9.06.2004
More on Beslan
Perhaps the Russians are without clean hands. Perhaps they have been characteristic and bloody in their heavy handling of the Chechnyan situation. Perhaps Muslims in that area of the world have a decent case for separatism.
But the above does not begin to justify the act which islamic extremist scum perpetrated in Beslan. Nothing justifies the slaughter of prepubescent children in their elementary school. Not cries of 'Allahu Akhbar!'. Not strategies of assymetrical warfare. Not 'insurgencies' or 'separatist movements'. Not past or continuing injustice, real or perceived.
Everywhere on the face of the planet in this day, islamic extremists are in motion, plotting, spreading death and destruction. They are the corrupted manifestation of a sickened faith. Right now, a powerful, decent country leads the fight against this cancer. The U.S. Its efforts have been attacked, not only by its enemies, but by many it defends. It has not wavered, and it cannot waver now.
What happened in one Russian schoolhouse is an abomination that has to be defeated, not merely regretted. But the only guys with any kind of plan are the Bush administration. Last Thursday, the President committed himself yet again to wholesale reform of the Muslim world. This is a dysfunctional region that exports its toxins, to Beslan, Bali and beyond, and is wealthy enough to be able to continue doing so.
You can't turn Saudi Arabia and Yemen into New Hampshire or Sweden (according to taste), but if you could transform them into Singapore or Papua New Guinea or Belize or just about anything else you'd be making an immense improvement. It's a long shot, but, unlike Putin's plan to bomb them Islamists into submission or Chirac's reflexive inclination to buy them off, Bush is at least tackling the "root cause".
If you've got a better idea, let's hear it. Right now, his is the only plan on the table. The ideology and rationale that drove the child-killers in Beslan is the same as that motivating cells in Rome and Manchester and Seattle and Sydney. In this war, you can't hold the line against the next depravity.
Thanks again to Mark Steyn. Read the whole article.
But the above does not begin to justify the act which islamic extremist scum perpetrated in Beslan. Nothing justifies the slaughter of prepubescent children in their elementary school. Not cries of 'Allahu Akhbar!'. Not strategies of assymetrical warfare. Not 'insurgencies' or 'separatist movements'. Not past or continuing injustice, real or perceived.
Everywhere on the face of the planet in this day, islamic extremists are in motion, plotting, spreading death and destruction. They are the corrupted manifestation of a sickened faith. Right now, a powerful, decent country leads the fight against this cancer. The U.S. Its efforts have been attacked, not only by its enemies, but by many it defends. It has not wavered, and it cannot waver now.
What happened in one Russian schoolhouse is an abomination that has to be defeated, not merely regretted. But the only guys with any kind of plan are the Bush administration. Last Thursday, the President committed himself yet again to wholesale reform of the Muslim world. This is a dysfunctional region that exports its toxins, to Beslan, Bali and beyond, and is wealthy enough to be able to continue doing so.
You can't turn Saudi Arabia and Yemen into New Hampshire or Sweden (according to taste), but if you could transform them into Singapore or Papua New Guinea or Belize or just about anything else you'd be making an immense improvement. It's a long shot, but, unlike Putin's plan to bomb them Islamists into submission or Chirac's reflexive inclination to buy them off, Bush is at least tackling the "root cause".
If you've got a better idea, let's hear it. Right now, his is the only plan on the table. The ideology and rationale that drove the child-killers in Beslan is the same as that motivating cells in Rome and Manchester and Seattle and Sydney. In this war, you can't hold the line against the next depravity.
Thanks again to Mark Steyn. Read the whole article.
// posted by HunterByrd @ 3:43 AM 
