ARE WE AT WAR?

Do we really want to put our CIA employees into harm's way? Do we really want to make them second guess themselves at every turn? Do we really want to give our enemies the information they will need to harden their networks against our efforts to disrupt them?

I don't want to do that. Many of you don't want to do that, I'm sure. But President Obama and his people may have done all of that by releasing those memos regarding interrogation techniques, even if they released them after what they thought was a long period of thoughtful consideration of the matter. So, why did they do it?

Because, dear friends, in case you hadn't noticed by now, the President and his people do not believe that we are at war. For them, terrorism is a law enforcement matter, to be handled by policemen and courts, with due process and respect for constitutional rights.

For seven years after 9/11, the Bush Administration insisted that we were at war with the Islamist fundamentalist terrorists and their allies. That intellectual foundation created certain policy imperatives and operational techniques. We now will face the problem with a different intellectual foundation creating different policy imperatives and operational techniques. The Bush approach resulted in seven years without another attack on our soil. We shall see if the Obama approach is as effective.