Ground Zero, Madrid

http://www.nytimes.com/ ^ | 314/04 | Lead Editorial

[BCrago66]

The terrorist attacks in Madrid yesterday were a monstrous crime against innocent humanity. They were also a reminder that terrorism is a worldwide threat and that fighting it is not America's problem alone. Combating terrorism effectively requires the fullest possible international cooperation, especially in intelligence, law enforcement and the tracking of terrorist finances. Most of the hard work will be far less dramatic than the successful military campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq. Indeed, each new terrorist act demonstrates that military action alone is not the solution. Terrorism cannot be eradicated simply by driving the Taliban out of Kabul or capturing Saddam Hussein.

The series of bombs in Madrid that killed nearly 200 people and injured more than 1,400 came three days before national elections. Whether the bombers came from the Basque terrorist group ETA, as the Spanish government initially presumed, Al Qaeda or elsewhere, comparisons to the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, are inevitable and appropriate. Neither Spain nor America stand alone.

The list of terrorist outrages around the world has been grimly lengthening since that Sept. 11. Fanatics have sown carnage in places like Bali, Mombasa, Baghdad, Jerusalem, Moscow, Jakarta, Casablanca, Riyadh and Istanbul. Europe has been a particular target for decades. Britain and Northern Ireland have endured the bombings of the Irish Republican Army, French civilians have been killed by radical Algerian groups, and hundreds of Spaniards have been murdered by ETA.

At a time like this, trans-Atlantic squabbling about the nature of the terrorist threat and how to fight it seems tragically misplaced. Terrorism threatens all of us, everywhere, every morning. Terrorists respect no national boundaries, political systems, ideologies or religions. The fight against them must be just as multinational. We are all Madrileños now.

[BCrago66]

I don't know if anyone posted (or linked because of copyright concerns) the Washington Post or Wall Street Journal editorials this morning concerning the attack in Madrid, but they are much better that this thing from the NYTimes.

1 - On the plus side, it does project some comprehention - however belated - of the scope of the worldwide terrorist threat and the need for continued resolve and action.

2 - On the negative side, the Time-persons have concluded that this attack somehow shows the need for a Kerry-like, reactive, law-enforcement approach to the War on Terror: "Combating terrorism effectively requires the fullest possible international cooperation, especially in intelligence, law enforcement and the tracking of terrorist finances."

This is exactly wrong. As Donald Rumsfeld has pointed out, it is impossible to track every terrorist and fortify against every attack. We must be proactive take down terrorist supporting regimes, and kill terrorists before they kill us.

2 - Here's the most offensive part: "Terrorism cannot be eradicated simply by driving the Taliban out of Kabul or capturing Saddam Hussein."

Simply?

We have planned an executed two strategically brilliant campaigns, in the process suffering hundred of casualties and thousands of wounded, and yet we have minimized civilian casualties like no other wars in history. Further, President Bush & Co. have entirely reconceived our foreign policy, giving us the doctrine of pre-emption plus the longer term project of instituting democracy in the Arab world, as a hedge against the future creation of more terrorists. And all the while, the know-nothing jerks at the NYTimes bitched and moaned and hoped against hope that President Bush would fail, even if that meant the United States would fail too. But we are winning anyway.

And the NYTimes sums up our victories so far - including winning two wars and creating two democratic nations in the Mid-East - with a dismissive "simply."

These people can blow me.

[Birdwatcher]

You are trolling. Do you have a flame proof suit?

[claudiustg]

Another foul hit piece from the NYT. They don't seem to realize that military action is necessary to get any sort of positive response out of these Islamic governments. If you want to get some serious leverage on Syria and Iran you invade Iraq and Afghanistan. We're showing our reach and we're showing seriousness. Force of arms is the universal language of diplomacy.

Who was it that told that story about a man with a stubborn mule? As he goes out the door his friend asks him where he's off to. He replies that he's going to reason with his mule. His friend asks him what the two by four is for. He replies, "To get his attention."

If we can get the Islamic governments to go after the terrorists on their soil this thing will be 50% solved. If the Europeans wake up and start tending to business that's another 25%.

The people of this country should be cheering Bush in the streets!

[BfloGuy]

For the Times, I find this to be a perfectly satisfying editorial.

There's no mention of the U.N. and, that alone, says a lot.

[Ken H]

At a time like this, trans-Atlantic squabbling about the nature of the terrorist threat and how to fight it seems tragically misplaced.

The NYT must be referring to France, because there has been no trans-Atlantic squabbling between the US and its trans-Atlantic allies Spain, Britain, and Poland.

Terrorism threatens all of us, everywhere, every morning. Terrorists respect no national boundaries, political systems, ideologies or religions. The fight against them must be just as multinational. We are all Madrileños now.

Correct. Now watch how Spain deals with this and report back.

[Ken H]

As Donald Rumsfeld has pointed out, it is impossible to track every terrorist and fortify against every attack. We must be proactive take down terrorist supporting regimes, and kill terrorists before they kill us.

Rummy's got it right as usual.

[prognostigaator]

In 1795,George Washington was forced to pay "protection" money to the pirates of North Africa...

He wished for a Navy to challenge them...

By 1801, Thomas Jefferson, starting his first term as president, had seen enough. When Tripoli demanded to renegotiate an existing treaty for more tribute, Jefferson sent four of America's newly-built warships instead, with orders to show American sea power to the pirates and, if circumstances warranted, to "chastise their insolence--by sinking, burning or destroying their ships and vessels wherever you shall find them." "We must let nations see we have an energy which at present they disbelieve," said Jefferson. Congress and the public supported the action and rallied under the slogan "Millions for defense, not a penny for tribute!"

A lesson unlearned by the NY Times and the liberal mentality of appeasers and , as Jefferson put it, 'disbelievers'.

[DoughtyOne]

It bothers me that the reactionary responses, to this terrorist attack, display almost no connection whatsoever to strategic thinking.

Here it passes for reasoned thought to this writer, that Kerry is the much superior leadership candidate because he will connect with European leaders who are geldings. Not inclined to lead us in time of tribulation, and completely incapable of understanding the needs of our nation when it comes to military action, Kerry would be an absolute disaster.

There are two giant lessons to be learned from today's terorist attack. You can be certain that none of the Democrats, and very few of the members of the press have the tools to comprehand and acknowledge what they are.

For over ten years we listened to the leftist Democrats and press tell us what a miserable failure our first President Bush was for not removing Saddam Hussein. When all else failed they would pull this stick out of the closet and try to beat the Republicans over the head with it. When a new President Bush came along, he was undoubtedly warry of Hussein. After 09/11, he wasn't going to take a chance with him. I think it was a done deal. In case there's any doubt, I fully agree. Hussein had to go.

Hussein was continually making anti-US comments. He supported terrorism against Israel and western nations. His rhetoric against the west, especially the United States, was fierce.

Hussein paid out $25k to the families of suicide bombers in Israel. It was crystal clear which way his sympathies and devotion leaned. If he could hurt Israel or the west, he was going to participate.

The current President Bush made a tactical error on his way into the war in Iraq. He claimed that the US had to destroy Hussein's weapons of mass destruction. Although the press can't afford to do it, and although the democrats haven't the class to do it, we should note that all this is largely clear to us now based on hinde side. The military, the national security agencies, the democrats, even leaders in Europe and some of our own press thought Hussein had weapons of mass destruction. Despite this they didn't want to go to war with Saddam, but they did believe. In light of this, no case can be sustained that Bush was at fault for making the claim that WMDs had to be neutralized in Iraq.

Despite this, the case that was made against Bush based on this understandable error, which has shown some traction up until now, is as of today mute. Never again can it hold water.

Today a terrorist attack was made against Spain. Spain is not the driving force in Iraq. The United States is. Spain may have a small contingent of troops in Iraq, but it was by no means a major player early on. Despite this, it was targeted for a major terrorist attack. You see, standing back and professing your desires for world peace (and ending world hunger) has largely been relegated to contestents in the Miss USA and Miss World Beauty Pageants for a very good reason. The reason, is that form of blind idealism should never be incorporated into politics or world leadership, because when it is, somebody is very close to getting their ass handed to them for lunch.

Don't think that I am saying that Spain exhibited this behavior, because I'm not sure it did. The point is that Spain wasn't a major player in Iraq, but that didn't prevent them from being targeted. And by and large, they were leading the exemplary life advocated by lefists the world around. They are not on their own militaristic interventionists. Did that earn them a pass? Will it earn us one? Heck no.

Lesson one, only a realist's view of the world stage is a wise view. Wishing that Cumbayah moments were real, is futile and suicidal. Senator Kerry and his ilk that are spread across the United States and Western Europe, are the captains of the Cumbayah moment. They should never be placed in positions of power. They will sell us out every time.

Lesson two, it doesn't really take WMDs to perpetrate massive terrorist attacks. Spain has been dealt a heavy blow with relatively minor explosives. I'm not saying these weren't serious severe bombings, but these blasts were by no means the products of WMDs. Now, do we want to allow a highly visible person who's a thug to his own populace, to trash Israel and the US in public, realizing he's funding terrorist attacks in the background? Hell no.

No, wishing for peace, no matter how hard and sincere, will never achieve it. And no, it didn't matter a tinker's damn if there were WMDs in Iraq, did it!

[Indie]

These people can blow me.

You're right. It is nothing more than a slick propaganda piece designed to indoctrinate the brain dead.

[nopardons]

BRAVO!

That's one of the best written posts I've ever seen on FR.

[NeonKnight]

To our Spanish Brothers...

Lets Roll!!!

[samtheman]

To our Spanish Brothers... Lets Roll!!!

On to Syria. Continue cleaning out the swamps.

[EQAndyBuzz]

Great posts.

We fought a cold war with the Soviet Union for over 40 years. We finally won when we said "no more" and rebuilt our armed forces, put pershing missiles in West Germany and decried to the world that we will no longer tolerate Soviet expansionism.

The Soviets lost. Now the countries that fell to Soviet expanionism are free. The people get choose their own leaders and are working hard to build their societies. It gets bloody. Our Revolutionary war was bloody. It takes time. Took us eight years to finally have our government in place.

Reason I bring this up is that today we are fighting the same cold war, except against a different opponent. This time, like the Civil War we are fighting against ourselves. When we hear the term "two nations" it cannot be more true.

On one side, we have a society that believes in a strong military, Capitalism, the Constitution and all the trials and tribulations that come with freedom. We believe we have earned that freedom and are willing to defend it with our lives.

On the other we have a society that has been molded from a Socialist philosophy. A philosphy that is geared to tear down a democracy and replace it with a central committee that will dictate to the people. Where decadence and perversion are tools used to break down societies will. Where the media is used to polarize communities and sensationalize what is wrong rather than what is right about our country.

This is evident in our education system, media, unions, judiciary as well as every special interest group known to exist. It is well disguised to its lemmings but to many of us, we see it growing stronger each day. Like the domino effect of the 50's and 60's, we are watching our institutions falling the same way Hungary and Czechoslovakia fell.

There are solutions, but the people we elect to make effective change aren't willing to go to bat for the constituency that elected them in the first place. The almight dollar is used as a tool to keep politicians in line. When money doesn't work, the media is used to smear that official and his family until resignation and sometimes death occur.

The big question is, "How do we fix this?"

Unlike the pontificators on radio that tell us what is wrong but offer no solutions, I, as an ordinary citizen that is concerned will.

1. Term limits. Politicians are crooks. Period. Look at Kerry. 19 years in the Senate, hasn't come up with one original thought or program. His brother in law that is dealing with rebuilding Vietnam and the contracts Kerry steered his way proves he is a crook. He is the single reason we need term limits. Politics is not a job. Politicians have to put country before there own greed and ambitions.

2. Media commentary. The fourth estate has a committment to the people to present only the "facts." There is also something called "equal time." This MUST be enforced. NPR and PBS must be shut down. Times have changed and there is no longer a need for public radio or television.

3. Voting. The methods of voting in this country need to change as well as redefining our census. All of this can be easily done at low cost. I will gladly share this information with anyone that is interested. But this is way too simple, which explains why our internal enemies do not want to see it implemented.

4. Education. Pull funding from institutions that do not meet criteria that de-politicizes education. Students PAY for college to learn subjects that will help them obtain careers. Not to carry banners denouncing the country that gave them the opportunity to go to school in the first place.

There are many more, but I do not want to continue this rant. We see what is happening. Let's do something. It is our country.

[GigaDittos]

It'll be interesting to see how Spain responds to this attack. I hope they institute the Bush Doctrine.

[Dilbert56]

Once again the NY Times swallows DNC rhetoric whole. This President has not used "military action alone". His first strikes in the WOT were seizing of financial assets. Financial counterstrikes continue to this day. There have also been thousands of arrests & deportations (most of which the NY Times complains about). Our own goverment has removed artificial constraints on information sharing to assist the war. Even the twits at the U.N. have organized an anti-terrorism group.

Net: The Times sticks it's head in the sand and says: "It's dark in here".

[68skylark]

I really like this editorial. (And believe me, it pains me to say something nice about a NYT editorial!) I could nit-pick a few phrases, but overall it has a refeshing brevity and moral clarity.

[proud American in Canada]

Bttt! Great post.

[philosofy123]

Since the West opened its doors to Moslems to immigrate legally and illegally. Since Islam, and the Mosques have been hijacked to spew militant political/hate ideologies. And since the Western democracy are too preoccupied with the right of Moslems rather than controlling the Moslems behavior, and changing the Moslems agenda. Since Arab, and Moslem nations like Iran, and Saudi Arabia are using its vast resources to covertly support terrorism against the West. Therefore, there will always going to be the cat and mouse game, and the terrorists will always strike at weak points of our society.

A fresh look at terrorism needs to be employed. The way I see this is as follows; a weak coward little guy is the neighbor of a big, strong, and rich guy – they had a disagreement and became upset at each other. The coward little guy has no power to confront the big rich guy, but he can piss him off. When the big guy goes to sleep the little guy goes and poison his dog. The big guy is a law abiding citizen, he has no proof, so he is paralyzed to doing anything about it. The rich big guy thinks, well I will put cameras around my house, and I will hire guards around the clock to make sure that I will be protected and have proof in the future. As you can see, the little guy so far spent a couple of dollars to impose lots of financial and emotional penalty on the big guy.

Now, there are few ways around this endless hostilities 1) If the little guy, and the big guy would be able mediate their problem, and arrive at a compromise 2) If the big guy can simply influence the little guy to leave, and move far away 3) If the big guy just ignores the laws and kill the little guy, and all his relatives.

These fanatics are not like the KKK, a bunch of nut cases living in the underground and full of hate. The Moslem fanatics are supported by the FULL resources of several rich nations, among them Iran, and Saudi Arabia. In addition, they are supported by one billion Moslems around the world who have been fed hate formally and openly for about 30 years now. In addition, the recent development of the internet, the Al Jazera TV network, the cell phones, the Israeli/Palestinian problem, the Moslem world victim mentality, the dictatorship or theocratic governments that discourage free discussion of issues. All that can be overcome by understanding this global picture. The one billion people full of hate are not going to disappear; they need to be convinced otherwise. The nations that support Jihad are not going to stop without having a carrot and stick. The world cannot look at Moslem terrorists in Russia as a “separatist” group, the Moslem terrorists in Israel as freedom fighters, the Moslem terrorists in the Philippine as independence movement. If the world together, and agree that violence against innocent civilians is a crime against humanity, and we will all come together like a ton of brick against terrorism anywhere, then these losers will have no place to hide, and no or little sympathy.

For that to take place a JUST, and FAIR approach by all nations must take place.

[prognostigaator]

bttt