It’s been 2 days since British agents arrested twenty-two (22) alleged members of a terrorist cell plotting to blow up U.S. bound airplanes with liquid explosives; I must applaud those fine men and women who potentially saved dozens, if not hundreds or thousands of lives. Nonetheless, this string of recent arrests of plotters, as well as the multitudes of conflicts evolving around the world, I am left questioning what a terrorist truly is anymore. War is by no means the same as it was fifty (50) years ago, nor is it the same as it was twenty-five (25) years ago, but can we consider modern conflicts as war?
Currently, the world as a whole has banded together, somehow to try to end the fighting along the Israeli & Lebanese border, and yet, as we have been told by everyone, Israel is fighting Hezbollah, a terrorist organization based in Lebanon, that has somehow gained and currently holds control of the country. Wait, no, not right….the Lebanese control the country but for some reason have not rid themselves of these thugs and criminals. Yet, somehow, the Lebanese Government this past week has said they will trade the two Israeli soldiers whose kidnapping began this conflict for multiple terrorist prisoners in Israel; this sounds to me like a deal being made by Hezbollah, not Israel.
Iran & Syria, meanwhile, have been supplying Hezbollah, and most likely, Al-Qaeda as well; which leads me back to the same thought; how to we separate terrorism and war in this modern world? When the United States was attacked on September 11th, 2001, that was terrorism, but when the United States, unprovoked, attacked Iraq in 2002, that was war, an act of diplomatic necessity. The United States has destroyed an infrastructure, a people, a stable government, this is war. Same as now, terrorists attacking airplanes is obviously terrorism, no one can dispute that, but somehow, Israel fighting terrorists is a negotiable war. The United States would not stand for this: our policy of refusing to negotiate with terrorists would prevent us from doing so.
The world of the future will not be like the one of the past; we will no longer be fighting nations, but it seems as we are digressing from civilization back to Germanic style tribes, a future where we have culture but not a nationality. History would show this as the fault of the western nations, which, in essence it is. We cannot look to the past though, we must look for the future. People in these nations will turn to their day-to-day salvation, the ones that will give them food and shelter. Philanthropy is the only hope that western nations have for saving morality and earth, if we can be completely selfless and find secure ways to get money to the impoverished people of these nations, we just may be able to save ourselves. We must keep our own interests out of this plan; we cannot push for, nor expect democracy. We must accept whatever fate our money brings, acknowledging that we are saving our futures in the process.
Until people can understand this, we may be doomed to repeat our mistakes until we destroy ourselves.
Currently, the world as a whole has banded together, somehow to try to end the fighting along the Israeli & Lebanese border, and yet, as we have been told by everyone, Israel is fighting Hezbollah, a terrorist organization based in Lebanon, that has somehow gained and currently holds control of the country. Wait, no, not right….the Lebanese control the country but for some reason have not rid themselves of these thugs and criminals. Yet, somehow, the Lebanese Government this past week has said they will trade the two Israeli soldiers whose kidnapping began this conflict for multiple terrorist prisoners in Israel; this sounds to me like a deal being made by Hezbollah, not Israel.
Iran & Syria, meanwhile, have been supplying Hezbollah, and most likely, Al-Qaeda as well; which leads me back to the same thought; how to we separate terrorism and war in this modern world? When the United States was attacked on September 11th, 2001, that was terrorism, but when the United States, unprovoked, attacked Iraq in 2002, that was war, an act of diplomatic necessity. The United States has destroyed an infrastructure, a people, a stable government, this is war. Same as now, terrorists attacking airplanes is obviously terrorism, no one can dispute that, but somehow, Israel fighting terrorists is a negotiable war. The United States would not stand for this: our policy of refusing to negotiate with terrorists would prevent us from doing so.
The world of the future will not be like the one of the past; we will no longer be fighting nations, but it seems as we are digressing from civilization back to Germanic style tribes, a future where we have culture but not a nationality. History would show this as the fault of the western nations, which, in essence it is. We cannot look to the past though, we must look for the future. People in these nations will turn to their day-to-day salvation, the ones that will give them food and shelter. Philanthropy is the only hope that western nations have for saving morality and earth, if we can be completely selfless and find secure ways to get money to the impoverished people of these nations, we just may be able to save ourselves. We must keep our own interests out of this plan; we cannot push for, nor expect democracy. We must accept whatever fate our money brings, acknowledging that we are saving our futures in the process.
Until people can understand this, we may be doomed to repeat our mistakes until we destroy ourselves.
posted by Marc Dreyfuss at 22:45
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