I am troubled by Laura Miller's assertion at the end of this review, "We didn't seem to learn much from the experience, either, but then how much can anyone grasp about what's really going on when they're at war?" This sentence summarizes for me a long nightmare of our national response to the tragedy of 9/11 over the past (nearly) five years. Are we at war? I don't think so. My taxes haven't been raised, there is no draft, and we can still buy rubber (and, let's face it, gasoline) very cheaply (my parents who were children during WWII remember being told they couldn't buy balloons in the park because they were "black-market"). What sacrifices have I given for this "war"? Only the children of a few of my compatriots, and the children of many of my fellow human beings.

What is really going on (as Miller asks)? The Supreme Court decision in Hamsdan vs. Rumfeld has helped us to understand something about these goings-on. What war there is has been waged against the American ideals of civil liberties, government by laws and not by men, and Constitutional checks and balances. This war has been waged by our own elected government and not by any foreign agents.

There is no "logic and momentum" to this conflict, and I would assert in contrast to Miller's analysis that the "self-perpetuating" reasons for continuing our current conflict come not from the American people but only from the self-aggrandizing few who wish to remain in power over us. There is no political agenda to be served here. There is only violence and hatred which we as a species must learn to overcome.

There is no such thing as a peculiar disorder with all the hoopla. Telling free people how to behave. Sending young soldiers to estrange countries in order to make sure that the inhabitants are indeed learning, while they are dying of PTSD (Post Trial Serious Disorder).And so so so on!

As for divorcees, the ennemy is within. Do not forget that poor and despicable people are capable of everything. My ex used to tell me, after 30 years of common life: You are a human detritus. Except that as far as I am not concerned, we are all detrituses.