Stop the Beheadings!
Posted by
john on
Monday, January 23 @ 07:50:05 GMT (119 reads)
[from Dec. 2004]
Although I have not watch the
gruesome video of the murder of the Americans and other westerners by what
has come to called Islamic fundamentalist, I have seen the pictures of the
poor victims and their captors, and my blood has boiled. It is perhaps a
very good thing that I am not the one with the authority and power to decide
what this nation is going to do about it, far if I were my first gut
reaction would be to announce that we would retaliate at a ratio of 7000 to
one. If you kill an American we will kill 7000 of you. If our Joint Chiefs
or our so‑called Muslim allies could present an alternate plan which would
assure that the murders would stop we would consider it, but otherwise we
would have bombers in the air the day of the murders.
Now
this may not be the right response, but it may be effective.
The question is
really are we at war. More than one of the talking heads on television,
be they politicians, expert analyst or what have you, have made
comparisons to our actions in Iraq and Afghanistan to our actions in
World War II. They point to our record of wining a war and then building
democracy. But have these actions since September 11, 2001 been a real
war? The answer is no. They perhaps are best described as police
actions. What is the difference? Well on December 7, 1941 the United
States did not launch an investigation into who the Japanese pilots were
who dropped the bombs and torpedoes on Pearl Harbor. They declared war
on Japan and all the nations allied with it. And it was near
unconditional
By the time we dropped
atomic bombs on two Japanese cities, Germany and Japan were in utter
ruins. All their major cities were bombed out rubble, their armies
and navies had been wiped out and many of the citizens had been
killed. That was war.
After the war those
nations were rebuilt with the hard work and resources of the
American people. That was the right thing to do, but it could not
have been done had our former enemies not been totally defeated
first.
If we are to succeed in
our present endeavor at national security, we must first recognize
who our enemy is. We have defeated the Taliban. The Saddam Hussein
regime is no more. Many al-Qaida leaders have been killed or
captured. But these are only parts of our the entity which is our
true enemy. Defeating them would be like sinking a Japanese
battleship or capturing a German army division in World War II.
In this nation, and in
this culture, we hold freedom of religion as one of our dearest
rights. It is altogether fitting and right that we do this, but if a
group has as its purpose to not only take away that right but to
also utterly destroy us, then it behooves us to recognize that group
is our enemy, even if that group calls itself a religion. On Sept.
11, 2001 they danced in the street for joy in Egypt when they heard
that thousands of Americans had been killed. This in an Islamic
country which is called moderate, and is supposed to be our friend.
Almost all for the murdering hijackers on Sept. 11 were Saudis,
another Islamic country that is supposed to be our ally. If Islam is
not our enemy, let their leaders announce it. Let them renounce
terrorism. Let them stop protecting and facilitating murders. Let
them stop preaching hate and violence.
Until they do this,
and I don’t believe they will, we must recognize that Islam
itself is our enemy. Thought out history Islam has done its
proselyting by the sword. It does not seem to have changed its
ways.
This editorial
does not necessarily reflect the views of Views & News. If you
have an opposing view you may submit it for publication.
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