Last Tuesday, AOL briefly had as one of its rotating headlines, “Group Claims GIs Killed Over Rape, Murders.” By clicking on the link, we learned that the group referenced was an “Al-Qaida Group.” It stunned me that, on its Welcome Page, this news source identified a terrorist group merely as a “group” without any further descriptor.
Perhaps, AOL’s news editors did so because they accepted the group’s rationale — that terrorist groups commit their atrocities as a means for oppressed third world groups to retaliate against “imperialist” Western forces, against whom they only have violent options. These editors — as many others in the news media — seem to have difficulty believing in the evil nature of some of our terrorist adversaries. For them, brought up in the 1960s, the U.S — and other Western nations — are responsible for much of the evil in the world.
In this case, Al-Qaeda claimed it brutally murdered two American soldiers in revenge for the alleged rape of an Iraqi woman and murder of her and her family by other U.S. troops. While Al Qaeda claimed it was killing these soldiers as revenge for the actions of others, the U.S. Army had launched an investigation into the rape and had indicted those who allegedly committed the crime in question.
Despite the headline, it’s clear that Al-Qaeda did not know American soldiers were accused of the rape when they butchered the two American soldiers, which they later claimed was to avenge this terrible crime. From the very text of the article, we learn that the uncle of the women raped said “that the family didn’t think the Americans were involved until the Army announced its investigation June 30.” Ten days after the bodies of the murdered soldiers were found.
Al-Qaeda was just explaining away its latest act of murder in a way which they believed the Western media would just lap up as it supported their theory that U.S. actions only serves to inspire more terrorism. Such after-the-fact explanations notwithstanding, unprovoked murder is what Al Qaeda and other terrorist outfits do.
We see this yet again with the actions these past few weeks of Hamas and Hezbollah, Al Qaeda’s allies in evil. In 2000, Israel withdrew its troops from southern Lebanon, satisfying the United Nations. Last year, Israel withdrew from the Gaza Strip, forcibly evacuating Jewish settlers from homes where some had lived for decades.
Despite these overtures, Hamas and Hezbollah showed little inclination to live in peace with a neighbor which had made concessions to those for whom these groups ostensibly fight. Hamas has been regularly firing rockets into Israel, targeting not just military installations, but primarily civilian populations. Hezbollah has been doing the same from its bases in southern Lebanon.
Hamas fires its rockets from residential neighborhoods while Hezbollah hides its rockets in private homes, sometimes designating special rooms as launching pads. They assume their missiles are relatively safe as Israel is loath to attack civilian targets. But, they also know that, if need be — and that need has arisen given the hundreds of rockets Hezbollah has launched on civilian Israeli targets — Israel will act to take out those rockets, even if to promote their own citizens’ security, they risk incurring civilian casualties.
Terrorist organizations delight in such casualties as they can use them as props in their propaganda offensive.
The Western media may still believe that terrorists are just frustrated freedom fighters, using the only means they have to strike against Western imperialism. But, events of the past week have shown that even when a nation offers concessions, terrorists will not relent in their attacks. Indeed, in some cases, concessions spur them on to ever greater violence.
Israel responds to international pressure and withdraws from territorities (which some believed) it needed as buffer zones to protect its civilians. Hamas and Hezbollah reply by crossing recognized intnernational borders into Israel’s sovereign territory and murdering and kidnapping soldiers. They continue to target civilians with repeat rocket attacks.
It’s not Western imperialism which prompts their violence. It’s just what these terorrist organizations do. It’s time we understand this and react accordingly. That’s exactly what Israel is doing in Gaza and in Lebanon. All friends of freedom and the security of peace-loving peoples should support them now — and in the difficult days ahead.
-Dan (AKA GayPatriotWest): GayPatriotWest@aol.com
