If something is not done soon, does anyone doubt that deadly acts of anarchy called terrorism will resurface again in this country, notwithstanding all of the precautions we have set in place since 9-11 to avoid it? Perhaps now would be a good time to reevaluate the problem … to reconsider the wisdom of miring ourselves in this quagmire of violence. One may well conclude we are engaged in a war that cannot be won, much like the war depicted by George Orwell in 1984.

People sometimes underestimate their opposition … and sometimes not just to their detriment. Terrorists have taught us it can be fatal. With overconfidence, we tend to view terrorists with condescension, smugly reassuring ourselves that they are undermanned and underfinanced – a pathetic group of hostile people without the resources to take us on. Nevertheless, they have. Bombs continue to explode daily in Iraq that kill or maim dozens of our people with each blast. But, we say, “Isn’t that to be expected? After all, we are at war in that country.” Yes, but the trouble is that is not the extent of it. Elsewhere, the same is occurring in places as diverse as Spain, Bali, England, Jordan, Belgium, Saudi Arabia and Germany. At the time of this writing, riots are progressing in towns across France, Germany is reported to be preparing for the same after the torching of only a single car, only to be followed by several more being torched in Belgium the next day. The only unknowns seem to be where will it happen next and can it be stopped.

One factor that makes a terrorist threat unique is that we have engaged an enemy that neither wears a uniform nor originates from any single nation. That happens, of course, when you take it upon yourself to declare war upon a philosophy – particularly one that has been embraced by a billion people spread throughout the world. The only good thing about that is that it leaves our enemy without any dependable lines of supply for funds and resources needed to effectively fight a war. However, that advantage is only a minimal benefit to us if one considers that it has driven our enemies to fall back upon a battle strategy that requires them to have only periodic access to relatively minimal amounts of explosives and a few foolhardy souls willing to deliver these random payloads to public locations of the terrorists’ choosing.

That, in turn, highlights another important facet of a war fought against terrorists that corners us in a quandary. Targets available to us are comparatively few and far between when compared to the unlimited number available to our enemy. They can attack anywhere and anytime our people congregate: trains, planes, buses, the stations and ports they emanate from, shops, stores, malls, public streets, highways, hotels, motels, convention centers, military bases, offices, tourist attractions and the list goes on and on, ad infinitum. All our enemy needs is an occasional explosion to occur anywhere in the world and they can consider it a victory. Not only will they experience the satisfaction of killing or injuring at least a few of us, but their greater goal will also have been achieved – the further erosion of our comfort, confidence and security as we are instantaneously informed of these incidents via the global media’s satellite networks.

That brings us to the third major problem associated with a war on terror. We live in an increasingly transient world. On the one hand, business, trade and economic conditions today encourage hordes of people to migrate from their homelands to a multitude of other countries. However, as these millions of people come and go, we can be assured with virtual certainty that among them will be a percentage who hold to the philosophy we have unwittingly declared war upon -- a lesson France has now learned under the tutelage of their sizable Muslim community – a community France and others in Europe have encouraged as a source of cheap labor, only to find that in reality it is a Trojan Horse infused with people who hate the cultures of the west. Like land mines that remain hidden and dormant until detonated, these people, who seem to have no desire to assimilate into their host’s culture, remain embedded until it is too late to avoid the havoc they seem predisposed to inflict upon that host.

And now for the bad news. I am not aware of anyone who has yet presented the world with a practical way of deescalating, much less defusing, this war. Yes, I am aware of the call being made in France to deport those who participated in the riots. But really, given the huge migrations western countries have encouraged for the last several decades, is that a solution that has any hope of succeeding? Probably not. Were it even feasible to accurately identify all those who should be deported, is only likely to exacerbate the problem by giving birth to additional hostilities in the future from those not deported having experienced the tearing apart of their families? Yet, if that is not practical, I ask you, short of finding some way to give all would be terrorists a desire to join us in a chorus of Kumbaya, what remedy is available? Realistically, there may be none. If doubts remain, however, I would suggest you consider the history of Israel. They have been seeking a solution to terrorism at least for decades, if not for millenniums, without success. Can there possibly exist any reason for us to think that we are capable of doing better? It almost makes one want to reread 1984.

© 2005 Clifford C. Nichols, Esq.

Cliff Nichols is an attorney practicing criminal defense/entertainment law in Santa Monica, California. He may be contacted regarding this editorial at either (310) 917-1083, cliff@cliffnicholslaw.com or www.cliffnicholslaw.com and you may join his blog at www.thedailystand.com