WHO IS BLOWING IT?

Indeed, imagine the hopefully not-too-far-flung-future where humanity is having a grand time in the sunny cafes at the end of history. Conjure the image of a Star Treky age where greed and superstition and paranoia are rightly seen as the childish things long since put away by man.

Well, when our descendents look back on the years since September 11, who do you think will say, "Man, we really blew it!"? Will it be the Americans who — at great risk and expense — offered a drowning people a lifeline? Or will it be those who preferred the familiar comfort of drowning to the mild sting to their pride which came with taking that lifeline?

As with all deranged people, the compassionate have two possible courses of action: They can try to help or, if that doesn't work, they can try to protect themselves through less-gentle means.

Obviously, the best protection is to help the deranged get un-deranged. And that is what we are trying so desperately to do in Iraq. We are trying through example, persuasion, and all-too necessary toughness to show the Arab world that there is a better way than grinding poverty, violence, and corruption.

I, like most Americans, truly want it to work. But if it doesn't, if the cup-of-coffee-and-the-sandwich approach doesn't work, America will still do what is necessary to protect itself. And that won't be the preferable option for anybody. Trust me.