What, you still don't know this by now? That we really are in a battle for Western Civilization itself. I'm sure the terrorist know this.
Although this is off topic, I may close the gap. This may be a idealization, because I have to keep on hoping that this current craze will come to an end and the people to their senses. Nonetheless I can see a division in the approach on dealing with the issue of global islamist terror by Kerry and Bush, even if it may not be as clear as I draw it.
Did you really think we could actually be friends and sit down with people who crash airplanes into civilian buildings, and or murder hundreds of school children, and still keep our way of life and beliefs?
Actually I did sit down with a Muslim student, a supporter of islamist terror and had long and heated discussions with him. Yes, you can sit down and talk with them. It doesn't lead to anything productive though (other than to know what you're up against). We agree on that.
We probably also agree that those terrorists that represent the likes of Al Qaida should be hunted down without mercy. They deserve nothing less. And we need to stick together on this. It must be a broad international effort. International laws as they exist may need to be bend on occasion. It will get bloody. They should have no safe haven.
Although we must do all that, we should never forget what makes us different from them. Belief in human rights, the promise of peace, freedom through justice - just to name a few of those things that make our Western civilization worth defending.
I'm not drifting off...
We are not witness to a grand clash of civilizations. This is no Hollywood spectacle. Islamist terror is a phenomenon we have to deal with carefully and thoroughly.
How we approach this problem is essential. Regardless of the motivations of the current commander in chief and his staff, the actions taken so far have made matters worse in many ways.
Not only have they divided the Western world, they have destabilized an entire region that had become dangerously fragile through an ongoing conflict between Israel and Palestine, economic inequities and religious as well as cultural friction. Yes I am writing about the war in Iraq here.
John Kerry said it is the wrong war at the wrong time and he is absolutely right. Why is that? Apart from the obvious, that Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein have about as much connection as Kermit the Frog and Mahathma Ghandi, the biggest disaster is that Iraq has virtually turned into a recruitment center for islamist hatred, may the recruits be called murderers, insurgents or terrorists. They are fuelled by the same poison.
Terrorist leaders have no greater ally than Bush. He supplies them with something much more necessary for their idealism than weapons. Reason.
There is nothing so fruitful for their propaganda than an Iraq in disarray, destroyed infrastructure, killed civilians. If the situation continues (and bloody hell it will), they will probably have more success recruiting than the US army at home.
Apart from the massive loss of life (
http://www.iraqbodycount.net) the results of the current President’s efforts have cut an existing psychological wound ever so much deeper. This shock will send ripples throughout the consciousness of the entire region for a long time to come. Cause and effect. It is a simple and fundamental principle.
Fighting against a terror cell cannot be done by armies. They thrive on the chaos that armies leave behind. By what I have heard John Kerry say, he understands this (at least better). It is my hope.