US beacon of light against terror

The Times of India carried a banner headline in the wake of Benazir Bhutto’s assassination: “We’ve terminated US’s most precious asset: Al-Qaida.”

The beautiful Benazir, heir apparent to her followers, is martyred. And the ideological war goes on. But, of course, America’s most precious asset can’t be so easily encapsulated or disposed of.

Its identity is wrapped up not so much in the flag, but in its strategic and constitutional importance in the great scheme of things. Its existence is a challenge to all forms of totalitarianism and terrorism. Its Bill of Rights is a beacon of light in the darkness. And as your editorial assures us (December 28), its (and our own) “democracy is not to be taken for granted”.