Odds and Ends

Don't forget to vote for me at Aaron's CC for the suit of spades. This is for those blogs that call a spade a spade, bringing attention to specific subjects like Islamism, terrorism and the Iraq war.


Today's suggested reading:

Michael Yon has some pictures up that are a must see.

Editorial in Jordanian Times:

The sleeping tragedy had been ticking all along like a time-bomb. For too long we have tolerated elements in our society whose poisonous ideology had been tirelessly feeding a destructive culture of hate and death to schoolchildren and adults alike. For too long we have refused to admit that the seeds of hatred have been sown in the classrooms and in the mosques by disturbed clergymen who have been let loose on our society to drown it in oceans of twisted interpretations of an otherwise great, compassionate religion. This is why the chickens have come home to roost.

For a moment I had a case of schadenfreud when I read this:

But rest assured that they still incubate the same vicious beliefs that moulded the likes of Zarqawi and graduated his army of suicidal maniacs (thank you, by the way, George and Tony, for removing the sewage lid and unleashing on our region the most uncontrollable vermin known to mankind).

My first reaction was, "Your Welcome. Just returning the favor." But, then, I thought that, while this gentleman may still want to lay a little blame away on someone else, I think that, in our shared world where everyone is a target, these types of sentiments do nothing but put a wedge between us. In the entire editorial, this is the only section I disagreed with. Largely because, there are circumstances in the region that led up to Islamist terrorism that are directly or indirectly related to the culture, politics and religion of the region that may or may not be related to American policies in that region. But, from this perspective, I think we need to get over the blaming of which ever outside parties and place it squarely on the shoulders of terrorists, because, in the end, they recruit the men (and now women), they create the bombs, they pick the targets and they pull the trigger.

It is the terrorist that decides to throw away all morality and murder non-combatant citizens of all countries and all faiths in the name of a goal, establishing the caliphate or nationalistic Islamic state, which is unattainable accept in fantasies. The question of Islamist terrorism is not really whether these people who commit the crimes are delusional and insane. Somewhere, deep down, they know it is unachievable, thus, the murders of innocents are not "war" as an extension of a political policy, but murder for the sake of murder. It's murder because their chosen targets are almost always civilians; men, women and children without a uniform, without a weapon to defend themselves, without any real connection to a military endeavor. These are no accidental killings, but specifically aimed at the softest and least defended in society.

So, whether they are civilians in Amman, Jordan; Khaneqin, Iraq; Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; London, England; New York, New York; Madrid, Spain, they are all victims and the only people responsible for their deaths are the murderers. That is something that we are going to have to agree on sooner or later if we are going to confront this deadly phenomenom as a united front instead of wary allies.

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