[sturm und drang]

Nothing scares me more than our incredibly myopic "screw the world, we don't need 'em, they're all wrong and we're right" mentality. It's this kind of heavy-handed approach that will continue to spawn terrorist groups for years and years to come.

It's like a 21st century version of Hercules and Hydra: for every head we chop off, two more sprout in its place.

We have to mend our international relationships. If we don't, WE are the rogue nation. Our tongue-wagging, chest-thumping "we're America, and we don't need you" is nothing more than pure stupidity. We can't fight a war on terror by ourselves. Remember the response of our allies after 9/11? Remember how many Al-Qaeda terrorists Germany, France, etc. rounded up in its wake?

Just because those countries wouldn't support a war against Iraq -- a war they wouldn't support, remember, because they were rightly unconvinced Iraq was sponsoring terror, harboring terrorists or had WMD -- doesn't mean they can't help us fight terror. They have done that, and will continue to do so.

This Brave New World is a nefarious, amorphous one without borders. We all know that. So how can we think that we can win it without a network of true allies? Bush's "diplomacy" -- something even his staunchest of supporters admit he is sorely, sorely lacking -- has cost us dearly. It's time to try to repair those relationships. Before it's too late, and we're left trying to fight true terrorism by ourselves.