Merely “tackling real difficult issues” any old way does not help, but in fact hinders.

The attackers of 9/11 were stiking out against our wealth and prosperity – very much the same way that the federal government stikes out against wealth and properity. The terrorist’s action was compressed into an instant – where as the action of the government is spread out over time.

The money put into the unnecessary war could have been used to built several new world trade centers in almost every big US city (not that I support that either).

Do you honestly believe that war will solve terrorism? or is it more likey to raise a whole generation of father-less sons who will seek vengence?

I think strategic thinking is the best way to achieve the desired goal. There is a bounty on Osama, but no one (including US muslims) are willing to risk their life trying to infiltrate terrorist networks, if they can easily be exposed and captured by our own troops.

Even if you disagree with the above, you may still contend that that should have been tried first! Most thinking people test the bath water first, and then get in.

I’m not even going into the fact that the government has supported the terrorists in the past.

Curiously, why do you think our action is proper, and will actually achieve its objective?

Heh, I’m a subscriber to Von Mises report also, I just can’t stand this constant sniping from the sidelines against people who are at least trying to tackle real, difficult issues, rather than wish them all away. It is not helping us (I mean me and you), and it is not helping anyone but the enemies of civilization. Let’s try to be less tribal!

“College was a long time ago for most of you.”

Considering that colleges are a hot bed of statism, I do not see how this makes sense.

“What people need to see from libertarians/anarchists is their plan to tackle islamic terrorism (as a topical example). Be warned: your plan would then be subject to criticism and may be made a laughing stock, but at least you would have a chance at being taken seriously. ”

How about stop intruding?
Keep the bounty on the terrorists let private bounty hunters compete for the prize.

Roger M,
Respect for property rights does not emerge from the mythical’ rule of Law’ or republican government’ nor still from some contents of some human-made Constitution; but rather from valuable traditions that recognise that respect for other people’s property is in fact a safeguard for one’s own property.

I know you love to live in a little self-supporting, purist tribe, so to remain isolated and ineffectual is perhaps no threat, but, come on, you have to grow up some time. College was a long time ago for most of you.

Hippie talk. This is ultimately a meaningless statement.

Why should I give a s*** about Iraqis? More specifically, why should I give $6B/mo. worth of a s*** about them?

In terms of realpolitik, we traded a secular Sunni dictatorship that allowed Christian and even Jewish worship for a bunch of Shi’ite and Kurdish rabble who are going to live off US foreign aid for the next century.

In the (French) Revolutionary Wars at the end of the 18th century, and then again in North Africa in the 19th century – a conquest Bastiat also covered – France had applied indirect means of looting and wealth transference via currency manipulation, basically the same thing countries do to themselves via inflation these days.

So, Bastiat was well aware of these indirect methods and was not ruling them out. The USA has applied these techniques, quite widely; it is no exception to the idea of indirect looting that Bastiat also knew about.

Perhaps a specific example of US invasion would help illustrate things: Panama. The USA has (indirectly) got far more out of that than it ever put in. And that is not an isolated example.

In the (French) Revolutionary Wars at the end of the 18th century, and then again in North Africa in the 19th century – a conquest Bastiat also covered – France had applied indirect means of looting and wealth transference via currency manipulation, basically the same thing countries do to themselves via inflation these days.

So, Bastiat was well aware of these indirect methods and was not ruling them out. The USA has applied these techniques, quite widely; it is no exception to the idea of indirect looting that Bastiat also knew about.

If the last twenty years saw aggressive engagement through trade; no invasions; no stationing of military bases in the middle east; and no subisidies to the various corrupt governments, we would not be involved in the government’s latest war–the one on terror.

Is this a blame America first theory? No. “America” is not its government, America is the good men and women who get up every day and go to work, or take care of their kids or live otherwise peaceful, productive lives, in spite of this appendage that is attached to them and calls itself “government.” Most of us are held accountable for our lives and actions every day. Government is never held accoutnable.

In the last thousand years, I would suspect that 99.9% of human beings killed intentionally at the hands of other human beings have been killed at the behest of governments. All philosophy aside, perhaps it’s time to try a little less government.

I suppose you like it when George Bush, et al. steal, rape and pillage at will, not only his own country, but distant ones as well?

As long as you see AND pay for the evil, it’s OK! Now that’s a convenient morality!

Which demonstrates the uniqueness of the US. For rather than steal from those we conquered, we have spent billions to restore them.

Which demonstrates the total lack of comprehension of what the war is about: the governments wage “liberation” wars not against some remote dictators, but against their homeland populations. These wars are mere means to extort more money from scared sheepie by making them feel good about being mighty and invincible. Meanwhile, government spends some minor share of the loot on the visible “good works”, and its cronies pocket the rest.

US is only unique in the hold the swindler’s rhetoric has on its population, I guess. In most other places governments are trusted far less, which limits belligerence of these governments.