Saturday, July 23, 2005
Why we fight, part 2
This is, perhaps, the most poignant story to come out of the London bombings:
Yet, all the talk about withdrawing foreign "crusader" troops from the Middle East and Central Asia is but a ruse. It is not really about withdrawing troops per se, but about giving Islamofascists the free hand to overthrow all the current governments throughout the region, many of whom actually or tacitly rely on Western assistance, and replace them with Taliban clones.
So yes, maybe - or maybe not - the withdrawal would temporarily diminish international terrorism, but at a price of helping to create a monster - a totalitarian jihadi superstate in control of most of the world's oil resources and in possession of weapons of mass distraction.
This is absolutely crucial to understand: all the talk about the war on terror being the Third (or the Fourth, depending how you're counting) World War, or the new Cold War, obscures the fact that it is in reality a largely pre-emptive war to smother in the cradle, while it's still relatively weak, the menace which if allowed to grow would in a decade or two confront us with a specter of a genuine, apocalyptic world war.
As cruel and callous the calculus might sound to the victims and their loved ones, thousands are dying today so that millions will not have to die years from now.
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One of the last victims of the London bombings to be named by police was a young Afghan Muslim whose parents were killed by the Taleban.The jihadis demand that we withdraw our troops from Iraq - and Afghanistan, and from every other Muslim country (and the Jews, presumably, withdraw themselves altogether from their country). These demands are accompanied by nods of agreement from much of our intelligencia and the commentariat, who agree that such withdrawal would stop terrorism and make all our current problems go away.
Ateeque Sharifi, 24, who was living in Hounslow, West London, fled Kabul three years ago to seek refuge in Britain. He was the only male member of his family to escape death at the hands of the Taleban. He died in the explosion set off by bomber Jermaine Lindsay as their Piccadilly Line train approached the station at Russell Square.
Eight months after arriving in Britain, Mr Sharifi enrolled in West Thames College and began mastering the English language, working in his spare time at a take-away pizza restaurant. Most of his wages were sent to Afghanistan to his younger sister who still lives there.
Yet, all the talk about withdrawing foreign "crusader" troops from the Middle East and Central Asia is but a ruse. It is not really about withdrawing troops per se, but about giving Islamofascists the free hand to overthrow all the current governments throughout the region, many of whom actually or tacitly rely on Western assistance, and replace them with Taliban clones.
So yes, maybe - or maybe not - the withdrawal would temporarily diminish international terrorism, but at a price of helping to create a monster - a totalitarian jihadi superstate in control of most of the world's oil resources and in possession of weapons of mass distraction.
This is absolutely crucial to understand: all the talk about the war on terror being the Third (or the Fourth, depending how you're counting) World War, or the new Cold War, obscures the fact that it is in reality a largely pre-emptive war to smother in the cradle, while it's still relatively weak, the menace which if allowed to grow would in a decade or two confront us with a specter of a genuine, apocalyptic world war.
As cruel and callous the calculus might sound to the victims and their loved ones, thousands are dying today so that millions will not have to die years from now.
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