A Sad Theory

Sitting up late last night pondering the tragedy in South Asia, I came to a strange and unfortunate theory.

Mr. Bush and his people have spent an enormous amount of time, money, and effort making Americans scared to death and using the image of some 3,000 dying on 9-11 to push through some horrific things that go against who we as America think we are.

How inconvenient it is that 150,000 (today's figure, expected to rise sharply) managed to die in an event that had nothing to do with al Qaeda, bin Laden, Saddam, or North Korea. No amount of money and supposed "homeland security" can protect against such a thing. How inconvenient, too, if Americans begin to realize that there are far more dangerous possibilities in the world than those we call terrorists.

Could Bush's response have to do with his desire not to let Americans think too much about this natural danger and then place 9-11 in some sort of more accurate perspective? After all, we have more die from the flu each year than died on 9-11.