'This is our generation's Vietnam.' Such was the opinion of one person talking to me the other day about the war in Iraq. Is he right? We all surely hope not. But if George Bush's current request to Congress for US$87 billion for the war on terror is anything to go by odds are on for Vietnam Reloaded.
It all started with three digits and two towers. The destruction of the twin towers of the World Trade Centre on September 11 2001 ('9/11') set in motion a chain of events whose destination remains uncertain. Wherever we are going it is somewhere unpredictable. No longer do we hear talk of the New World Order. More like the New World Chaos.
The situation is now extremely delicate. After the fall of Communism, nuclear material gradually seeped through the porous membrane of the previously Iron Curtain borders of Soviet society. Experts say it may have found its way into the hands of the worst possible people. They are the barbarians at the gates of Western civilisation. They hate America with a passion. They are not represented by a traditional government with whom we can deal. They are bands of terrorists. But terrorists now, we're told, with bombs.
