No, I'm not having an off day. You're having an off read.
Kamikazes were fanatics too, following a divinely inspired ideology (so they thought) to call up miracles to destroy the stronger enemy. No so different from the current crop blowing themselves up for Allah in a way.
My remark was a reductio ad absurdem of your well worn and cliched argument, which is often called the "cockroach" theory of terrorism - mustn't fight them, it will only make more, they spring up from the earth.
This is a facile argument with instant appeal to those primed to look for 'root causes' in poverty, oppression, etc, but who seem to have a blind spot regarding the role of religious and political ideology in the mix.
It should be obvious by now that poverty and oppression do not of themselves spawn terrorism. Otherwise Sub Saharan Africa would be rife with it. Instead, it happens where the Muslim world has a border or rubs shoulders with the non-Muslim world. By now, that is many places, including the Middle East, America, most of Europe, Bali, Thailand, and India.
Yet as obvious as it should be that we are fighting a militant political & religious ideology, the message does not seem to register with you and many others. If it did, you wouldn't suggest that things could be fixed by our being nicer, less aggressive, more attentive to poverty & whatnot.
Because I am firm believer in noticing what the other guy says he wants. And you know what? He says he wants the restoration of the caliphate and death to the Jews. Do you believe him? I do.
Being nice to that mindset will only be read as weakness. Can you deny it?
So what is left but to fight? This idea that the only dynamic that happens in war is that everybody rushes to become a terrorist is silly.
Sure, it is one dynamic of a conflict; things become polarized, people get off the fence, or join to see revenge for lost family members; but it is hardly the ONLY dynamic.
All the usual dynamics of politics and war apply - people want to know whether they are joining a winning or losing side, and will try to join the winner; the tactics the terrorists use, which are far more callous than anything done by the Americans or Israelis, will also drive people to the other side.
Terrorist wars are like other wars, except slower. They can be won, lost, or negotiated. There is no magic about the terrorist that says you must not fight him. If you do not fight him, you empower him - and when you empower terrorists, terrorists are empowered. Is that who you want making your decisions for you? It can be quite costly, as the Lebanese are finding out now. |
