Scattered Thoughts

I have several themes I want to mention today, none of which are intricately tied together.

Rove

I believe I understated something yesterday when I argued that the Rove leak represented a threat to national security. I took that for granted, but now that I have read a little more, I've come to understand just how grave a breach this was.

Don't believe the claim that Valerie Wilson was a "low level functionary". Not only does in not square with the facts (how can she be low level and still authorize her husband to be sent on a trip to Niger?), but it's wide of the target. Ms. Valerie was what the CIA refer to as "off-cover", i.e. she did not have a diplomatic passport, if she had been found spying in a foreign country, she would not have received immunity, and very well could have been imprisoned or executed for espionage. Given the countries that are involved in WMD proliferation, it's not a stretch to believe she would have been executed.

But even beyond that, her cover was established in a CIA front company that appears like a legitimate business. Releasing her name exposed the entire company as a front for the CIA meaning that dozens, if not hundreds, of CIA operatives were exposed at the same time. It's not so hard to connect the dots. Not only that, these agents were prosecuting the war on terror. The Bush regime's intentional (or unintentional) assault on Wilson meant that with one stroke, they impaired and endangered the effectiveness of the CIA to pursue leads on the gravest national security threat of the last 20 years. Good on you, Rove.

That warrants a firing, don't you think?

Suicide Bombing

The revelation that the bombers in London were suicides puts a whole new spin on civil society's role in fighting the war on terror. For years, the message has been, "look for abandoned packages". Well, guess what, that's not going to cut it. In fact, suicide bombing is a new source of vulnerability for us in the West as there is ultimately no defense. Richard Reid was subdued after relatively heroic action by a few passengers. But does anyone really think that you are likely to stop a suicide bombing? Ask the Israeli's about that one.

Anyway, my point is, there is ultimately no defense against suicide bombing other than to find them and arrest them prior to the attempt. As much as we would like to make our trains and buses safe, there's really nothing that can be done aside from regular police patrols, bomb sniffing dogs, and things of that nature. That's why the "war on terror" must be a law enforcement strategy. Simply prosecuting it as if we are attacking states is never going to succeed. In fact, if recent history is any guide, attacking and occupying states is the best way to fuel recruitment of motivated terrorists. Ergo, George Bush's strategy is not only doomed to failure, but it's also being undercut by his political generals for petty reasons.

I won't give myself away

So I met a girl last Saturday at the club. I didn't mention it because it's become fairly routine to meet a girl when I go out. Equally routine is the inevitable process of not actually making a meaningful connection or being disappointed in who that person when you truly meet them the 2nd time. Therefore, my new policy is to not blab about it in the blog unless it's a woman who I'm actually into from the start - a rarity at best.

I went out with her last night. When I met her, she told me she lived in Surrey, but I didn't really know where the hell that was, so I just asked if she liked it and things like that without revealing my geographical ignorance. Well, I found out yesterday when I went down there. It's southwest of London - a good 30-40 minute train ride. It's not a bad little town that she lives in; sort of has a more European feel than London does at the least. But that's not really the point.

The point is, once again, I find myself not so interested in someone who is clearly very interested in me. Part of that equation can be attributed to my focus on job and location - it does not behoove me to meet someone that I really would want to be with since I don't know if I'll even be in this country in 6 weeks (although I feel quite strongly that if I did meet someone with the right makeup, no amount of logic or reason could prevent me from getting involved). But part of it is also that meeting people is ultimately a dodgy game at best. This particular woman is very nice, very conservative, and very un-British (which makes sense because she's Italian even though she was born and raised here). All of that is the problem. See, I like a woman who is nice, thoughtful, properly dressed, not overly made up, etc. But at the same time, she can't be too conservative or too reserved. It just doesn't work for me. That has no bearing on who they are - it's not personal - it's just I know what I like and that isn't it.

So, "what to do, don't have a clue". (Famous drunk quote from Real World.) She wants to see me again and to be fair, I will see her again. But knowing her as I do on a limited basis, it's very clear that I don't want to get involved because a) she doesn't do it for me and b) I really don't want to hurt her as she's so obviously been hurt before. Given those two realities, I think it's best that I let her know where I'm coming from early on so that she doesn't get the wrong idea.

And while I was running an errand for work just a bit ago, I realized that I've stumbled upon something important that has not been in my heart and mind for quite some time - or at least not quite so visibly. There is a tendency that we all share at times to be overly eager to get involved with someone. The motives can be diverse - some just want shags, some want companionship, etc - but the enduring reality is that just like U2 said, people give themselves away far too easily. I'm not goin' out like that. It's the old cliché that you'd rather be alone than be with the wrong person, but a year of the "single" life here in London has me utterly convinced that every now and then a cliché has validity. This is one of those times.

So, as I'm living in Britain and when in Rome...there's only one thing to do. I must go out and engage in the ancient British tradition of getting pissed and worrying about it tomorrow. Ok, I totally stole that line from a book, but the truth is about a dozen of the school crew are going out tonight to celebrate the end of the program and we're going to live it up properly. Some of these people I may very well never see again, a saddening thought. So hopefully tonight will be memorable.