What I find most interesting about yesterday's incidents is that a small group of people; somewhere between 12 and 20, were able to a) shut down commercial air traffic, b) seal the US borders, c) shut down the US financial markets, d) evacuate the upper levels of the pentagon, and of course e) exact such a high degree of physical damage both in NY and DC - using only pocket knives and razor blades.

Incredibly ingenious and clever. You have to admit this even if you are repulsed by it.

The lesson going forward is that the weapons make no difference. Probably could have done the same thing with BIC lighters and hair spray or even bare fists. Beefing up weapons checkpoints or rules could not have prevented this. Only determination exceeding their own could have - and this is quite possibly what occurred over Pennsylvania; although not without consequences. The thing which could have made a positive difference would be to make airline cockpits impenetrable although this could still result in hostage situations which could cause the pilot to cave in and open the door. If they are trained to fly on no matter what the human cost, eventually this would have an effect on eliminating future incidents.

Osama says he didn't do it. That's not up to me to determine. His involvement wouldn't surprise anybody and he shouldn't be allowed to walk free either way. He's pretty well been convicted and/or admitted to enough similiar incidents. But I might note that the person in the world who would obtain the highest levels of glee at seeing this choice of targets in ruins is Saddam. Difficult to see what Osama might get out of this. My personal opinion is that he had little to gain except a wider cult following and ego satisfaction. Saddam would've done it for pure vengeance. That's a strong motive...

But I'm pretty well burned out from information overload. I think the thing to remember going forward is that those responses we make based on emotions are likely to bring us grief, whereas the responses we make based on rational decisions stand a better chance in the long run. Anybody making this claim in the coming days - including myself; are likely to run up against a brick wall of emotional hotheads. Just remember that all actions have consequences; including our own responses to other actions. The issue is how to make a legitimate response without sowing the seeds of WWIII.

Recall that WWII was all about the sanctions imposed on Germany at the conclusion of WWI and also the sanctions/embargo we imposed upon Japan in the late '30s. Our war currently is only with a few individuals. If we turn it into a war against a people, we will get it back in kind. We've just seen this first hand. Somebody's fight against certain of our government policies (remains to be seen which ones) has just turned into a war against the US people. The difficult path - but the one we must take; is to figure out how if possible to isolate and remove the root causes without attempting to isolate/remove a people. Therein lies the path to madness.