Posted on 09/12/2001 4:40:29 AM PDT by Ada Coddington
The Unknown Enemy
by Joseph Sobran
It was predictable. For years I’ve been writing that the U.S. Government has been making more enemies than Americans really need, all over the globe, and that one of these days some of them would have a nasty surprise for us.
In fact it nearly happened a few years ago, when Islamic radicals tried to blow up the World Trade Center. But of course they made a botch of it and got caught.
This time, though, someone pulled off what must have been an extremely cunning conspiracy, a criminal feat for the ages. They managed to execute a secret plan calling for four simultaneous hijackings of airplanes. Those who committed these coordinated deeds – in spite of all security measures – also had the determination to die in hitting their targets.
This wasn’t "terrorism." This was war. It wasn’t a random attempt to scare people with an arbitrary atrocity, like the bombing of a pizza joint; it was a serious attempt to kill as many people and do as much material damage as possible at two strategic targets, the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
But, as I write, hours after the attacks, we don’t know who is at war with us. We may never know. Who has reason to hate this country? Only a few hundred million people – Arabs, Muslims, Serbs, and numerous others whose countries have been hit by U.S. bombers.
Imagine hating a country so much that you were willing to cross an ocean and carry out an elaborate revenge against its people, killing yourself in the process. This is something far more than the sort of ideological anti-Americanism that leads student mobs to throw stones at U.S. embassies abroad; that’s kid stuff. This is an obsessive, fanatical, soul-consuming hatred.
Foreigners aren’t quite real to Americans, and most Americans are unaware of how profoundly their government antagonizes much of the human race. We are easy-going people who generally have no idea how bullying we seem to foreigners. Until now, we have had no experience of what the U.S. Government has so often inflicted on others. Now, at least, we have an inkling of what it feels like.
Government spokesmen have responded with their usual cant of "cowardly attacks" by "terrorists" who "hate democracy and freedom." Rubbish. A fanatic who is ready to die is the opposite of a coward, and nobody can "hate" such abstractions as "democracy and freedom" with that kind of intensity.
It’s dangerous to belittle your enemy, especially when his courage and cunning have already proved as formidable as his hatred and cruelty. The first question you should ask about your enemy is why he is your enemy in the first place.
You may be deluding and flattering yourself if you assume he hates you for your virtues. But our "leaders" assure us that our enemies are unnaturally evil people who hate us only because we are so wonderful. And they manage to utter this nonsense with an air of tough-minded realism.
True realism, on the other hand, doesn’t mean blaming Americans for bringing these horrifying and truly evil acts on themselves. It does mean trying to imagine alien perspectives from which our government’s conduct might appear so intolerable that some people might be driven to take atrocious revenge.
"To understand all is to forgive all," says the French aphorism. Not true. But understanding all can at least teach you how to avoid making enemies, and avoiding making enemies is the best defense – better than a $300 billion "defense" budget that didn’t defend the World Trade Center.
The great director Jean Renoir was once asked why there were no villains in his films. He answered simply:
"Everyone has his reasons." Your bitterest enemy may have his reasons for hating your guts. You may not think they are good or sufficient reasons, but you’d better take them into account. If he has any brains, he may find a way to hurt you.
The United States is now a global empire that wants to think of itself as a universal benefactor, and is nonplussed when foreigners don’t see it that way. None of the earlier empires of this world, as far as I know, shared this delusion; the Romans, the Mongols, the British, the Russians and Soviets didn’t expect to rule and to be loved at the same time. Why do we?
1. Envy. We live well. They don't.
2. We are allied with people they don't like, primarily Israel.
3. Religious ferver. Islam does not tolerate Christianity and the US is viewed around the world as a Christian country.
4. Political/Economic differences. There are people who feel that it is unethical to own property when there are others in need. They won't be happy until everyone is equally miserable.
That's just the begining.
The real problem is that those differences have no solution other than the extermination of one of the two groups.
Somehow I think they will be easier to exterminate than we will be.
Lots of people hate us. Lots of people love us. Almost no one fears us.
It does not matter if the lion loves or hates the wildebeast. It only matters that the lion likes the taste of wildebeast flesh. The lion has no fear because all the Wildebeast will do when he attacks is run.
If Elephants had nasty personalities and Wildebeasts were sweet, would lions attack Elephants?
Lions don't attack elephants because the lions know the elephant would make mush out of them if they tried.
If the terrorists who attacked yesterday were certain that their attack would result in the death of eveyone who agreed with their cause, they would not have attacked.
They were willing to die in the hope that their death would help their cause to prevail. They were quite willing to give up their lives for their cause. They would not give up their lives to destroy their cause and all who support it.
Even a journalist should be able to understand that fact.
Don't forget Bin Laden is a CIA asset, our own Government grew this guy into what he is today, they trained him. This is a well known fact but is not getting any mention.
Already people are saying they would give Liberties for Government protections. This is a double plus for our benevolent Gov. They have the support of the people to unleash the Dogs of War, (and rightfully so), plus the can pass laws that will prevent this kind of thing from happening again and make us all safe thus getting a free swipe at our Freedoms without anyone batting an eyelash.
As far as the retailiation goes, I think the damage we do should be atleast 3 times greater than what we witnessed here; it should be today, right now and it should not make one bit of difference which terrorist group gets it. As a matter of fact it may serve us better psycologiclly if we annihilate the wrong group. Sure we could get Laden but there are 100's more lined up waiting to take his place when that time comes.
"Behold, days are coming," declares the Lord, "when the city shall be rebuilt for the Lord from the Tower of Hananel to the Corner Gate.
"And the measuring line shall go farther straight ahead to the hill Gareb; then it will turn to Goah.
"And the whole valley of the dead bodies and of the ashes, and all the fields as far as the brook Kidron, to the corner of the Horse Gate toward the east, shall be holy to the Lord; it shall not be plucked up, or overthrown anymore forever." Jeremiah 32:38-40
Be careful whose side you're on.
Matthew 24:15
Therefore when you see the abomination of desolation which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet standing in the holy place (let the reader understand),
then those who are in Judea must flee to the mountains;
whoever is in the field must not turn back to get his cloak.
Luke 21:20-21
But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then recognize that her desolation is near.
Then those who are in Judea must flee to the mountains, and those who are in the midst of the city must leave, and those who are in the country must not enter the city; because these are days of vengeance, so that all things which are written will be fulfilled.
According to the Bible, God's commandment on the Middle East is to GET THE HELL OUT OF THERE. We must flee, we must not turn back, we must recognize that 'her desolation is near.'
This is not a war that the Lord will bless, and it is not going to be won by human power (indeed, that's the point, the reason why the Lord will return to Earth).
If you want to stay and fight, two things: (1) you will lose, and (2) you will be in direct violation of God's commandment.
GET THE HELL OUT OF THERE!
They might be helping them a little--whoever called to warn the White House knew all the right codes--but I doubt they are orchestrating it.
We and our NATO gang are trying to rule the world neighbor hood or the world frontier town. Just like in the movies, eventually they get fed up and start fighting back.
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