Wirt adds:
>Mark quotes Bush's simplistic nonsense:
>
>>  And we will pursue nations that provide aid or safe haven to terrorism.
>>  Every nation in every region now has a decision to make: Either you are
with
>>  us or you are with the terrorists."

This simplistic nonsense argument is used by many.  For example, the Kerry
Campaign had decided to legally pursue media outlets that broadcast
Swiftboat Ads.  You see, either you are with Kerry or you are with the Bush
campaign...

>>  The Russians have faced several ghastly terrorist incidents in the
>>  past week.  This is not a US problem, it is a world-wide problem.
>
> The terrorist incidents this last week in Russia are primarily of
> Russia's own making, in very much the same way that the Israel's
> Palenstinian problem is of Israel's own making.

Well, that's another simplistic explanation.

Violence is violence and death is death.  In the end, when your loved one is
killed, it doesn't really matter if a bomb is dropped from a plane or it is
strapped to the person next to them.  And while war certainly can contain
elements of terror, not all war is terrorism.  The main difference is the
treatment of non-combatants.  Two pilots firing rockets at each other's
plane - not terrorism.  A pilot dropping bombs on a refugee camp with no
fighters in it - more like terrorism.  Some don't see a difference.  Are all
soldiers terrorist?  Is John Kerry?

Many of those killed in that school were very young and not even alive
during the last major Russian offensive.  In what way did they harm the
Chechens?  The terrorist have shown themselves to be no different than the
Russians, and to what end?  Do they think they've gained the sympathy from
the rest of the world?  Have they brought anyone to their cause?  What about
the terrorists that were not Chechen (IF, and that's a big IF, reports hold
to be true that there were Arabs amongst them)?

> The Russian army has
> conducted a brutal war of suppression in Chechnya, covered over by a
> blanket of silence due to Putin's near stranglehold on the Russian
> and foreign press, a war that will now continue to escalate to an
> even more deadly status, unless someone begins to negotiate in good
> faith.

As I said earlier, suppression (lack of freedom) is a powerful ingredient
for terrorism and this suppression goes all the way back to Stalin.  The
violence against the Chechens has been incredibly ghastly and can be
accurately described as nothing less than systematic genocide.  It's a sad
commentary on the rest of the world that we would let this (and other
atrocities) go on without barely a comment let alone action.  We can blame
the Russians all we want but the rest of the World shares in some of the
blame for fostering the conditions that has led to these events.

> The Moscow theater incident of a year ago, where 129 hostages were
> killed, was conducted almost wholly by Chechnian women, widows who
> had lost their husbands to Russian firefights, summary executions and
> indiscriminate bombings. Although they nominally committed their act
> of "terror" in the name of Islam, there was very little evidence that
> they were even all that familiar with Islam. Rather, they did it out
> of revenge and a deep sense of rage, and because they no longer had
> anything to live for.

Yes, the conditions for terrorism were such that the price was worth it.
Ultimately, they ended their lives and took others with them.  What did they
gain?  Again, did they bring many to their side?

The PLO has the same problem.  I think most of the world would be at every
Israeli consulate demanding a homeland for the Palestinians if it were not
for the terrorist methods they use.  Showing up with a gun at the UN was
probably the worst thing Arafat did for the Palestinians.  Israel lost a lot
of support, especially when they went into Beirut.

> Now it's the citizens of Ossetia turn to be outraged. In the Greek
> Orthodox Christian tradition, it is customary to mourn the dead for
> 40 days.  After that, attempts at revenge will be almost unstoppable,
> even though Putin warned against such retaliation today, saying that
> they too will be treated as acts of terror.

If they go after innocents, then Putin is correct.  If they capture the
escaped terrorists, that's a different story entirely.

Mark W.

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