But, why shouldn’t we think that the Iraq war has increased terrorism in the world, or at least the risk of it? The hornet’s nest analogy is apt, albeit clichéd. We were stung — and stung badly — well before the Iraq war. And after the multiple stings of 9/11 we decided to take the fight to nests. ~Jonah “Lie For a Just Cause” Goldberg

Gosh, this is almost as clever as the “flypaper” metaphor for fighting terrorism in Iraq.  Remember the flypaper?  Like flies, terrorists would be drawn to the disaster of Iraq so that we could kill them there–as if they were all going to show up for our convenience, and as if there were a finite number of them that we had to get rid of before the problem was solved.  Back then, remember, it was a positive plus that terrorists were flocking to Iraq–“it shows that they’re afraid!” people told us.  It’s rather like the idea that the pirahnas feeding on a cow that stumbles into the river are afraid of the cow. 

The hornets’ nest analogy would be great, except that invading Iraq, c. 2003 would be rather like kicking over an anthill of fire ants while claiming to be pursuing the hornets.  You still get bit by some nasty fire ants, and then you get stung by some more hornets while you’re dealing with the ants, while the hornets’ nests are perfectly intact in Hornetistan (a.k.a., Pakistan).  Then it occurs to you that you might ought to just stay out of ant and hornet-infested territory, or focus on a specific few nests that are most threatening to you.  But that would obviously be the wrong conclusion to draw, because you are on a mission to destroy all hornets everywhere for all time.  Which is great, except that it is impossible.