Why have the “anti-war” banners been introduced?

Regrettably it was not surprising to see within 24 hours a guest book entry claiming civilian deaths were a “subjective view on Middle Eastern foreign policy”.  The objective fact is we are killing these people.  It is our taxes, which buy the bullets and bombs, which kill them.  It is the actions of the governments supposedly acting on our behalf, which kill these people. We cannot absolve ourselves just because we kill by proxy.

The direction of international affairs has taken a path into an abyss of perpetual terrorism.

On one side is the United States, which has fallen under the influence of a group of ideologues collectively known as neoconservatives.  These individuals are not true Conservatives.  They are disenfranchised left-wing thinkers who believe in big government and expansionist foreign policy – the Roman Empire of the 21^st Century.

These neo-con ideologues also have connections with the ultra-Zionists of Israel. These ultra-Zionists are presently expanding Israel’s borders across the entirety of the West Bank using the pretext of defending “settlements” which already violate Geneva Conventions.  Some even desire conquering land from the Nile to the Euphrates.  The problem with these expansion plans are the people already living there.

On the opposing side is everyone else.

It is now irrelevant what triggered the Israel/Palestinian conflict.  Was it the ethnic cleansing by Zionist fanatics or the terrorism of Arab fanatics?  The die has been cast.  The perpetual cycle of violence has begun.  Every civilian killed by a suicide bomber or a Hellfire missile has a brother, sister, son or daughter who will carry the flame of revenge.

Just as organized crime is commerce by other means, so terrorism is politics by other means.  Suppress a commercial activity, prostitution for example, and organized crime will fill the economic void.   Suppress the political aspirations of thousands of people and terrorist organizations will fill the political void.

Until the Palestinians have sovereignty and the Israelis have safety this slaughterhouse will continue.

The “blowback” is the flames of revenge carried in victim’s hearts provide a political power base for terrorists.  If you want to end terrorism you must remove the political base.  You must provide alternative political outlets, dare we say, freedom and liberty.  Until this occurs terrorism will continue.

There is no such thing as a War on Terrorism.  You cannot fight a war against a verb.  Terrorism is a tactic not an entity.   However, terrorists love war because war destroys all other political alternatives.  War makes terror universal.

To kill the weed of terrorism you must starve its political roots.  Attempting to chop off the foliage with tanks, assassinations or invading sovereign states has not worked, is not working and will never work.  Every bomb dropped just plows the ground for the next generation of terrorists.  For this reason, without a change of strategy Iraq is destined to develop into a carbon copy of the West Bank.  Both breeding pools of terrorists will only be drained when the local feels they have “freedom and liberty” on their own terms. 

This is why civilian death tolls are important.  More important than American kids not getting a science education.  More important than Kent Hovind or myself.   Every civilian death is a political gain for terrorists.  Every civilian death makes Western countries less safe.  Ignoring the problem by shielding ourselves from the consequences of our actions will not solve a single problem.  We must confront ourselves before we can hope to confront those we call terrorists. 

Alternatively, we could remember these are not numbers, they are people.  People whose death shouldn’t be an off topic inconvenience.

Carl Marychurch, 2004