Another American had his head sawed off today.
May God rest and keep him.
For the rest of us, there's rage. Rage on Fox News, deep concern in the rest of the media, rage on the blogosphere. Certainly rage among the People.
In their horror, grief, and rage, people are talking about paving the ME or drilling for oil through glass.
Normal people. Good, kindhearted, normal Americans. No matter where you live or what your family, a fair number of your relatives, and your co-workers, and your neighbors are thinking these things right now.
Oh sure, they're just lashing out in their grief and rage, and after some minutes, or hours, or at most days, they'll calm down and stop thinking or saying such terrible things.
But you know what? With each one of these incidents the tide rises higher, and takes a bit longer to recede.
Now imagine this goes on for months. Maybe a few years. And it will, even if Kerry is elected (you know they will not stop until they're dead or we are). And now imagine on top of that, that the terrorists get through and make a major attack in the US, worse than 9/11.
Imagine not just one Paul Johnson, but 10,000. American men, women, and children. Again.
And again (remember, the terrorists won't stop).
You want to sit there and tell me that eventually, in one of our spasms of grief and rage following one of these atrocities, that we aren't going to in fact start nuking first and taking names later?
That's why we're in Iraq and Afghanistan. Not about Oil. Not about Bin Laden. Not about 9/11. Not about freeing Iraq or removing Saddam, or enforcing UN resolutions, good and just as these reasons are.
We're in Iraq as the last, best hope of avoiding a major, possibly genocidal, nuclear strike on the Middle East. The Middle East, and Islam, must reform, or die. America will not take this forever. I say that not as a threat, but as a conclusion. I know my countrymen.
UPDATE:
Michele has similar thoughts. Michele is a very good, moral person. I offer her as Exhibit B.
In an hour or so I might feel different. I might not. The residual anger over Nick Berg stayed with me a for a while. Each time something like this happens, the anger dissipates slower and leaves a shadow behind. How long before the shadow is all that's left?Posted by DSmith at June 18, 2004 04:29 PM | TrackBack