Last week it was reported in the media that Aaron Yoon, who is currently detained in Mauritania on terror-related charges, might be connected to two other Ontarians who were involved in the terrorist hostage-taking in Algeria. This hostage-taking which ended up costing the lives of most of the hostage-takers, including the Canadian young people involved, took place only a few days after France invaded Mali to "liberate" its inhabitants from Islamists.

In September 2005, Emory University Professor Erica Frank came to a none-too-startling conclusion: that investments in basics like disease prevention and research would save far more lives than the hundreds of billions spent in the "war on terror." Citing one example, Dr. Frank noted that in September 2002, New York State spent $1.3 million to reduce heart disease (the leading cause of death in the state) while the state budgeted $34 million for bio-terrorism preparedness (the latter an issue rooted largely in the netherworld of speculation).

Such fact-based reality checks are nuisances to politicians and corporate executives who profit from fear and the substanceless scenarios that make for memorable nightmares, as well as hefty "defence and security" contracts.