The Nature of Terror

[Guest shiloh357]

The nature of terror

Paul Greenberg, September 27, 2004

Isralertl.com source:

http://www.townhall.com/columnists/paulgre...g20040927.shtml

Those two French journalists are still missing in Iraq, where they're

being held by still another band of terrorists. Following Spain's lead

after Madrid's rail system was bombed and scores of innocents killed,

the French will now doubtless seek to appease the kidnappers by

announcing that French troops will be withdrawn from Iraq at once.

Oops. Unlike the Spanish, the French never sent any troops to Iraq in

the first place. There are none there to withdraw.

Indeed, the French have done their best to undermine coalition efforts

in Iraq. So why would these terrorists do anything to embarrass France?

Even to ask such a question is to misunderstand the nature of

terrorism. It is to assume that terrorists need a reason to terrorize.

If terrorists were rational, of course French citizens would be immune

to such attacks. Few countries were as supportive of Saddam Hussein's

regime as France. It was one of Saddam Hussein's major trading partners,

money lenders, and arms suppliers, even building him a nuclear reactor

- the one the Israelis took out in 1981. French officials helped

undermine the economic sanctions against Saddam's regime, and they played a

leading role in the United Nations' oil-for-food scam. Even after that

regime was toppled and Saddam himself jailed, the French have held back

from the coalition trying to build a stable, democratic Iraq.

What could these kidnappers demand that the French have not freely

given them? To quote the New York Times' correspondent in Paris, who sounds

as if she's got this thing figured out, "what animates the French and

their Islamic adversaries is not a battle over the future of Iraq. The

Muslim militants make no distinctions in their war against the West."

In this case, the kidnappers demanded that the French "rescind a new

law banning Islamic head scarves and most other religious symbols in

public schools, a demand France rejected." But any excuse would have done.

If the French hadn't just outlawed head scarves for Muslim girls in

their schools, surely the terrorists would have found some other demand to

make.

Whether in Baghdad or Beslan, there doesn't have to be any reason for

the terrorists to act, only victims ready to be slaughtered. In a part

of the world where fanaticism rules, the most fanatic tend to win out,

and so the pressure is on to commit ever more outrageous atrocities.

By now suicide bombings have become old hat. So we get attacks on

schools full of children and beheadings in front of the cameras. Each new

outrage trumps the last in this grisly competition for the allegiance of

the hate-filled street. Every time you believe terrorists have done the

unthinkable, they think of something else.

The moral of the story: It's not what the West does or doesn't do, or

any policy it does or doesn't adopt, that infuriates the Muslim world's

fanatics, but that the West dares exist. Which is why France, a nation

that has opposed American policy in Iraq, is still considered fair

prey.

By now a wide assortment of leaders around the world have appealed for

the French captives' release, including Carlos the Jackal, aka Ilich

Ramirez Sanchez, whose address at present is a French prison outside

Paris. That notorious terrorist was convicted of a series of kidnappings,

bombings and general bloodletting a few decades back, and has been

taking up good French jail space ever since.

The Jackal has just issued a statement from his cell explaining that

all other nationalities "in the service of the imperialist aggressor"

should be subject to attack, but that the terrorists should give the

French a free pass in Iraq-as a reward for their opposition to American

policy.

As long as Carlos the Jackal is alive, he'll doubtless be giving

terrorists advice. Which makes him Exhibit A in case for capital punishment.

If Timothy McVeigh were still on this side of the Great Divide,

doubtless he'd be giving advice from his cell, too. And there would be those

eager to lionize him. or even follow his example. Carlos the Jackal has

become something of a literary hero in France. Think of him as a kind

of Che Guevara who escaped

execution; look for his picture on T-shirts any day now. Thankfully,

Timothy McVeigh is no longer with us.

Yes, the kidnapping of the French journalists, and the wide variety of

responses to it, offer all kinds of lessons about where appeasement

leads, but it's unlikely Paris will learn them. In charming, picturesque

Old Europe, it's still 1938.

[papasangel]

Well it just goes to show you that terrorists will go after anyone including their so called allies in their madness. Sort of like biting the hands that feed them don't you think?

[jkid2]

except the hand will probably continue feeding them

[Scudbuddy]

Well it just goes to show you that terrorists will go after anyone including their so called allies in their madness. Sort of like biting the hands that feed them don't you think?

What you need to realise is that there were no terrorists operating in Iraq until we took over. These recent actions would have been impossible under Saddam because he hated Islamic extremists and just killed them, just like Assad of Syria is doing now.

So the author of the article, who evidently supported this war, should be blaming himself, not so called French appeasers.

Zarqawi was in Baghdad after being transported there for an operation. He was caught in a bombing raid in Afghanistan. Saddam gave him safe passage to get his operation. Several countries including some of the countries who were opposed to the war all state that that wasn't Zarqawis first visit. Their intelligence service have him their several times, especially in N. Iraq working with a fundamentalist Muslim Kurdish group. All with Saddams permission, since he had to pass through Baghdad and their customs service.

You keep on making these claims, but they are unfounded. Where do you get your info? Al Jazerra?

And the 9/11 Commission with many Democrats on it show all the above info also. What the demo's like to quote is that they can find no proof of a connection with 9/11. How's your checking on those sites I recommended? Find those historians you mentioned yet?

[tako]

HI GUYS, Imperialist Aggressors subject to attacks? I don't think it's about that. What HE apparently doesn't REALIZE is, It's about ISLAM AND THE INFIDELS........TAKO