The Goal is not to Apprehend

Authored by Michael Pate on January 22nd, 2004 at 11:33 PM

I know that some people question if America is really in a war at all. They view terrorism more as a crime, a problem to be solved mainly with law enforcement and indictments. - George Bush

I disagreed with most of what Scott Rosenberg wrote here. But it is this sentence that really caught my attention.

The debate is over means, not ends — over whether we should reelect a government that has failed in two and a half years since Sept. 11 to apprehend the masterminds of the 9/11 attack, that has distracted the nation with an elective war in Iraq and that has thrown wrenches in the works of serious efforts to analyze the failures that led to 9/11. - Scott Rosenberg

I don’t think the goal then or now was to “apprehend” anyone. And that is the problem I have with so many who seem to think this is all some sort of law enforcement exercise.