Thanks to BoingBoing I'm finally catching up on some of the Sept 11 Commission's Final Report. The full 7+meg report can be downloaded at the official website At 600 pages, it's a bit of a read, and thankfully there's a much shorter, but equally compelling synopsis of the report at this site.

Even the summary gives a comprehensively damning picture. It's a bit of a balancing act: on the one hand, it makes sense that the "blame" for the attacks succeeding (and I'd like to stress that "blame" is very much a subjective word in this situation) falls on so many groups--the CIA, FBI, FAA, NORAD, the Clinton and Bush Administrations, and it makes sense that the extent of the attacks were also due to the fact that nothing existed to properly respond to such an event.

And yet the simply fact is no one had forseen it; what the comission calls "a lack of imagination". It's strange to hear that word used in this context. Because when I think of imagination, I don't think of it in terms of killing some 2,900 people. I'm a sick bastard and I love the value of shock-statements, but when push comes to shove my brain doesn't process that way. And yet it does take imagination, the ability to concieve of new things. A new global relationship where Superpower does not equal supremacy.

The summary mentions that

The problem is that al Qaeda represents an ideological movement, not a finite group of people. It initiates and inspires, even if it no longer directs. In this way it has transformed itself into a decentralized force. Bin Ladin may be lim-ited in his ability to organize major attacks from his hideouts. Yet killing or cap-turing him, while extremely important, would not end terror. His message of inspiration to a new generation of terrorists would continue.

Which is stirring indictment of anyone who thinks our dog-and-pony show in Iraq will have any significant consequences to the larger issue, and point-blank undercuts any propaganda victory to be had in the killing of bin Laden.

But let's take this a step further. If the Sept 11th attacks succeeded because of a lack of imagination on our parts, as the report indicates, we're still not being imaginative enough to deal with the threat. Because we're still wrapping this new perspective under antiquated terminology--our little dog-and-pony show in Iraq is proof of that; the only way the Bush Adminstration was able to give the public reassurance that it's effective was to invade a country that had nothing to do with the attacks on Sept 11. It couldn't deliver bin Laden, and most people can't pronounce the names of the al Qaeda operatives it had gotten. But Iraq was a country, Saddam a recognizable threat; a known quantity. So it played well in theaters and there you are.

But it doesn't solve the problem. It, in fact, doesn't even address the problem that the comission states so plainly. How do you wage war against an ideology? I tell you, the older I get the more I realize how true Bohr was: "The opposite of a true statement is a false one. But the opposite of a profound truth is another profound truth."

You can't counter ideology with more/mere rhetoric, like the Bush Adminstration has done. Sure, it plays well to the rubes, but sooner or later (and let's face it: it will be later) people will wise-up to this fact. Either that or in a hundred years historians will be able to point to September 11th and consider it day the United States of America began its decline as a superpower.

The Commission report stresses that beyond rooting out Islamic terroist cells, the US must offer an alternative to what Islamic Extremism offers. It says this must be done by defining message and stand as an example of moral leadership in the world. To Muslim parents, terrorists like Bin Ladin have nothing to offer their children but visions of violence and death. America and its friends have the advantage-- our vision can offer a better future.

I'm going to have to read the whole damn report, because while the summary says that this has to be done, it doesn't say how to do it. Theoretically, creating a democratic Iraq is a good way to start. But considering this was done by force, which only gives Islamic Extrmists more fodder for their rhetoric, that the whole mission is funded on the backs of corporations looking to make money and not end Islamic terroism, and considering that the region is unstable today as it was prior to our invasion, I'm not carrying much hope that Iraq will be anything useful anytime soon.

You know, the problem with imagination is that it tends to lead to radical ideas. The bad news is that this administration is anything but radical--and I've seen nothing from the Kerry Campaign that gives me hope that Kerry would be any different. But the good news is that, overall, this country tends to accept radical ideas. Hell, it was founded by radicals, and its history shows that our country changes its perspective over time and it evoles and grows. The problem is, it never does so without a long drawn out fight.

So. Anybody got any ideas? Don't be afraid; use your imagination.