The world according to Pennywit

With trying to keep fresh content up on three blogs, I can't always remember where I've said what, but I'm thinking I never told you that I'm now also guest posting at Pennywit. I've been more doing more commenting than posting, but it's a great blog and they're a fun bunch to debate.

There's an interesting thread going on there today about the Lessons of London. Pennywit and BatOne wrongly posit that the lesson is we have to harden our resolve and "get the terrorists." This was my comment.

I love it when you guys talk patriotic to me but I'm just a lowly uneducated civilian here trying to make sense of a losing cause. Maybe I'm just missing the point of this lesson so perhaps one of you could answer this question, and it's sincere. I'm not being sarcastic.

How will we know when we've "won?" Clearly the nature of the "war on terror" is such that there can't be a defining V-Day moment when we can declare victory, so what outcome would be the indicator that we have succeeded in eliminating the threat of terrorism?

Not to single out BatOne, but the world is not a more dangerous place since 9/11. It's always been a dangerous place and there are an infinite number of ways to die. It seems to me that the terrorists win when they can force us to empty our national treasury and damage the strength and perception of our power by forcing us to dance across the globe in response to their tune. A handful of ragtag miscreants are bleeding the mightiest military in the world to death with a thousand tiny cuts.

With due respect to the more learned opinions here, I think the lesson of London is in the people's response to the bombing. Blair announced Britain will not institute draconian Patriot Act measures, diminishing civil rights in response to fear and the people are not helplessly wringing their hands over their lost sense of security. To employ an old saw, "The best revenge is living well."

They of course will have an answer for that. They have an answer for everything and no off the cuff remark goes unchallenged. It's not easy to get the last word in that brainy crowd.