It's incredible to think it would ever have come to this. That a democratic country founded on such good will and promise, peopled with individuals that had such high aspirations and indomitable frontier spirit, would be practically frozen in place by terrorist-induced horror.
To have the capital city and its environs practically shutdown: citizens not being safe to go shopping or to put gasoline in their vehicles, businesses suffering economic hardship, and school children being targeted. Roadblocks and check points, random searches, never knowing when and where the next strike will take place.
One moment you're thinking about that little home-repair project that you're finally getting to, the next moment your brains are splattered all over the street with your spouse standing helplessly by.
Quick, someone get me the phone number for the ACLU, people's rights are being trampled here.
What in the world is going on? What kind of person or people could be responsible for such vile acts?
How can the public continue to endure this, day after day after day? It's been two years now, more than 600 dead and thousands wounded, many with terrible disfiguring injuries that will forever remind them of the moment that terror struck. When will it end?
Excuse me, did you say something?
Yes, I did write "two years and more than 600 dead." Oh, did you think I was referring to the sniper attacks that had the Washington, DC area paralyzed for more than two weeks?
Well, that was terrible, too. And I guess in many ways it was actually far worse. After all, the sniper attacks took place here, in America, with real Americans dying.
No, I was writing about the situation in Jerusalem and Israel, but as long as you brought it up, then yeah, there are some unbelievable similarities between the two situations. The primary difference, of course, being that our killing spree only resulted in 10 dead and a couple more wounded. The people of Israel have been suffering from a continuous barrage of terrorist acts for about 700 days, and before that they struggled against other indiscriminate killing sprees throughout the entire 20th century (I won't go back any further because I don't want to bore you with too many details).
In comparing the two, I'm not dismissing the situation in America as being less significant. In fact, I'm willing to concede that the danger we faced was worse. It was worse because it happened to us, and when horror hits home, it is always worse. Naturally, it shouldn't be that way; the horror of unjustified, premeditated killing should never be mitigated simply because it happens to someone else.
Yeah, I know, the West Bank Arabs have grievances (which are of their own making, although I'm not going to bore you with those details either, at the moment). But don't you think the snipers had grievances, too? You don't really think that John Muhammad and his young pal were just killing people for sport, do you? Golly gosh, no.
For example, the U.S. government was interfering with his business. Muhammad couldn't bring illegal aliens in from Jamaica to work as domestic help. What kind of capitalist country is this, that a person can't even smuggle in people for jobs? Quick, someone get me the phone number for the ACLU, people's rights are being trampled here.
As we used to joke in the schoolyard when I was a kid, "How dare you slam your face into my fist?" So with that good Brooklyn-logic in mind, how dare Australians think they have the right to enjoy themselves in Bali? How dare the French think that they have the right to buy and transport oil from an Arabian country? How dare Jews think they have the right to a safe country of their own? How dare Israel think that they have the right to win wars and defend themselves? How dare Muscovites think they have the right to just go and watch a musical performance any time they want?
There's your problem, there's just too many people exercising too many rights. If we expect to rid ourselves of future similar terrorist acts we have to be much more like our logical Islamic brothers and sisters.
Oh man, the world has truly been kicked off its axis. I would have never believed that I could support a Russian military action. But here it is, and Hell may be getting its first snowstorm.
Friday night, around 9PM, Pacific Time, news from Moscow reported that Russian security forces had successfully freed the hostages that had been held inside a theater by Muslim Terrorists from Chechnya.
The cowardly Muslim Terrorists had taken over a theater filled with civilian men, women, and children, and threatened to kill all seven hundred in the audience if Russia didn't accede to their demands. The Muslim Terrorists carried firearms, explosives, and planted land mines throughout the theater in order to deter any rescue attempts. During the two and a half days that the siege took place, the Muslim Terrorists killed a couple of hostages to prove that they meant business. They did, however, allow Muslim audience members to leave the the-
[(Continued on p.9)]
Outpost - 8 - November 2002