democracy in action

You mean chip 'em like pets? Maybe we ought to do that will all prisoners - then as they walk through the RFID gate at airports and supermarkets, security can immediately be alerted with their rap sheet up on the screen. I really don't know what to make of Gates' comments though - if they're terrorists, why aren't they being charged?

The only problem with tagging them is that they can go back to wherever, and if they're terrorists they'll go on training other terrorists.

Like many others who have traveled around the planet, I think there is an endless pool of terrorists. There are many countries where the people are just so damned stupid that they're starving etc and can't sort out their problems. On the television they see how other people live in the "rich" countries. Then they blame all those "rich" countries for all their problems. On many occasions I've heard the USA blamed for corruption in third world nations and I tell people: No, the problem is that you goddamned monkeys are lazy and corruptible; the USA has virtually nothing to do with your problems. But no one wants to take any responsibility for things these days. Unfortunately, the reality is that the USA will always be demonized by uneducated people who envy it. It doesn't help any that businesses go into these third world nations and join in the corruption game - as a matter of principle, they should stay out and let the place go to hell on its own. The first thing to do is enforce a ban on sales of weapons - and I mean enforce it by sinking ships carrying weapons shipments (with all crew on board). Once the thugs with guns run out of ammo, then they're on equal footing with the oppressed and the country has some hope of settling down. Since that's not happening (can't upset the gun runners now, can we), you can bet there are a lot of terrorists in the making out there. Attacking Afghanistan addresses just one terrorist faction; attacking Iraq addresses nothing, and there are numerous other horrible places on the planet where the terrorists are literally breeding like flies.