to me for help in locating "persons of interest". And, we're not talking pre-9/11 here. This was the case through my retirement in April of 2005.

I think it noteworthy that the BBC special ended with words from a retired CIA guy who was formerly head of the "Bin Laden desk" at the CIA. When asked when we'd make progress against terrorists he said it only happen when governments stopped lying and telling people that the terrorists were out to destroy our lifestyle and take away our freedoms. Nonsense. They just want us out of their lives, out of their countries and to mind our own business.