I Read The News Today, Oh Boy (CS)
Any number of posts i could have made today will have to take a backseat to the news that cannot be ignored of the bombings in London.
Before saying anything else, I must say, while watching video come in from London as i got ready for work this morning, i was absolutely impressed by the relative calm and resolution that the people of London seemed to show in the face of chaos and tragedy.
No doubt, before the day is done pundits from either side of the ball will begin to spin the bombings as they relate to the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, especially as the first claims of responsibility begin coming in alleging that these bombings were indeed spurred on by England's complicity in those continuing conflicts.
To say that these bombings were the fault of our involvement in Iraq is partly rediculous because these hatreds have much deeper roots than that. Remember 9/11, the first trade tower bombing, the attack in the USS Cole, attacks on US Embassies.... At the same time, we must realize that these hatreds do have roots in actions that were largely our doing. It is not simply because "the West" is "different" or "democratic" that terror is mobilized.
My hope is that this recent tragedy can serve as a wakeup call to the fact that we are not operating under the same paradigm we were 60 years ago. Nowhere near it, in fact. The "enemy" we face now is not in a city we can sack or a leader we can target. I feel that even if Osama Bin Ladin is captured, terrorism will continue. We must bolster intelligence and covert work. We must protect ourselves from these attacks at home. But above all else, if we are to win this new sort of war, we must stop terrorism where it breeds. We must fight strife and international injustice. We cannot continue to bomb villages and take advantage of the destitute in foreign countries. We can no longer so passivly accept the idea of "collateral damage." We cannot kill them with kindness alone, those that are truly filled with hate are not likely to veer from their chosen path. But we can no longer afford to be so careless and thus create so many new enemies.
We have indeed created a difficult situation for ourselves. But, clearly, war (or at the very least, unfocused and practically frivolous war) is no longer the answer.
Before saying anything else, I must say, while watching video come in from London as i got ready for work this morning, i was absolutely impressed by the relative calm and resolution that the people of London seemed to show in the face of chaos and tragedy.
No doubt, before the day is done pundits from either side of the ball will begin to spin the bombings as they relate to the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, especially as the first claims of responsibility begin coming in alleging that these bombings were indeed spurred on by England's complicity in those continuing conflicts.
To say that these bombings were the fault of our involvement in Iraq is partly rediculous because these hatreds have much deeper roots than that. Remember 9/11, the first trade tower bombing, the attack in the USS Cole, attacks on US Embassies.... At the same time, we must realize that these hatreds do have roots in actions that were largely our doing. It is not simply because "the West" is "different" or "democratic" that terror is mobilized.
My hope is that this recent tragedy can serve as a wakeup call to the fact that we are not operating under the same paradigm we were 60 years ago. Nowhere near it, in fact. The "enemy" we face now is not in a city we can sack or a leader we can target. I feel that even if Osama Bin Ladin is captured, terrorism will continue. We must bolster intelligence and covert work. We must protect ourselves from these attacks at home. But above all else, if we are to win this new sort of war, we must stop terrorism where it breeds. We must fight strife and international injustice. We cannot continue to bomb villages and take advantage of the destitute in foreign countries. We can no longer so passivly accept the idea of "collateral damage." We cannot kill them with kindness alone, those that are truly filled with hate are not likely to veer from their chosen path. But we can no longer afford to be so careless and thus create so many new enemies.
We have indeed created a difficult situation for ourselves. But, clearly, war (or at the very least, unfocused and practically frivolous war) is no longer the answer.
posted by Craig at 11:42 PM
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