Complexity Digest 2003.47 - 19.01

Nov. 24, 2003

Sec. Donald Rumsfeld & Gen. Richard Myers Town Hall Meeting, c-span Video Bookmark and Share

Transcript Excerpt: (44:53min): What it will look like -I think- that is to say what victory will look like, what the end of this will look like will be a return to a circumstance where people, when they walk out of the door, and not fearful, they are able to send their children to school and know that they're gonna come home; they are able to get on an airplane and not feel the feeling that Dick Myers mentioned that most people feel -and understandably so- and it's the kind of a task - given the nature of human beings- I'm afraid that we'll have to stay at for some period of time.

If you think about it, we could almost say: "When will we not need policemen?" And I'm afraid there gonna be people that are gonna be inclined to do damage to other human beings and so just as we need policemen in our own society we're gonna need to be able to deal with those people who are determined to go out and kill large numbers of innocent people.
Editor's Note: If the fight against terrorist networks is a form of international law enforcement, then it does not constitute a "State of War" with harsh legal restrictions to civil liberties.