It’s their own fault, they asked for it. How can you expect people to not fight back when they have been attacked and so many innocent lives have been lost?
No, I’m not blaming the British government for the actions of the terrorists who recently murdered over 50 of their own countrymen; I’m blaming terrorists for causing the very conflict they claim as their motivation.
It has likely been some time since you’ve seen footage from September 11, 2001. Even before the fires were out the media locked the video away saying it was too emotionally charged to keep playing. Memories fade over time though and today it is rare to see a mainstream media report on terrorism that mentions anything that happened before the liberation of Iraq.
The link between the Taliban regime and the World Trade Center attack was clear, but the War on Terror is a war on terrorism, not a war on only those who had a hand in that single attack. Opponents of the Iraq war miss the point when they try to de-legitimize the invasion by citing either the lack of hard evidence linking Saddam to the World Trade Center attack or the failure to find a large stockpile of weapons of mass destruction so far.
The public record shows that al-Qaeda and Saddam’s government were working in co-operation with each other for some time. Even before the 2000 election members of the Clinton administration were concerned about increasing co-operation between them. One of several meetings between Saddam’s regime and Osama bin Laden’s people was reported in the pages of The Guardian and US attorney general Janet Reno warned the Senate about the potential for terrorist attacks using weapons of mass destruction saying ‘There’s a threat, and it’s real.’
It makes no sense to condemn the United States and its allies for taking action against a regime that was actively seeking their destruction, then in the next heartbeat validate the blowing up of busses as an understandable response to mishandling a Koran or humiliating a captive terrorist.
Anti-war activists who look at the London bombings through the prism of a supposedly unjust war in Iraq also miss the point. The suspected bombers were not Iraqi; they were British citizens of Pakistani ancestry. They and all other British subjects had the opportunity to toss the Blair government out of office three months ago, and the American and British troops in Iraq are there with the approval of a democratically elected government.
There is no doubt that al-Qaeda finds the liberation of Iraq a provocation. Had the Americans decided to liberate Canada (something not nearly as justified as liberating Iraq) I rather doubt that they would care much at all. Their anger over Iraq is a testament that Saddam’s Iraq was a useful ally in their jihad, and although they don’t care about Iraq as a nation, its liberation is a blow to their cause.
It makes no difference to al-Qaeda if the war is just or not since they are the ones targeted. Canada is on the list of countries to be hit because of our participation in Afghanistan. The terrorist ideology allows no room for patriotism, no respect for democracy, and no reverence for life. If Iraq had not been liberated the only difference would have been that London would have suffered a larger terrorist attack sooner.
There is no way to oppose evil without provoking its anger. The only alternative is to surrender, but in this fight peace through capitulation is also peace through decapitation.
The London bombings, terrible as they were, were nowhere near as sophisticated as the attacks from their pre-9/11 days like the bombing of the USS Cole, the Khobar Towers, the U.S. embassies in East Africa, or the first World Trade Center attack. Except for the grade of explosives used, it was an attack that could have been put together after an evening of surfing the Internet and a trip to the mall.
If this is the best they can pull off now, the Americans and British are on the right path. Even in the hotbed of Iraq the tide is against them and their territory is shrinking. When was the last time you heard of an attack in Fallujah?
Al-Qaeda is losing a fight that they themselves started. If they want to vent some anger over the losses they’ve taken, perhaps they should take aim at their own leaders.
- Rotting From the Head Down - Sunday August 28, 2005 at 11:01 pm
- It’s their own fault - Sunday July 17, 2005 at 11:01 pm
- For the sake of the Children - Sunday June 26, 2005 at 11:01 pm
