Following the Money, and the Rules (NYT)

syllepsis covers thoughtlessness

and a ``needs to be'' editorial as well

you don't follow the rules when calling for rules

the deal on the war on terrorism is that there's a constraint on terrorists. they need a certain size of organization to get anything meaningful done. on the other hand, the bigger the organization, the easier it is to detect before they can get anything done. if you make eg. the financial dealings necessary hard enough to conceal, it makes the largest undetection size smaller than the smallest effective size, and the organizations die out, and that's the win you seek.

hence harassment worldwide of necessary dealings until there's noplace they can survive.

``the rules'' have to be compatible with that strategy, if you want to suggest any.

because it's a war.

work backwards from that to America being America.

If America is going to continue to be America, monitoring the flow of money to and from suspected terrorists needs to be done under a clear and coherent set of rules.