A letter to the editors @ the Austin American-Statesman I wrote regarding the curious lack of introspection of the War on Terror(ism) following the Breslan tragedy.

September 17, 2004

To the Editors,

Following the recent tragedy in Breslan I have noticed an uptick in OpEd columns and other pundits using it to attack those who disagree with the Bush Administration's nearly sole reliance on our mighty war machine as a tool to fight terrorism.

It is disturbing that in the 21st century the tools of political discourse including portraying us as if we desire Osama bin Laden as President with vast legions of his minions descending on our schools daily to kill our children in order to be truly happy.

The simple reality is that we disagree regarding the use of tools to do the job. Using our mighty war machine to prevent another Breslan, here or elsewhere, is about as effective as using a powerful shotgun to protect oneself from a swarm of bees when a can of Raid would be more effective.

What is most telling of these rhetorical attacks is that none demonstrates how the war in Iraq can prevent another Breslan from occuring nor why it wasn't prevented in the first place.

Brendan B. Boerner