Are we at war?

People keep asking the same question: Are we at war? Most will say, "No, not yet." But what we think of as "war" is a relic of the past, because war has evolved to take on a new face. Indeed, we are at war, but a war unlike any we've known.\nUnlike after Pearl Harbor, we do not know the enemy. The enemy "lives in the shadows" and does not show its face. Worse, no amount of airport metal detectors will protect us. \nWhy will warfare be so drastically different? History offers a great lesson. In 1097, Pope Urban II outlawed the use of the crossbow in Catholic nations. Forty years later the Catholic Church forbade "under penalty of anathema" not just the use of crossbows ("the dastard's weapon"), but the entire "deadly and God-detested art of slingers and archers." Later Conrad III, the Holy Roman Emperor, banned the use of the crossbow in his army and his realm.\nEssentially, the major "civilized" countries were outlawing it everywhere. With a crossbow a peasant could kill a knight while staying clear of the knight's sword. Obviously, knights were better armed and generally in better health than the average peasant. Their military superiority only reinforced the aristocracy's sense of divine entitlement.\n But the crossbow leveled the playing field. Peasants could equal knights in strength and challenge the state. In a sense, it was a democratizing force. It destabilized the old social order and reduced the ability of knights to ride pompously through peasant villages. Because one could kill from a safe distance, many saw the crossbow as morally suspect, and rightly so. It defied the chivalric code, which said you must face your enemy and make your intentions clear -- that is, declare war.\nOn Sept. 11, Osama Bin Laden (or whomever is responsible) introduced the world to a modern equivalent of the crossbow. Just as fighting on horseback, standing in lines in front of one another (picture the Revolutionary War) and using crossbows, our old style of warfare is gone. \nNo longer will foes openly declare war, use traditional ground forces and tanks or even surrender. The old order is over. America has long been the knight, and our military is capable of being eluded by a determined suicide bomber. What is our defense now?\nIn this case, we cannot fight fire with fire. But terrorists like Osama Bin Laden do not act alone. They require geographical and often financial protection. To use our historical analogy, peasants could not afford crossbows on their own. Rebel nations and tyrants had to supply them with the weapon.\nOur only proactive defense is to let every nation, rebel and tyrant know there will be a tremendous price to pay for aiding and assisting terrorists. Swift and sure action must be taken against anyone who helped in these attacks.\nGovernments that desire to keep their power and position, like Afghanistan, will think twice about helping terrorists in the future.\nWhen you ask me if we're at war, I say we are. Now we must send a clear message to the world that is harboring terrorists, they will be treated as a terrorist themselves. The world must understand such brutality will not be tolerated.