Chasing Terrorism

Now, I'm just a little old lady, living in the wilds of the Ozarks, and I know there are lots of people who know lots more than I do about world affairs. So, I guess I'm inviting a lot of criticism when I say I don't think we are fighting terrorism in the right way.

Here's a little story: I lived in a ten-unit apartment building when I was in college. There were five units upstairs and five downstairs. One by one, we complained about an infestation of roaches in our units. Hardly a week went by without one or two of us calling the owner and asking him to hire someone to fumigate, and week in and week out, he ignored our requests.

So, we did the best we could, and sprayed and stomped roaches until, one weekend, after careful planning by the residents, we all moved out. We had to. With all our spraying of individual apartments, we were simply running the roaches out of one unit and into the next. We weren't getting rid of them. They were simply relocating.

And, that's what we're doing in the Middle East. We're chasing Al Quaeda from one country to another without solving the problem. And, at the same time, we're fighting on another front, an unwinnable war in Iraq.

So, here's my idea. Declare a national emergency and bring the troops home, leaving what we can call a "peacekeeping force" in the Middle East. Put the Air Force in charge of security in our airports, the Navy and Coast Guard in charge of security in our ports of entry and the Army and Marines patrolling our borders, both with Mexico and Canada. Make the term, Homeland Security mean something. And, let the Middle Eastern countries solve their own "roach" problems in their own ways.

Now, aren't you glad I'm back?

Stay tuned.