The Logic Lifeline

A logical approach to sorting out world events. Where logic, opinion and speculation are combined to produce a reasoned, but entertaining reading experience. The unofficial hometown conservative blog of Woodridge, Il

Thursday, August 10, 2006

The mentality of CIVILIAN TARGETING must be eradicated

I have seen a disgusting statement frequently being written in the comments section of blogs that says: "One man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter". I wonder how many would view as freedom fighters those who would blow up planes in mid-air when one of their loved ones is on the flight. Picture your mother and your sister flying back from a trip to London. They have had a wonderful time seeing the rich history, wonderful London sights and the beautiful English countryside. While you wish you could have gone, you were not able to afford the trip but you are happy they could enjoy it. They get on the flight laughing and talking about their favorite parts of the journey. When the flight reaches maximum altitude, they are just dosing off to sleep when a terrorist sets off a bomb that rips a hole in the side of the aircraft depressurizing the cabin. Your mother and sister are swept through the hole and gone forever. They harmed nobody, they were not involved in the Middle-East conflict and they were definitely not part of any military.

An analogy I gave my kids when growing up is walking through an untrod field. In Illinois where I live we have fields where the grassy vegetation grows up to our chests. In a virgin field it takes quite an effort to walk through one, pushing the grass down as you go. The next trip through is a little easier but it still takes effort. Finally after enough trips a hardened path is created and nothing will easily grow there while the traffic continues. The world body in their hatred of the US and Israel has allowed this path to form where the TARGETED taking of innocent civilian life by random opportunity to become acceptable behavior.

The stance of the world body must be that this terrorist activity is unacceptable under ANY and ALL circumstances. Even the least of this behavior must be met with strong retribution against those who do this and those who support it from a financial or authoritative standpoint. No excuse for such activity can be acceptable. At no time can such activity be met with ambivalence or apathy. The inconsistent and ineffective leadership of Kofi Annan is a perfect example the UN being a part of the problem. Kofi slams Israel for a rocket hitting a UN post where an eyewitness tells of Hezbollah firing next to it to draw the fire. Yet when a Hezbollah rocket hits a UN post, Kofi has no words of rebuke at all.

The foiling of the plot in the UK actually risks an apathetic viewpoint by the world. One would think that that attacks of 9-11, Bali, Spain, the London Subway and others would be enough to forever know that this mentality must be met aggressively without pause or yielding. Yet there have been no successful terrorist attacks in the US or the UK since. Memories grow short. People begin to be distracted with other things. Another successful attack might wake people up in the short term, but soon they will begin to yawn again. It takes diligence, courage and focus to remain on permanent guard. The leadership in the world and the blurring of facts in the media sway people from this. Slowly, but surely the path is being created and hardened that CIVILIAN TARGETING is an acceptable practice.

Of course when this "acceptable practice" comes to the doorstep of you and me, at some point it will no longer be acceptable. In a final analogy look to the forest fire. In old forests the dead and dry growth accumulates and becomes a time bomb. A lightning strike will set off the "powder keg" and start a blaze that will destroy many thousands of acres of forest. This is what will happen in the world if they appease this mentality until it hits the right point. People will take so much and no more. All thoughts of appeasement, tolerance and understanding will be out the window and the wrath of the West will be unleashed with far less control than desired. Today forest rangers practice a controlled burn. By safely burning off the dry kindling, the whole forest can be saved. The world body needs to do a controlled burn to eradicate this mentality. While they can try diplomacy, it is obvious that this mentality does not react well to diplomacy. In fact it is encouraged by it, because it is viewed as weakness. So what are you going to do? Encourage the "powder keg"? Nothing? Or particpate in the controlled burn?

9 Comments:

  • At 11:45 AM, Blogger SkyePuppy said…

    AICS, your questions are too easy and the answer is too obvious to be a challenge. For normal people.

    But for the UN, the State Department, and the Europeasment folks, it's "Ummm....Let me think..." time.

     
  • At 8:59 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    aics

    Great post! Yes, as Skyepuppy said, the questions are clear enough to elicit an intelligent answer. That's good in my book. Will you also get not-so-intelligent answers? I will venture a guess that you will. The so-called enlightened ones could soon be yearning for good ole Lieberman again.

     
  • At 9:19 PM, Blogger All_I_Can_Stands said…

    Skyepuppy and Hammer,

    I have been saying a few times now that once the who, why and to whom these actions are done are removed from the equation things make much more sense.

    I mean ask somebody if it would be ok to just walk up to somebody on the street you don't even know and knife them. Can you think of any circumstance (other than a self defense circumstance) where that is acceptable.

    - But I am of this group.
    - But he is of that group.
    - But you don't know what I have endured.
    - Those that have made me suffer also have two arms, two legs, two eyes, hands, feet and a face. Don't you see how it is justified???

    Of course it cannot be accepted without the who, why and to whom. It should never be accepted with them.

     
  • At 11:33 PM, Blogger Jacob said…

    Very well said AICS. I absolutely agree that civilian targeting is the worst kind of warfare there is. However I sometimes worry that the response to these attacks are often fuelled by blind revenge, when some of the realities of modern terrorism aren't taken into account. I, of all people, can accept that some people are probably better off dead. But solving the problem by killing as many people as humanly possible really only creates more enemies. Unless you can kill at a faster rate than you can infuriate a lot of people, I can't really see the US winning any wars real soon.

     
  • At 11:59 PM, Blogger All_I_Can_Stands said…

    FKAB,

    Many claim that fighting this encourages it by providing the motive of revenge.

    The problem with this mentality is that doing nothing encourages it. They already have all the motive they need.

    It is likely true that the US cannot win it alone. This is why the rest of the world must band together to denounce it and be prepared to abandon appeasement to eradicate it.

     
  • At 2:28 AM, Blogger Jacob said…

    I tend to think that an all-in war would be a recipe for WW3.

     
  • At 3:42 PM, Blogger SkyePuppy said…

    FKAB,

    It already is WWIII.

    It started with 9/11.
    No, with the USS Cole.
    No, with the intifada
    No, with the embassy bombings.
    No, with the 1993 World Trade center bombing.
    No, with the Marine barracks bombing in Beirut.
    No, with the 1979 Iranian Revolution.
    No, with the 1948 attack on the UN-instituted state of Israel by five Arab nations.

    What's sad is that most world leaders don't recognize it for what it is. Just as in WWII, when we fought on multiple fronts--Europe, North Africa, the Pacific--WWIII has multiple fronts as well. To Afghanistan and Iraq, we now have Southern Lebanon.

    It's a war we must win.

     
  • At 12:30 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Notice that skyepuppy's list has no mention of wrongdoing by any western nation. Just a list of atrocities by brown people. How unsurprising.

    AICS, you should well know that Reagan is the one who gave meaning to the phrase "one man's freedom fighter is another man's terrorist." The mujahadeen, the Contras and the murderous government of El Salvador thank you for your support.

     
  • At 4:29 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Hey guys, there's another English person about, :)
    I'm a new on logiclifeline.blogspot.com
    looking forward to speaking to you guys soon

     

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