Posted on 01/20/2007 12:07:47 AM PST by JohnHuang2
It's becoming popular to talk about "the root causes of terrorism."
Lately, we've heard:
Do you know what I think is the root cause of terrorism?
It works.
By that I mean those using terrorism in the world today do it because it achieves their objectives.
Simple. And I think beyond dispute.
No place does it work more effectively than in Israel once seen as a bulwark against Islamist terrorism. If you want a case study in the enabling of terrorism, the encouraging of terrorism, the feeding and cultivation of terrorism, look no further than the Jewish state.
Let's look at the cost of unrelenting terrorism in the Jewish state over the last six years since Ariel Sharon was elected as a hard-line prime minister to put an end to attacks but who betrayed his constituency:
It's a vicious cycle. But it is a cycle benefiting the terrorists demonstrating its effectiveness as a tactic.
What do the terrorists want besides killing and terrifying people?
Ultimately, it is very simple. They want the entire world subjugated to Islamic rule and law.
There are only two ways to stop the terrorism:
You can't talk to it. You can't buy it off. You can't understand it. You can't win it over with compassion. You can't reason with it. You can't negotiate with it. You can't bargain with it. You can't appease it away. You can't wish it away.
In fact, this is an enemy that cannot be seduced by expressions of "tolerance" and gestures of goodwill. It is actually repulsed by such moves seeing them as weakness to be exploited further and signs that their strategy is winning the day.
Need I remind you this is a conflict with some history.
It didn't begin Sept. 11, 2001, or even with the first World Trade Center bombing or the Iranian revolution of 1979.
This is a war President Jefferson fought.
This is a war that led to Christopher Columbus' voyage west and, ultimately, the discovery of America.
This is a war that nearly led to the conquest of Europe before that.
And it may well lead to the conquest of Europe in the 21st century.
As I have said before, it would not be inaccurate to say this conflict has defined world history for the last 1,300 years.
In the 20th century, we witnessed the high cost of appeasement. We saw it with Nazi Germany. We saw it with the Soviet Union. We saw it with Communist China. And, lately, we see it in the Middle East and in the war with jihadism.
"What do the terrorists want besides killing and terrifying people? Ultimately, it is very simple. They want the entire world subjugated to Islamic rule and law. There are only two ways to stop the terrorism: Surrender and live under the domination of Islam. Soundly defeat the Islamic jihad. You can't talk to it. You can't buy it off. You can't understand it. You can't win it over with compassion. You can't reason with it. You can't negotiate with it. You can't bargain with it. You can't appease it away. You can't wish it away. In fact, this is an enemy that cannot be seduced by expressions of "tolerance" and gestures of goodwill. It is actually repulsed by such moves seeing them as weakness to be exploited further and signs that their strategy is winning the day."
L
Ditto.
No one in the west will ever have the nerve to do what needs to be done.....Islam will win. Why?
Political Correctness is going to destroy us.
THE root cause of terrorism is the very common habit of people to base their view of themselves on the success or failure of members of their group.
They just can't separate their self-esteem from group esteem.
And people will do anything, even suicide and murder, in response to a threat to their ego.
The best way to get rid of terrorism is to try to emphasize the individual.
And if that doesn't work, well, then sometimes you have to kill them before they kill you.
Political Correctness is going to destroy us.
PC, hate crimes, and all that other touchy-feely crap came into being during the Klintoon daze. It will get worse with the next dim administration; and we'll be down the road to ruin.
The Root Cause of terrorism is that its easier to blame others and kill people, than to face and fix your own problems.
Excellant post.
In a nutshell, either we convert or die or they die - simple.
We live in fear of ourselves, and we are trapped in the past. Somewhere along the line, during Vietnam perhaps, our civilian population decided that war was a uselss tool and that our highest calling as humans was to eliminate the taking of human life (the other 9 commandments were ignored, but that's another story). And we found a perfect warfare that minimized the loss of human life because our primary objective was simply to block Soviet hegemony to avoid MAD - essentially drawing a cat game on every round of tic tac toe. Unconditional surrender as an objective of warfare became obsolete.
But both our desire toward compassion and our limited warfare posturing have proven self-destructive in fighting imperialism of the sort in which our own civilian population is a target, i.e. a hot war.
We now have two major obstacles to overcome: One, getting our civilian population to embrace the massive destruction of human life, and Two, allowing ourselves to unleash our military to achieve the unconditional surrender of our enemies.
Bingo!
I would add to his analysis. We have terrorism because it works... but why does it work? Because the media amplifies every attack. In terms of damage and loss of life, they are biting fleas... the media makes them into lions.
Political Correctness is a tool of terrorism.
I was thinking the same thing. For once, I agree with him.
Can you imagine what would have happened if we fought WWII the way we are fighting the GWOT? Consider the following handicaps we would have had to content with:
-- Polticians running for cover if we suffer even minimal casualties
-- Environmental restrictions hampering military training and facilities
-- A requirement for Zero collateral damage with lawyers required to approve military strikes
-- The NYT leaking national security secrets (I could just see them leaking the fact that we broke the German code + the purpose of the Manhattan Project)
-- No draft & protesting military recruitment of young people
-- Entitlement spending keeping a lid on military spending
-- A significant 5th column movement in the MSM and Academia--hostile to our objectives
-- International groups threating to indict our soldiers as war criminals
-- The US State Department
-- The ACLU
-- Cindy Sheehan
I am just scratching the surface here, but you get the picture. We'd all be speaking German out East and the Japanese would own Hawaii, Alaska, and the West Coast.
ping
This is a war that can only be won by killing Jihadis.
It will not be over in 6 months or 6 years. I expect that this will continue for my entire lifetime and the lifetimes of my grandchildren. We have to stick it out even if it takes a hundred years. The only alternative is to die or submit.
The sooner everyone realizes that part of winning is to demonize the Zombies of Islam, the sooner we will be rid of the threat.
Terrorism worked for the United Mine Workers of America.
Give in or die..... the message of John L Lewis and Richard Trumka. The Virginia and West Virginia politicos always gave in.
They already do; it's called "abortion." In this topsy-turvy, helter-skelter society, innocence is abhorred and the "enlightenment" of decadence is celebrated (they don't call themselves progressives for nothin'). The bigger obstacle is re-instilling moral values of good versus evil, right versus wrong, just versus unjust, in a society wrought with relativism and political correctness run amok.
...and Two, allowing ourselves to unleash our military to achieve the unconditional surrender of our enemies.
Spot-on. I heard a commander recently back from Iraq say his men had to follow a 7-point checklist before they could engage any action, and even then the men were unsure that they wouldn't be brought up on charges later for killing or maiming a bad guy, even if the conflict seemed clear-cut (see "The Pendleton Eight" or even the border-patrol guards for precedence).
The Powers That Be need to let the soldiers do what they're trained to do, honorably and effectively, with full support, no second-guessing, and certainly no coddling of the enemy (as Congress is wont to do). There will always be a few rotten apples in the military barrel, but when you start treating the GOOD guys like rotten apples, morale plummets, commitment wanes and the sense of duty becomes a little less clear. IMHO
I agree with Farah: Just Do It.
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