Two important, succinct points from William Pfaff, in the International Herald Tribune. Attacks Show That Political Courage Is the Only Real Defense

“The practical uselessness of revenge has repeatedly been

demonstrated, and continues to be demonstrated in the Middle

East, since those who employ terrorism are not functioning on a

pragmatic scale of reward and punishment. As the Israelis find,

making martyrs of your enemies invites further martyrdoms.”

“The second reaction will be that the United States needs even

more elaborate defenses than now exist. Yet the Pentagon,

CIA, NSA and the rest of the American apparatus of national

security proved incapable of preventing the attacks Tuesday.

They are incapable of preventing their repetition in some other

version.

There are no technological defenses, as such, against this sort of

thing. Surely, if nothing else comes out of the attacks Tuesday,

they ought to have demonstrated to Americans the irrelevance

of national missile defense.” [via Sam Smith]