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Opinion
Feb. 03, 2008
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EDITORIAL: Al-Qaida sets new standard in evil

Women described as retarded sent to market, blown up remotely

The word "guerrilla" came into the vernacular to describe the Spanish resistance to Napoleon two centuries ago.

The Spanish people could not, at that point, field a traditional army to face Napoleon's legions. But their partisans could aid the British under Arthur Wellesley, fighting his way east out of Portugal, by sweeping down from the hills to intercept the long French supply lines. Napoleon himself said this "little war" cost him as much as if he had to face an entire new enemy corps at the front.

The precedent of the American revolution is often cited -- the Massachusetts militia firing from behind trees at General Gage's troops as they withdrew from Lexington and Concord. Civilian resistance forces who harassed the Germans after their nations were conquered by Hitler in 1940 are also remembered today with approbation.

Those who hope to paint America as the Great Satan, and to defend the actions of al-Qaida and other Muslim terrorists, have been known to cite precedents including those above, arguing, "Patriotic Iraqis, finding themselves under American oppression, can't hope to field an army to defeat the United States in a traditional battle. So 'asymmetrical' guerrilla tactics designed to wear down the American forces are perfectly acceptable. After all, George Washington's men fired from behind trees!"

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    • But this argument falls appallingly short of justifying the depravity -- the absence of every instinct to common decency -- now exposed as underlying the current Islamic jihad in the Mideast.

    George Washington did not send suicide bombers to blow up civilian markets in hopes of making the cities of New York and Philadelphia untenable to enemy English occupation forces in 1777. He certainly did not murder the feeble-minded.

    Over the years, accepted practice in war has changed. Most soldiers will now fire from behind cover.

    But the rules of humanity and empathy have not changed so much. Purposely targeting unarmed civilians still evokes horror among most of mankind -- and that's before we even discuss using innocent children or the disabled as weapons of mass murder.

    When al-Qaida bombed two American embassies in east Africa a decade ago, most of the dead and injured were Africans and Muslims -- not Americans.

    But on Friday, these madmen lowered the bar to an unprecedented level of evil, as remote-controlled explosives strapped to the bodies of two women described as mentally retarded were detonated in a coordinated attack on Baghdad pet bazaars, killing at least 73 people.

    The chief Iraqi military spokesman in Baghdad, Brig. Gen. Qassim al-Moussawi, said the bombers had Down syndrome and that the two coordinated explosions were detonated by remote control, indicating the women may not even have been aware of the use to which they were being put.

    Whether the masterminds turn out to be al-Qaida directly, or Sunni "insurgents," do they really believe such carnage among their own civilian populace is the way to win the hearts and minds of the Iraqi people?

    This latest attack proves al-Qaida is "the most brutal and bankrupt of movements" and will strengthen Iraqi resolve to reject terrorism, says American Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

    Surely, even among their own people, a growing number must ask, "Is this how we build a better, a more free and just society?"

    There are precedents, actually. Arab terrorists used an unwilling woman for a hotel attack, not long ago. And Palestinian terrorists recently sent a retarded young man wearing an explosive vest to blow up an Israeli checkpoint -- Israeli soldiers risked their own safety to disarm him and keep him alive.

    Make no mistake, though. Such tactics are made more effective if the world press tells only half the story, as when Israeli air attacks on occupied Gaza are covered with no mention of the repeated Arab rocket attacks on Israeli civilians to which those air attacks were a measured response.

    Should an American or Iraqi soldier fire on a mentally disabled civilian who ignores repeated orders to halt, at some point in the future, do you think Al-Jazeera will bother to remind anyone who it was who first turned such individuals into weapons of terror and mass murder?



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    davud wrote on February 22, 2008 04:01 AM: this aeticle show how one sided media is dangerous. that is the same in the great lake region of Africa.


    TribalNation wrote on February 03, 2008 10:49 PM: Al-Jeezera is complicit in aiding the terrorists... They should be treated as we would the animals that committed this act and bomb them as well.


    Clinton Womack wrote on February 03, 2008 09:01 PM: Excelent editorial. You are exactly right. Half the world's press doesn't tell the whole story. Neither does the Democratic Party.


    Jan wrote on February 03, 2008 06:41 PM: I think this article is a perfect example of what happens when you have a complete lack of cultural understanding, and only argue normatively. The western world invented the laws of war, the human rights and - in some ways - humanism. Then you expect Iraqis to follow our rules, which you CLAIM applies (almost) worldwide. When they don't follow the rules you want them to, you say they're evil! I can't even understand how the word "evil" can be used in 2008, but what I do know is that our laws of wartime and our view of the human life as holy, is biologically very strange. No other specie has such rules, and most (or all?) will eat each other if they must ("Alive" - the movie).

    I think the terrorists view is that they have few means to respond to the American precense in Iraq, and they use what they have. I do not agree with them, but I do not think we will get very far by telling people that it's not the way we fight wars. It probably won't help.


    michael melillo wrote on February 03, 2008 12:10 PM: you are absolutely right in describing the barbaric behaviour of isalamic terrorists you are also right about the one sided media approach toward blaming Israel and ourselves as we try to defend western civilazation in this world wide idealogical war which will continue for a generation until people in the middle east including women have access to representative government and thereby defeat the root cause of this islamic terror


    Ret. US Marine in Alabama wrote on February 03, 2008 12:03 PM: Looks like the Religion of Peace is running out of willing jihadists. Allah can't be pleased that there aren't enough men willing to face down American power...at least until Hillary gets elected.


    YerHighHorse wrote on February 03, 2008 11:43 AM: Yup, Mr. F., dismembering the bodies of the mentally retarded is about as low as it gets.

    It should be pointed out, however, that the same thing is going on right here in America. The mentally retarded and anybody else who isn't "normal" are subject to having their arms, legs, and heads torn off during surgical abortion procedures every day.

    Even worse, abortion clinics are usually located in poor, black, and hispanic parts of a city. Apparently, that's where the people who aren't "supposed" to reproduce live and work. The idea behind abortion is that only the intelligent and well-to-do should reproduce. That way, we'll someday create a "Master Race" of folks who can make meaningful contributions to society and "do" for themselves. It didn't work in Hitler's Germany, but the same experiment is going on right here.

    I wonder which is more painful to a person with Down Syndrome, having your body blown to bits by an Al Quaida bomb, or having your body dismembered by surgical instruments? Since the nervous system develops pretty early in a baby, both probably cuase unimaginable pain.

    It's nice to think of ourselves as more civilized, but the truth is that we operate from the same pathetic value system Al Quaeda does.


    Dan wrote on February 03, 2008 10:36 AM: It seems that bullets coated in pigs' blood would be an appropriate response. Want a guerilla war? We'll show you how it's done...


    tim wrote on February 03, 2008 09:31 AM: the only way we lose is if we let politicians tell generals how to fight a war. our military is second to none but they have polosi,reid,schummer and kennedy on their side. makes it that much harder to win. but we will. that enemy is why were there,we would have to face them sooner or later, better on our terms than theirs.dont mistake it for afghanistan,iraq is surrounded by fanatic nutcases far more evil than the taliban,if that can be said.


    Mark Wilson wrote on February 03, 2008 08:50 AM: To Mr. KW64,

    You make a point that I wish to expand on: “No one will respect us if we leave those who supported us to be slaughtered by these barbarians like we did with our supporters in Vietnam.”

    Like the current Iraqi military, we trained the South Vietnamese ARVIN forces, provided them with helicopters, fighter jets, tanks, personnel carriers, ammunition, etc. In the end, it was up to the South Vietnamese government to stand up and fight for their freedom from communist tyranny when the North Vietnamese Army, in violation of the Paris “peace accord”, began to mass on Saigon.
    Because the South Vietnamese government was so corrupt and self serving (kind of like our government), the chain of command broke down from the top on down. The rest is history.

    Like Vietnam, the primary gauge that will determine success or failure in our efforts in Iraq will hinge on the resolve of the Iraqi government and the Iraqi people to stop the evil that plagues them; the very evil accurately described in the RJ editorial.

    The only other evil force the RJ failed to mention was the efforts of Sen. Reid and the Democrats in providing aid and comfort to the enemy.

    Mark Wilson


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