Jacob Bronowski writes in the wonderful book The Ascent of Man:

" War, organized war, is not a human instinct. It is a highly planned and co-operative form of theft. And that form of theft began ten thousand years ago when the harvesters of wheat accumulated a surplus, and the nomads rose out of the desert to rob them of what they themselves could not provide."

It matters not if the surplus is wheat, as in Bronowski's example of ancient Jericho, or oil, as is the case currently in Iraq. And when we are attacked by vindictive forces in a move of intimidation, what is the attempt but to rob us of our excessive content and security?

When response to that action becomes a curtailing of our civil liberties, it gives one pause to think that the terrorists of September 11th might have been successful in stealing from us some of our freedom.