War of the Worlds

In conversations with my liberal friends (and they are truly my friends), I sometimes hear the complaint that if only the US wouldn't be in Saudi Arabia or had a different policy on Israel or wasn't in Iraq, that Al Queda would leave us alone.

Again, I love my friends, but I think they are naive.

I think that they tend to see Al Queda operating in the way terrorists did before the 1980s. Back then, terrorist had some cause, such as liberating a country or freeing some people in prison. It could be brutal yes, but you could see that terror was being used a political tool. (I'm not saying this was a moral method, I'm just telling that is what it was used for.) The purpose was to bring a government to do something.

But al Queda is not about that. There is no political purpose to them. This kind of terror is faith-based and that type of terror doesn't believe in negotiation; only punishment. Most of my liberal friends are correct in spelling out the dangers of Christian fundmentalists, but seem to miss the dangers of Islamic fundamentalism. My guess is that they are afriad to be accused of bigotry. But there is nothing wrong with condeming those who use religion for evil purposes, be they Christian or Muslim. It is still blasphmemy.

Ronald Bailey has an excellent article spelling out how al Queda has problems with the US and the wider West not simply for our policy, but because we are.

More on this topic later...