I’ve argued for a long time that the single most important benefit of a forward strategy in the War on Terror is information.

Almost as important is nonverbally telling your enemy that you are not afraid of getting into a fight with him. Islamists are the kind of folks who, if you flee from them, follow you to wherever you are. Against such a foe, it is best to keep him off balance.

Westerners are accustomed to thinking of territory as land that people mark like urinating dogs. But what if we are that “territory” in the enemy’s mind? That is, what if the enemy seeks to scent mark us? In one sense, I see the September 11 attacks as a steady stream of dog urine into our consciousness, for they mark our memories with the torture of snuff video.

Yeah, al-Qaeda spews theological urine and calls it Islam.