What must happen for us to declare that the war is over?

[hematopoiesis]

What must happen for us to declare that the war is over?

Will we know when it happens, or will it be known only in restrospect after a long time since the last action?

[Otto]

I watched part of Sec of Defense Rumsfeld's press conference on CNN today. There's no transcript posted that I can find at CNN.com but if someone should find one I'd love a link to the exact quote. Rummy was asked this very question, how we would know that the "war on terrorism" was over. Would it be when no terrorists existed any more? Would it be when terrorist acts were reduced below a certain number?

Again, I don't have the exact quote, but the gist was that we would know the "war" was over when Americans felt like they could go about their daily lives and do the things they did before the attack.

Hey, what do you know, the war is over and we won! With some glaring exceptions (lunching at the WTC for example) we can do all the things we did before. We can travel, we can go to work, we can watch the new Fall TV shows and go to a movie.

So we won, right?

[niwroc]

Otto, those Americans with "questionable features," or those Americans who will be profiled don't feel the war is over, I would guess. In a city near where I live in California, a man who was loved by the community was killed as the result of all of this. He looked "too Arab" and was the victim of a hate crime. I don't feel good yet. The crop duster incident and possible bio or chem warfare concerns me.....

[mswas]

So it sounds pretty open ended to me. There will always be the threat of terrorism, from this point forward. So welcome to the world where the oppression of a war on drugs was NOT enough.

Erek