America is at war, there’s no doubt about that. Where the doubt lies is who is winning the war – the free world or terrorism.

It’s a question that can’t really be answered. We, the free world, have managed to instill fear into a fearless government.

The Taliban is now saying they will hand Osama bin Laden over to a neutral country to be put on trial, without evidence from the United States.

Just a week ago, the same government was declaring holy war against the United States.

It appears the United States is slowly moving towards victory in foreign lands.

But we have some major problems here at home – we are beginning to live in fear.

There has been one death from anthrax, yet thousands fear receiving an envelope with white powder inside.

As of Wednesday, the FBI has received around 2,300 reports of anthrax exposure, most of which were false.

It is a perfect example of the fear bin Laden has managed to instill in our great nation.

One of his goals is to ensure that Americans do not continue to live the way we are used to, to prove that free society is not possible.

And look at what bin Laden has managed to do in one month – he’s scared us beyond belief. And the sickening part is that we let him.

The truth is, chances are greatly in your favor that you will not be subject to an anthrax attack.

The people that went out and bought gas masks just make bin Laden happy.

It’s all he is trying to do – disrupt our daily routines.

And the U.S. government isn’t helping either. It’s going way out of bounds in its attempt to solve the problem of terrorism.

Take, for example, the national ID card.

Larry Ellison, chairman and CEO of Oracle, met with Attorney General John Ashcroft and officials with the FBI and the CIA this week to discuss the idea.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., said she supports the idea. This is of utmost concern since is chairwoman of the Technology and Terrorism Subcommittee of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

This is ridiculous. We have never needed a national ID; the states take care of that. All it does is make people think things are worse than they actually are.

If the federal government is going to freak people out over the recent events, they should do it over something that is going to make a difference and not just waste time and money.

The idea being proposed for the ID card doesn’t even make it mandatory for citizens to have an ID.

If they do not have it they’ll just be subject to further searches at airports and things like that.

And of course non-citizens and visitors to the United States would be required to carry the card around at all times.

Great idea; no one has ever managed to make a false ID.

And I really doubt the same people who managed to hijack four planes in one day and run one of them into the Pentagon would be capable of making a fake.

The country has nothing to gain from this. All it is doing is scaring people.

And Ellison and the government should know better.

Ellison told the San Jose Mercury News “I think 99.99 percent of Americans will want these ID cards.”

Well Mr. Ellison, I’m sure that will hold true if people like you and Sen. Feinstein continue to instill fear into the hearts of unaware Americans.

The ID card is a bad idea. It’s not needed and most importantly, it is exactly the type of thing bin Laden wants us to be debating.

Stand up for your country and try to continue living the way we always have – the way we want, not the way others want us to.

Zach Calef is a sophomore in journalism and mass communication from Cedar Rapids. He is an assistant news editor of the Daily.