Fight Them Over There So We Don't Have to Fight Them in...London?
Today, London England (not sure if that’s Old Europe or New Europe Rummy, can you help me out with that?) faced it's second attack in as many weeks on it's transportation systems. While this attack doesn't seem sophisticated enough to be al Al Qaeda group, British officials can't say for sure who is responsible (although by the time you read this, we'll probably know for sure...ahh, such is the dated world of Blogging).
I'll tell you one thing that is for sure, however - the Bush administration continues to lose credibility each time there is an attack somewhere in the Western World.
Think about it -- here's the entire picture Bush sets up regarding the war in Iraq:
"Evil-doer terrorists who hate freedom have decided to all gather in Iraq, and make Iraq the central headquarters for terrorism. We have sent our soldiers there to keep killing each one, until they give up the fight, our troops hand the country over to the Iraqis, and terrorism and the world becomes a safer, more democratic place as terrorism declines sharply. " (Please note some black & white, monosyllabic, Texas-Speak words that would have been smirked out of Bush's mouth were replaced with more sophisticated, textured vocabulary that us Middle School graduates use from time to time).
In other words, fight them there so we don't have to fight them here at home. Well George, I have one favor to ask. Define "home."
Indonesia?
Madrid?
London?
I ask again, London?
Next?
The problem is that our 43rd president faces with his logic is that while we may be killing Iraqi insurgence, as well as Iraqi civilians at the same time, Al Qaeda has become more of a "brand" or signature, rather than a tight network of communicating religious fanatics. Put another way, saying we'll fight them there so we won't have to fight them here assumes 3 major falsehoods:
1. That there are a finite number of terrorists, located in finite areas, and we need to continue killing them until there are no more terrorists, bad guys, evil doers, or people who hate America.
2. That as we are displaying to the international community the very freedom they hate us for visa vies Abu Garib, Guantanimo Bay, Nation-invading, and the real hallmark of free society, fake journalism, there are not new recruitments, new terrorists, and most importantly, new anger replacing that of which we are killing off.
3. That terrorists are a card-carrying, organized breed who are all marching toward Iraq, instead of developing and training within cells from Sudan to Syracuse.
The analogy I've heard used best was by Arianna Huffington earlier this year. She said that the Bush administration is a person in the middle of the woods, swatting mosquitoes, who represent the terrorists. Sure, one may swat 30 or 40 mosquitoes each minute, but because the conditions are perfect for swamps to form, more mosquitoes are breeding, more are biting, and simply swatting them off is a fruitless lesson in futility. In other words, get after the conditions that are causing the swamps to form breeding grounds to the mosquitoes, and they eventually go away.
See, one of the things on an endless list that Bush and the neocons who advise him need to learn is that terrorism is a tactic, not a fixed, recognized army of soldiers who always coordinate and move together as one entity. As long as people feel hopeless, as long as there is government sponsored oppression, as long as people are brainwashed by ANY religion (you'd better be clicking that link to the left Mr. and Mrs. Joe Christian) there will always - ALWAYS be people willing to kill innocent people to get their voice heard. Always.
Since Saddam Hussein (as you'll recall, one of the major causes of terrorism) has been removed from power, and now that we're fighting evil doers 'over there,' terrorism hasn't decreased. In fact, it's tripled. Swamps are forming everywhere, and we don't understand why.
Karl Rove scoffed at the fact that liberals try to understand the enemy after the 9/11 attacks. He was right, we did. Except, we weren't trying to understand them to like them, or to know what to get them on their next birthday. We do it to understand how to defeat them, deflate them, and defend against them. If you don't understand what is breeding the mosquitoes and why they're coming for you, they'll still be hanging around long after you're gone.
I'll tell you one thing that is for sure, however - the Bush administration continues to lose credibility each time there is an attack somewhere in the Western World.
Think about it -- here's the entire picture Bush sets up regarding the war in Iraq:
"Evil-doer terrorists who hate freedom have decided to all gather in Iraq, and make Iraq the central headquarters for terrorism. We have sent our soldiers there to keep killing each one, until they give up the fight, our troops hand the country over to the Iraqis, and terrorism and the world becomes a safer, more democratic place as terrorism declines sharply. " (Please note some black & white, monosyllabic, Texas-Speak words that would have been smirked out of Bush's mouth were replaced with more sophisticated, textured vocabulary that us Middle School graduates use from time to time).
In other words, fight them there so we don't have to fight them here at home. Well George, I have one favor to ask. Define "home."
Indonesia?
Madrid?
London?
I ask again, London?
Next?
The problem is that our 43rd president faces with his logic is that while we may be killing Iraqi insurgence, as well as Iraqi civilians at the same time, Al Qaeda has become more of a "brand" or signature, rather than a tight network of communicating religious fanatics. Put another way, saying we'll fight them there so we won't have to fight them here assumes 3 major falsehoods:
1. That there are a finite number of terrorists, located in finite areas, and we need to continue killing them until there are no more terrorists, bad guys, evil doers, or people who hate America.
2. That as we are displaying to the international community the very freedom they hate us for visa vies Abu Garib, Guantanimo Bay, Nation-invading, and the real hallmark of free society, fake journalism, there are not new recruitments, new terrorists, and most importantly, new anger replacing that of which we are killing off.
3. That terrorists are a card-carrying, organized breed who are all marching toward Iraq, instead of developing and training within cells from Sudan to Syracuse.
The analogy I've heard used best was by Arianna Huffington earlier this year. She said that the Bush administration is a person in the middle of the woods, swatting mosquitoes, who represent the terrorists. Sure, one may swat 30 or 40 mosquitoes each minute, but because the conditions are perfect for swamps to form, more mosquitoes are breeding, more are biting, and simply swatting them off is a fruitless lesson in futility. In other words, get after the conditions that are causing the swamps to form breeding grounds to the mosquitoes, and they eventually go away.
See, one of the things on an endless list that Bush and the neocons who advise him need to learn is that terrorism is a tactic, not a fixed, recognized army of soldiers who always coordinate and move together as one entity. As long as people feel hopeless, as long as there is government sponsored oppression, as long as people are brainwashed by ANY religion (you'd better be clicking that link to the left Mr. and Mrs. Joe Christian) there will always - ALWAYS be people willing to kill innocent people to get their voice heard. Always.
Since Saddam Hussein (as you'll recall, one of the major causes of terrorism) has been removed from power, and now that we're fighting evil doers 'over there,' terrorism hasn't decreased. In fact, it's tripled. Swamps are forming everywhere, and we don't understand why.
Karl Rove scoffed at the fact that liberals try to understand the enemy after the 9/11 attacks. He was right, we did. Except, we weren't trying to understand them to like them, or to know what to get them on their next birthday. We do it to understand how to defeat them, deflate them, and defend against them. If you don't understand what is breeding the mosquitoes and why they're coming for you, they'll still be hanging around long after you're gone.
posted by Jeremy at 5:44 PM
1 Comments:
Hi, you asked for some comments over at the bloggeer forums, so here I am. Quite intense reading in places, and while I don't understand most of the detail as far as the US goes, I have to agree that a 'nanny state' is something that is creeping into the UK too. If they could get away with it, they would legislate everything. You wouldn't be able to use the toilet without it being taxed or something. The whole ID-card issue, too, is threatening civil liberties, and combined with the recent bombings in London, we are experiencing similar feelings to post-911 America. Daily we hear about how London survived the IRA bombing campaign of the 80's, and Hitler's bombs in WWII, and how we can do it all again. I bet the families who were directly affected aren't thinking "yeah we'll show them..". Still, no-one ever said life was supposed to be fair huh? We just have to be accountable for everything we do. Keep it up... people always need to know the truth.
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