Mark Steyn: These guys want to kill us anyway

The Weekend Australian ^ | March 15, 2004 | Mark Steyn

[Truthsayer20]

"We are not fighting so that you will offer us something. We are fighting to eliminate you."

The first thing that popped into my mind when reading this is one scene from the movie Independence Day. The one where the president asks the alien: "What do you want us to do?" and the reply is: "We want you to die". After this the good guys open fire and waste the creature. I wish we could do the same thing when one of the Islamist turds spouts this kind of rhetoric.

[Levante]

"THE bombs dropped on Baghdad exploded in Madrid!"

This is typical cowardly bullsh*t from the anti-war scumbags. Blame the victim or the one standing up to the criminal, but never the f*kin criminal.

[Museum Twenty]

In his speech to Congress after 9/11, I believe the President said "You are either with us, or you are with the terrorists."

To me, it seemed an odd phrasing at the time. Your phrasing is more natural.

But now, I really prefer how the President (or his writer) phrased it. It leaves no wiggle room. You cannot be both against us and against the terrorists, which would be possible with a "you are with us or against us" phrasing.

By saying "with us or with them," there is no sidleline in this ballgame. No third way allowed!

[xzins]

Before we reacted to 9/11, they hated us and killed us.

Are we afraid that retaliating will make them mad?

This time -- given that they get made --- what can they do that's worse than killing us?

[NZerFromHK]

It seems like the first time Mark Steyn has addressed Australia directly. Don't worry Mark, as you know Paddy McGuinness (a typical Australian columnist) is to the left of you but he agrees with 95% of what you stand.

[HungarianGypsy]

Good point. And the U. S. Navy was formed for similar reasons, back when what we now call "Islamic terrorism" was Islamic "piracy." This has been our battle for over 200 years, and it's likely to go on for a long time to come.
Not to mention our Marines were created for the same reason. This is really going to sound tin-foilish, but I had often wondered after 9/11 if one of the reasons related back to those events almost 200 years ago. We're not taking rational people here, so many the idea isn't too far out.

[68skylark]

I think you're on to something.

Conflicts between Islam and Chrisitanity have been going on for 1,200 years or more and seem likely to continue, I'm sorry to say. The sort of battles we fight will change -- OBL is a lot different than the Barbary Pirates -- but the battle remains.

I think our efforts in Iraq are the first real hopeful action that the West has taken in the whole length of the conflict. The only hope for winding down this battle is for Islamic countries to get a little prosperity, freedom, tolerance, pluaralism, etc.

I don't know if we'll succeed or not in Iraq, but I'm thrilled that we're trying. The only real danger of failure comes from within the U. S. -- if the libs can make us cut and run.

[Gritty]

BTTT

[Kay]

Thank YOU!! Excellent post. Where have I been? Mark Steyn is new to me.

[Samwise]

There MUST be a meaning to this?!? Maybe I better get my tin-foil beanie on FAST. Steyn must be communicating with my brain. OR maybe I have ESP?!?

Or maybe two people can have similar thoughts given the same set of circumstances. :^)

[John Jorsett]

Thank YOU!! Excellent post. Where have I been? Mark Steyn is new to me.

I just began to take note of him a few months ago myself. Funny how somebody can be there for a while and then suddenly spring upon your awareness.

[Pokey78]

Thanks for the pings!

[mylife]

Sing it Mark!!

[WaterDragon]

"We are not fighting so that you will offer us something. We are fighting to eliminate you."

And that is now our goal for the jihadists...to eliminate them before they eliminate us.

[NZerFromHK]

Mark Steyn writing about Australia. Ping!

[KangarooJacqui]

Thanks for the ping, mate... I particularly liked the quote below:

Old-school terrorists have relatively viable goals: They want a Basque state or Northern Ireland removed from the UK. You might not agree with these goals, you might not think them negotiable, but at least they're not stark staring insane.

My dad used to say, "You never negotiate with terrorists. You shoot them."

As one might shoot a rabid dog, perhaps... which is the only likeness I can make to the Islamic terrorists the world is plagued with now.

[Piefloater]

Thanks for the ping! I get the Weekend Australian delivered but somehow managed to miss this article. As usual a great read from Mark Steyn.

It looks like Spain has decided to go down the -

Or you can stick your head in the sand and paint a burqa on your butt. But they'll blow it up anyway.

path.

I can only pray that we in Australia have the good sense not to do likewise.

[alwaysconservative]

Thanks for the ping, Pokey78! I adore Steyn; I'm just wondering when we can get him to unleash more on JohnF'nKerry like he did on Howling Howie.

[aruanan]

Any thoughtful person who knows history and religion would be anti-Islam. Along with Communism, Naziism, and the Black Death, Islam has been responsible for more death and destruction on the face of the planet than just about anything else since the last asteroid impact. Islam was started by predators. It has spread by predation. It has lived off the decaying corpses of the civilizations it has destroyed. It is a vast, ancient sea of corruption, oppression, fanaticism, and ignorance lapping up against the shores of the present, kept alive by the fortuitous accident of living above huge reserves of petroleum.

[JulieRNR21]

You can join Bush in taking the war to the terrorists, to their redoubts and sponsoring regimes

Or you can stick your head in the sand and paint a burqa on your butt. But they'll blow it up anyway.

Wisdom, common sense and the ability to paint a vivid 'word picture!.....BRAVO STEYN!