Saturday - October 13, 2001
War on Terrorism?
I'd like to point out two issues regarding our
"war on terrorism" that are mostly being ignored by the popular sentiment in
this country: the arrogance of trying to define another's religion for him, and
the failure to define our enemy and what constitutes his
defeat.
First, it is amazing how our
President and leader, George Bush, has repeatedly told us that bin Laden and his
ilk do not believe in "true" Islam.
How arrogant, and how wrong! This is an important
point because it masks what we're really
facing.
Do you call your Protestant friends
and tell them that they aren't really Christians? Are Seventh Day Adventists
really Christians? (Well, according to the BATF and the FBI they aren't, but
that's another story.)
Do you have the
gall to tell an Orthodox Jew that only the Conservative Jews are really Jews? Do
the Sfardic Jews have more legitimacy than the Ashkenazic
Jews?
Freedom of Religion is an
important principle in this great nation. It implies that a person's beliefs are
his and no one has the right to define his beliefs for him. If a man wishes to
believe in Islam according to its ancient recipe like the Taliban do, we haven't
the ability to change him. We should make no mistake, no matter how benevolent
and intelligent Islam has been in the past and still is for many today, it has
also been interpreted to be very violent and oppressive at many times in its
history and by many today.
This point is very
important because it highlights the only proper remedy for this violent set of
beliefs. Since we cannot change their beliefs, we must kill those who believe
it. A person has freedom of religion, but he also has responsibility, a
responsibility that transcends law, religion or his own existence, to not
oppress others, or attack others without just cause. When a religion treats
women as sub-human, holds public executions of these women for sport, and melts
skyscrapers, it has ceased to be a protected
religion.
All of the Taliban, and their
co-religionists, which are distinct from some benevolent forms of Islam, must be
killed, their religion must cease to exist. The only way to kill a belief is to
kill all those who believe that way.
My
second point, and perhaps more important to us, is when will this "war on
terrorism" be defined?
We have national
leaders clamoring for more and more curtailment of our freedoms for the duration
of this war, but no explanation as to when we should regain these freedoms. The
Bush administration has been running roughshod over the Congress and has used
federal agencies to restrict our movements. The FAA has even more useless
questions to ask us when we wish to travel. We have been told that our right to
know what is going on is no longer
important.
These restrictions may be
very appropriate. But when will we return to the rights we had before? We have
been promised that this will be a long war, and it will continue until terrorism
is erradicated. How will we know when this has been completed? I don't mind
restricting my activities for the war, it's only practical, but I want to know
very clearly when my freedom, won by the blood of great Americans over two
hundred years ago, will be restored. Otherwise, we may be losing our freedom
permanently due to the vagueness of our war
aims.
So far, the only thing Bush has
objected to is the establishment of a national ID card, for which I respect him.
But he needs to further establish our trust of him by ending the farce that this
is a "different" war. It is no different than any other war. There are people
who have attacked us, and their power must be destroyed. We must identify who
they are and stop pussy footing around calling a spade a spade. Those who are
our enemies must die, and the religion that fuels their fervor against us must
be eradicated. We know who they are. The formality as to whether they are a
recognized government or not is irrelevent. If they control a people who would
injure us, they are sufficiently
identified.
Some have alluded to a
concern that we must ensure that other nations support us, especially Arabic or
Muslim nations. It is the challenge of leadership to not be stymied by lesser
peoples. Britain is behind us, as are other nations. If others do not support
us, we shall still be victorious. We must never forget that we are powerful, all
other nations in contrast are weak. They will never all be against us, unless we
fail to destroy those that attack us individually. Bush started with big talk
about how those not being for us are against us, for which he was rightly
praised, but his actions do not speak quite so forcefully. I hope that I am
wrong, and that he isn't slipping into any form of appeasement to any other
nation anywhere. There is a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down
and a time to build, a time to love and a time to hate, a time of war and a time
of peace. We are now in the time to kill, and we are obliged to do so, with or
without any others. Let them not stand in our
way!
We are a good people, a great
nation, and lovers of freedom. We need no excuses for the defense of our
country. We need not be ashamed to attack our attackers. We need not wince at
naming our enemies. We must defeat them to preserve freedom for all people,
because we are still the model of freedom for the world and if we lose our
freedom from such vague definitions of who our enemies are and what constitutes
their defeat, we will be condemning our future and the world's future to a
return to how things were before George Mason penned the Bill of Rights; a world
where people were subordinate to government rather than a government subordinate
to its people.
George Bush, tell us who
our enemy is, and before taking our freedoms, tell us when we will have them
back again! We are willing to sacrifice, but we want your promise of a very
clear point when our sacrifices will no longer be
necessary.
In the meantime, I'm getting
into good shape so I can join the Marine Corps again in case things get bad
enough that they'll take me back.
Go Back to the Start, Do Not Collect $200 Send me your two cents
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