Writer, activist, and author Arundhati Roy, in a recent essay on Tom Dispatch noted that, “The only way to contain – it would be naïve to say end – terrorism is to look at the monster in the mirror. We’re standing at a fork in the road. One sign says "Justice," the other "Civil War." There’s no third sign and there’s no going back. Choose.”

She was writing about the terror attacks in Mumbai and the immediate calls for revenge, the distorted parallels to 9/11, and the historical context that is so often missing from the countless editorials and expert opinions disseminated over the airwaves. As the United States moves to finalize $15 billion in aid to Pakistan to help the country fight terrorism the question of history and of context becomes increasingly important. 

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