Bali and the War on Terror: Any further questions?
October 16, 2002 ~ 1:43 p.m.
We arrived back from sunny Nice, the wife and I, yesterday morning. As if returning to raw wind and rain wasn�t enough to hammer home the reality of going on a vacation � i.e., the fun has to end sometime � recent news of a nightclub bombing on the Indonesian resort of Bali was.
Nice was a relatively safe place to be. You could get stabbed in some of the rougher parts of town, no doubt, but the thought of a terrorist attack occurring there was the furthest thing from our minds. But I suppose such was the case for the poor holidaymakers in Bali as well.
The tropical warmth, tepid ocean waters and the party-hearty atmosphere of the resort of Bali encourage young travelers from all across the world to take part. Just as we went to the Cote d�Azur to indulge in sunshine and scenery dominated by tall date palms, so did revelers at Bali. A well-known holiday destination where people from all over the world congregate just to have a good time should be safe from the sort of terror that plagues the Middle East. Right?
The bombing in Bali has now taught us otherwise. We�ve learned that you can�t board a plane without worrying about a hijacking. You can�t work in a skyscraper free from fear that some insane extremist sub-human is going to ram a hijacked plane into it. You can�t celebrate on a tropical resort without letting your guard down. Now what? We can�t shop in malls, attend a major concert, or take a cruise?
For normal people, having a drink, shaking a bit of sexy booty and sunbathing is what makes life enjoyable. Unless, of course, you�re tied down by an extremist form of religion that deems all fun and games as intolerably sinful.
�It's hitting this sacrilegious subculture of dancing and drinking that was the point,� Matthew Levitt, a former FBI agent and terrorism expert, said, �They're interested in undermining society. They're interested in annihilation.�
Radical Islamists wanting to destroy infidels and their culture no matter what the cost? Not entirely a new concept, is it? But their fanaticism is reaching into areas of our lives in a way it�s never done before. Americans learned this from September 11. Indonesia � which until recently didn�t take terrorism seriously and largely ignored the War on Terrorism � has learned it from the October 12 Bali bombing. Australia is also outraged because so many Australian vacationers were killed. It was enough to tilt Australia towards full support for the War on Terror. There were 187 deaths in all.
Support for the War on Terror as a whole, which had been lagging, and for war against Iraq, which outside of the U.S. was abysmal, have both skyrocketed. It just goes to show how short people�s memories are. The Left crawled out from under the rocks to convince people that it wasn�t right to �destroy Islamic culture� and that the events of September 11 needed closure. And enough people were stupid enough to listen. Now, in the wake of Bali, you pretty much have to be a really serious dunderhead to oppose the War on Terror.
Concerning Indonesia�s role in the W.o.T., Bush said, �I hope I hear the resolve of a leader that recognizes that any time terrorists take hold in a country it is going to weaken the country itself � There has to be a firm and deliberate desire to find the killers before they kill somebody else.�
As Mr. Levitt stated, these Islamic groups have the clout and materiel to start destroying the West and its people in a way never previously envisioned. If we value our way of life � those of us not ridden through with guilt about it, that is � we must have the resolve to totally cripple, once and for all, cultures that breed the fanatical terrorism we've witnessed. Anything less than this, and it�ll be Bali all over again sometime soon, somewhere else. And it�ll keep happening, ad infinitum.
And also remember Mr Levitt�s second point � they no longer necessarily have political ambitions. In short, it�s a robotic fanaticism to destroy the West and all who reside within it and societies that associate with it that drives this terror. So, changing our Middle Eastern policy � which would involve us telling a reliable friend, the state of Israel, to go screw itself � would not gain us any friends. Jemaah Islamiyah, the fanatical group linked to al-Qaida, would not have cared one iota if the Americans they killed in Bali were pro-Palestinian. All they would care about was that it was another blow against the West.
I enjoyed Nice very much. I want to enjoy other holiday destinations in future. As a Westerner, this is my right. It is my lifestyle. I resent those who would destroy so many innocent lives in such a brutal manner as with Bali and as with the World Trade Center. And if some countries and peoples don�t support us, then their universe can get blown to smithereens until they have the sense to realize just what is at stake and the folly of their peacenik neutrality.
In short, we cannot afford to be neutral anymore. Support this War on Terror, folks, and support it now.
� M.E.M.
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Copyright � 2001-2007 by M.E. Manning. All material is written by me, unless explicitly stated otherwise by use of footnotes or bylines. Do not copy or redistribute without my permission.
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