Terrorist representatives today announced they were abandoning further retaliatory plans against allies of the US-led war on Iraq when a nine year old girl pointed out to them that–had terrorists not destroyed the World Trade Center–George W. Bush would never have been able to muster the support to attack Iraq in the first place.
“Yeah, that lapse in clear thinking was our bad,” said terrorist spokesman Abu Al Bumen. “If 9/11 hadn’t happened, Bush could never had ridden a wave of fear and anger right into the middle of Baghdad. I mean, the kid had it right. She didn’t really leave us a lot of wiggle room, y’know?”
The startling turnabout began when nine year old Terri Schwindenhamer of Tulsa, OK, wrote a letter to the editor that appeared in the Tuesday New York Times. Young Schwindenhamer, whose letter was headlined “Could Someone Explain This To me,” pointed out in part, “I don’t understand why the terrorists are hurting people over stuff the terrorists themselves helped to happen.”
Al Bunem, in a taped interview airing on the Spike Network, stated, “We just hadn’t considered it that we…I mean, we were blowing up innocent people over events that we initiated. Frankly, I don’t know what the hëll we were thinking. Bottom line is, we pretty much screwed the pooch on this whole revenge thing. So, y’know, we’re reconsidering our options.”
“Actually, we’re thinking of getting into management of national political campaigns. Turns out we’re pretty good at that.”
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The point I think folks are missing here has little to do with Bush or his war. It has to do with the irrational nature of terrorism. I separate terrorism from guerilla warfare on the grounds that terrorism seeks no specific, attainible military goal. As often as not, it actually works AGAINST the preported goals of the group. Whatever one’s stand on the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, it is tough to argue that Hamas is HELPING the Palestinian people my blowing up innocent Israelis. Any proverbial 9-year-old girl could see that.
The problem is twofold. On the lower eschelons, the terrorists have lost sight of the forest for the trees. They become so focussed on the idea that their enemy as “evil” that they forget what it is they are fighting for. They assume that anything that hurts their enemy is good, even if it hurts their own people more, cutting off even their HEAD to spite their face.
Even worse, however, the leaders of the terrorists realize that their power rests in maintaining the environment of fear and hatred. If they actually “won”, they would have no power. This is why terrorist leaders who try to make peace have a habit of being killed by their own.
This can’t be real.
FIRST UP: Eric of Classical Values extols the most recent Carnival of the Vanities, and says something nice about my book. I really appreciate that. Thank you. Vox Day has shared with us a parable. (If the permalink doesn’t work,…