Winning a war of attrition

Most of the drugs used to treat viral infections are, effectively, immune system suppressors. Noses run because that allows the body to clear out infected material. Increased metabolic activity, also known as "fever," is an important immune system booster. Fatigue, achiness, chills and other symptoms happen because the body does not have the capacity to both fight the infection and engage in normal activities. By taking these steps firmly and quickly, the body's own defenses can typically kill off the disease before it damages enough tissue to be a problem. Sometimes, as with the youth-skewed deaths from H1N1, this natural response goes overboard and kills the patient.

This is how I look at issues like terrorism. The relatively small number of people directly involved with AQ know that they have no chance of directly destroying the US. The strategic depth of the country is far too great for that to be a serious threat, much as the vast expanses and large nuclear arsenal of the Soviet Union guaranteed that its enemies could not threaten it directly. Instead, Bin Laden and company are playing their old patron Reagan's game, knowing that a small escalation on their part leads to a dramatic and expensive response on our part.

The "system" worked on Christmas Day, 2009 just as well as it did with Richard Reid in 2005. A man who, like many young hot-headed fools, had known links to AQ boarded a plane in a manner that's not unheard of for wealthy expats. He inexpertly attempted to damage the aircraft and was stopped by alert passengers and crew. In other words, the only people who slip through the cracks in the intelligence system are the least dangerous. Without irony, Go Team!

Placing additional loads on our security apparatus in this environment is like a fever that causes brain damage. Fighting AQ and its derivatives is a war of attrition, and one in which we hold a considerable advantage if don't allow small problems to grow into large ones. Today we're being asked to put aside dignity, get cooked slightly by microwaves and pay a lot of money so that our underwear can be inspected. Drug dealers and would-be assassins of Saudi princes know that there are places microwaves can't see, and we'll have to choose between accepting that risk or cancer-causing x-rays when the next young fool slips through the cracks. (Actually, one did, but US media kind of ignored it since the target wasn't American, so our prostates are safe for now.)

What we need nationally is something to suppress the fear response that leads to swelling in our budgets and feverish talk on cable news. Pie making can serve as that anti-histamine. Rolling out a crust is a great confidence builder, not to mention being good for the shoulders in the highly unlikely event you have to throw that elbow. Sharing pies with friends, family and neighbors pulls attention away from the strident talking heads, and hopefully calms everyone down a bit. We in the US are the safest and most prosperous people in history. Let's enjoy that instead of fretting about rich fools who are trying, and failing miserably, to ruin it.