EVEN ERIC HAS NOTICED – AT 10:21 A.M. ET:  Whatever happened to the end of the war on terror?  I thought that, among the trendies, that was so...yesterday. 

No, it's today, and tomorrow.  Even Attorney-General Eric Holder has noticed.  From The Hill: 

Intelligence suggesting that bomb-makers from Yemen and terrorists from Syria are working together to create undetectable explosive devices is an "extreme" administration security concern, Attorney General Eric Holder said Sunday.

“In some ways, it's more frightening than anything I think I've seen as attorney general,” Holder told ABC’s “This Week.”

Holder said the collaborative effort was a “deadly combination” of those with technical skills and "people who have this kind of fervor to give their lives in support of a cause that is directed at the United States and directed at its allies."

"It's something that gives us really extreme, extreme concern," Holder said.

Earlier this month, the Department of Homeland Security announced it was beefing up security measures at international airports out of concern over the terror threat. Individuals will now be required to turn on electronic devices like cell phones and laptops at security checkpoints.

Holder said those measures were "prudent steps that are necessary to protect the flying public.”

"This is not a test," Holder said. "We're doing something in reaction to things that we have detected."

At the same time, the attorney general said he was "really confident in our capacity to understand what's going on, to monitor what's going on and working with our allies."

COMMENT:  I am considerably less confident, and less confident in the devotion of Holder's boss to the struggle.  We will always be confronted by new technology and new efforts.  Sooner or later, our enemies will get very lucky, and we will be reminded that the war on terror is really a war on a horrible ideology, and that it will go on for decades.  The question is whether we will have the stomach to fight this battle, as we successfully fought the Cold War.

July 14, 2014