Posted on 07/18/2005 5:05:36 PM PDT by CHARLITE
They say if you want a donkey to do something, get his attention first. So, whack him on the head with a 2-by-4. That'll do it.
But what about people? How many times do humans have to be hit on the head before they pay attention?
Oh, I don't know. Let me count the ways: The U.S. Embassy takeover in Iran; the Hezbollah kidnapping of 20 U.S. and other hostages in Lebanon; destruction of the U.S. Embassy in Beirut; destruction of the U.S. military barracks at Beirut airport; truck bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Kuwait; truck bombing of U.S. Embassy annex in Beirut; downing of Kuwait Airways Flight 221; Madrid restaurant bombing of U.S. military; TWA flight 847; the Achille Lauro hijacking; the Rome and Vienna airport bombings; TWA flight 840; West Berlin disco; Pan Am flight downed in Lockerbie, Scotland; the first World Trade Center Bombing; Oklahoma City bombing; car bomb at Riyadh headquarters of U.S. military, Khobar Towers at Dhahran; U.S. embassies at Nairobi and Dar es Salaam; USS Cole, 9-11; American Consulate in Karachi; attacks in Saudi Arabia of housing compounds, Saudi oil company kidnapping and U.S. Consulate; Madrid trains; the murder of Theo van Gogh; the London bombings.
There's more.
What's the link? Islamic militants with the stated aim of destroying the West, the United States, Israel, all we've done and all we stand for. They make no bones about it.
Oh.
Consider the comments by the head of the Al-Maqreze Centre for Historical Studies in London. Hani Al-Siba'i, was asked by Al-Jazeera, the Arab news channel, about the London terrorist attack that killed 54 and left 700-plus injured – all civilians.
He said anyone could have done it, even a "Western country hostile to Britain." He also said the culprit could have been "Zionist Americans."
Of course, blame the Americans, then blame the Jews.
But, he said, if al-Qaida did it, it was a "great victory" because "it rubbed the noses of the world's eight most powerful countries in the mud."
What about targeting civilians? According to Al-Siba'i, under Islamic law, there's no such thing as a civilian; no distinction between military and civilians. They're all fair game.
As for where non-Muslims stand in relation Islamic belief: The world is divided into two houses – Islam and everything else, which is considered the House of War.
Here comes that 2-by-4!
Prime Minister Tony Blair immediately spoke strongly against the attack. He said it was probably done by "Islamist extremist terrorists" and promised to seek new anti-terror laws and to stop radical clerics from inciting and preaching hate.
But then, political correctness set in and the emphasis switched to concern for Muslims' feelings, and he urged looking into the root causes of terrorism.
Duck!
The BBC fell into lock step and eliminated the word "terrorism" from its news reports. The network's reason is that the T-word is a "barrier ... to understanding."
Here's that 2-by-4 again.
Some consider such terror attacks "random," carried out by poor, disenfranchised, angry and illiterate people. Those people are wrong.
The London suspects are all well-to-do and educated. In fact, the 9-11 terrorists were the same, as are most of the terror perpetrators. Refusing to see this is a fatal error.
The London explosives appear to have been military and composed of chemicals not legally available in England. Either they were smuggled in, ready to use, or put together by people with the money and the know-how.
This was the work of people with an intent to kill and maim, to hurt a certain group and to have it part of the overall war against the West, Christians and Jews.
Ignoring that warrants another whack on the head.
More to the point is the trial in Amsterdam of the Dutch-Moroccan national accused of murdering Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh on the morning of Nov. 2, 2004, as he rode his bike to work in Amsterdam.
Twenty-seven-year-old Mohammed Bouyeri told the court: "I take complete responsibility for my actions. I acted purely in the name of my religion." He said he followed "the law that instructs me to chop off the head of everyone who insults Allah or the prophet."
Whack.
What if he were ever set free? "I'd do the same again. Exactly the same."
And what was that?
With more than 50 witnesses in the area, he attacked van Gogh, shooting him 15 times, stabbing him repeatedly, and then slitting his throat. Finally, he jammed a knife in his chest which held in place a letter containing quotes from the Quran and threats against a number of Dutch politicians, including Somali-born Ayaan Hirsi Ali.
Ali and van Gogh had produced a short film about the abuse of Muslim women, which had been televised. The two immediately received death threats. After van Gogh's murder, Ali was in hiding for more than two months and remains under 24-hour police guard.
Whack, whack.
In the courtroom, in his short and only statement, Bouyeri spoke to van Gogh's mother, telling her: "I cannot feel for you ... because I believe you are an infidel."
Whack, whack, whack.
How long will it take us to admit this is a religious war and they're playing for keeps?
There are none so blind as those who will not see.
I hope we're not the blind man about to be fatally mugged with that 2-by-4.
Barbara Simpson, "The Babe in the Bunker" as she's known to her KSFO 560 radio talk-show audience in San Francisco, has a 20-year radio, television and newspaper career in the Bay Area and Los Angeles.
As if we're not hitting back.
Last I checked, the US military is actively killing terrorists.
With Animal House references being al the rave (or is that "rove") now, it should have been...
"Thank you, sir. May I have another."
I guess she want's U.S. to nuke the rest of the world to prove we fight back??
You've GOT to be kidding!! How many Brits are dead? Oh that's right, their feelings don't matter anymore - because they're dead!
Stupid Socialists. If they aren't killing people with their political nonsense, they're infecting someone with a disease.
Well, there's one point that ol' Al and I agree on.
We are hitting back, and we're hitting back in the right way; not like some 8-year old in a tantrum.
As a friend of mine said about war. The enemy is any one who stands and watches you, or who walks along as is nothing is happening, or runs away. Shoot them it is easier to ask forgiveness than ask permission.
Not to be cruel, but for at least 60 years (since Hiroshima) there have not been civilians. Everyone lives on the battlefield. The Islamists understand this, and have no problem with targeting 'civilians'. I do not necessarily advocate targeting non-combatants, but I do not think that we should twists ourselves in knots avoiding them. At some point, we have to destroy what they love.
We (the U.S.) try to keep civilian death to a minimum and they (terrorist) don't care who the kill. The more the merrier.
this should read 'we shouldn't twist' ourselves in knots. Sheesh, sometimes I type faster than I think.
There have been allegations....
She didn't say that, you did.
Between the idiot "nuke everybody" and the more pragmatic "nuke somebody", there is a lot of room for accomodation and for reasonable people to disagree.
check here: http://www.homelandsecurityus.com/okc.asp
The last two items in your tagline could make for a big boom.
Wow! I haven't seen a Barbara Simpson column is awhile. I used to love hearing her overnight radio show on saturday nights.
And act on it.
Saudi Arabia is the head of the snake. Syria and Iran will be turned into a glass parking lot if there is a multi city attack on the US. We have a 6 month supply of oil and could easily wipe out Hugo Chavez in a week if we really had to.
You write words of truth - but they are the bane of liberal utopians.
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