March 14, 2004

And yet more Steyn. Gotta love the guy...

From The Australian...

That kind of finely calibrated terrorism –just enough slaughter to inconvenience the state into concessions –is all but over. Suppose you're an ETA cell. Suppose you were planning a car-bomb for next month –nothing fancy, just a dead Spanish official plus a couple of unlucky passers-by. Still want to go ahead with it? I doubt it. Despite Gerry Adams's attempts to distinguish between "unacceptable" terrorism and the supposedly more beneficial kind, these days it's a club with only one level of membership. That's why so many formerly active terrorist groups have been so quiet the past couple of years. In that sense, Bush is right: It is a "war on terror", and on many fronts it's being won.

If Islamic terrorism were as rational as Irish or Basque terrorism, it would be easier. But Hussein Massawi, former leader of Hezbollah, summed it up very pithily: "We are not fighting so that you will offer us something. We are fighting to eliminate you."

That's a very interesting thought. What are the old "Moustache Petes" of the terrorist game going to do now? Killing a few people will earn you nothing these days.

And though lefties hate to admit it, and hate George Bush for forcing them to face it, the civilized world is going to have to fight. If not now, then later; maybe when a bombing kills 2,000 Spaniards. Or 20,000! And the response will have to be massive, and small terrorist groups will be squashed like bugs if they get in the way.

And though you may think I'm bloodthirsty, the opposite is the truth. The bloodthirsty ones are the people who say "We shouldn't do anything. It might make us less safe." They are the ones piling up a butcher's bill that will be collected somewhere in the future.

And if fire-eating neo-cons had been in charge 20 years ago, we could have squelched these problems with far less loss of life.

* Update: Actually, considering today's election in Spain, maybe I'm wrong about the civilized world having to fight. Surrender is always an option...

Posted by John Weidner at March 14, 2004 10:09 AM
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