The historical reality is that lower Manhattan has been the target of terrorist bombers for about 100 years now. The problem existed long before Islamic fundamentalists ever saw an airplane and it will still exist long after no one considers commercial flying at less than hypersonic speeds. It's not a problem that is unique to our time, it's an ongoing problem that dates (at least) to the anarchists of the late 19th century. And if you want to call the civil war related incidents like the one at Harper's Ferry, or the post war shenanigans "terrorism", the problem predates the common availability of dynamite.
I'm a "conservative", which means that I believe that the old ways are generally better. The old ways of fighting terrorism is to use various police forces, and it's still the best way.
Hi Carl,
Yes I am sure you are conservative. But you have apparently slept with the anti-warristas for so long that you have acquired a few of Graham Green's old fleas. <vbg>
Lower Manhattan may have been blowing up every quarter for the past 100 years, but if so it was at the hands of your demented brethren and your lovely sistereen. Never was it on the target lists of Vietnamese terrorists or any other foreign civilians prior to AQ.
We have had some remarkable foreign enemies since 1791. We've contested numerous foreign wars, and imposed our economic and cultural power in places The Great Khan never knew existed. Yet in all that time not one NY structure was struck or bombed by any of their agents, saboteurs, spies, enemy aliens, messengers of god or soccer hooligans. This is not insignificant. ...Iraq is not Vietnam. ...And OBL is not HCM.
If you remain on top of the slag heap long enough, sooner or later you will come to accept that radical Islam is defined by your existence. It isn't your presence in their countries that puts the Islamist on the road to terrorism. It is your dominant existence period. Simply put, you are an affront to God.
You do not deserve to be on top of any slag heap. Your position there is a crime against god and man that AQ must correct. Moreover, this Anti-Bilow sentiment is not some far out dementia of a teeny minority within the Islamic world. It is rather the daily bread of the vast majority of Arabs, Persians, Pashtuns, and much of Islam wherever it's found, including your back yard. It may be acted on by few, but Anti-Bilowism is the "thought" of many millions for whom ultimate success by the Islamist "actors" inspires neither fear nor opposition.
It is self-delusion to think that OBL's enemies are totalitarian Arab regimes at home. OBL is neither a Jefferson nor a Payne. In OBL's mind, it was God and Islam that brought down the USSR. You are next on their list. Arab governments of whatever stripe are no more than tools in the fight to be rid of you.
I applaud your instinct for "the old ways." It will serve you well. You will eventually need to go back a little further than the founding of "Scotland Yard" for a model. But when you tire of playing "law and order" and decide to put an end to these exclusionary religionists... the bond fires and dumb bombs will be there waiting.
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All praise and glory to The Deadly Dichotomy, may it bless us with its swift and painless death. |
