They Have Not Gone Away. They Are Just Re-Loading.

My random thoughts on today’s terrorist attacks in London:

Can you imagine sitting on a train and a bomb goes off?  Or standing on a street corner?  Or shopping at the corner market?  No warning.  No duck!  Or watch out!  Or get out of the way!  Just *boom* out of the blue?

Why do we Americans think so much time passes between attacks?  Because we are so impatient?  If it doesn’t happen now, tomorrow, next week -- then it’s been a long time?  We have such a tendency to move on.  Get over it.  It’s been four years since September 11 and most of us think that’s been a long time.  To others -- no impatient Americans them -- that is no time at all.

Moscow train bombing:  2/6/04

Madrid train bombing:  3/11/04

London train bombing:  7/7/05

There’s a pattern there in a very short amount of time.  But my mind immediately thought, why did they wait for so long between Madrid and London? 

It reminds me of something I heard Doris Kearns Goodwin say on Imus one morning.  She was talking about Lyndon Johnson and a conversation she either overheard, or something he said directly to her regarding one of the problems with the Vietnam War:

Lyndon Johnson:   You see, the Viet Cong will sit in trees for days waiting for our boys to come by.  They will wait.  No food.  No water.  They are patient people.  American boys?  Hell, if they wanted a cigarette, they’d be out of that tree in five minutes.

It also reminds me of something Bill Mahr said on his show:  They have not gone away.  They are just re-loading.

Do today’s attacks dispel the notion of: We need to fight them over there, so we don’t have to fight them over here?

I never understood this line to begin with.  It’s not like it’s 1905 where no one could travel easily to different countries.  It’s not like the terrorists are stupid people who don’t know they can go somewhere else to wreak havoc other than Iraq.  It’s not like it takes that many people to do so much damage.  It’s not like they are not everywhere already!

I’ve always thought this line was true until it wasn’t.  And I think today proves it isn’t.

Other Inky Wretches have much more coherent thoughts on today’s attacks: 

Jedmunds writes:

My deepest regard and sincere sympathy goes out to the people affected by today's events. I wish I could muster the eloquence to convey the strong connection I feel for the British people, and the condolences I wish to express. Whatever I could say could not possibly be enough. Could not possibly convey the depth or the sincerity of it. I love Britain. This is a tragic day.

While I don't know if Al Quaida's involvement has been confirmed, Tony Blair's speech seemed to provide some implicit confirmation for those suspicions. I could almost agree with Bush's remarks today:

"On the one hand, we have people here who are working to alleviate poverty, to help rid the world of the pandemic of AIDS, working on ways to have a clean environment. And on the other hand, you've got people killing innocent people. "

I could almost agree with that. If it weren't for all of the innocent unnecessary dead in Iraq, then I'd agree with it fully. I'd love to come to the conclusion that we in the west have a greater right to not be randomly killed. That we have some claim to a higher moral plane because we do it under the auspices of official military action. But I can't come to that conclusion.

And Ratty writes of Malignant Missionaries:

It was always impure, but I think it was, at heart, benign, for American missionaries to venture forth to foreign lands and give the best of themselves - they had many predecessors, and they learned as much as they taught, humility first, perhaps. The sons and daughters of PNAC know no humility - they come to conquer, and we should cut them off at the knees, now.

This must stop.

Comments

[Jedmunds]

I have to admit, despite great modesty, that upon making my rounds through the internet, I really did come up with one of the better posts on this. I think so anyway.

And as usual, I love your post as well. I envy the thoughtfulness and intimacy that I consider your trademarks.

[blue girl]

Well, thank you Jedmunds. Nice way to start my day!

[Kevin Wolf]

The thing about this post, Blue (and Jermunds alludes to it), is the simple humanity it exhibits. That's what's missing from the bombings and from the political reaction to terrorism, especially from Washington. Would that everybody could acknowledge that.

[res publica]

I would like to hear some of our vaunted Democratic leaders say loudly and openly that Bush's "War on Terror" has been no such thing, that he has only made the problem of global terrorism worse, and that his policies and conduct have placed us all (America and our allies) in grave danger.

[Jedmunds]

Kevin Wolf is right on. If you look at the reactions of some of the more serious liberal types, they're all so lifeless and soulless. At least with the Republicans, revenge is a human reaction that people can understand. With too many Dems, you just get subtle attempts at political positioning, and a kind of hollow attempt at condolences completely lacking in empathy.

[Dan]

I may be mistaken but I don't know if the people who bombed the Moscow subways twice and brought down planes last year qualify as "the terrorists." Sure, they are terrorists and they are even Muslim but the Chechnya/Russia fight seems to be entirely local and political. I don't think "their" terrorists have ties to "our" terrorists and are not part of the big, insidious network we talk about when we talk about "the terrorists."

Of course, if there is a cennection, Moriarty must be involved.

[res publica]

Smart and thoughtful, as always...plus you're gorgeous, and you leave better comments than Lance. :)

[blue girl]

Dan, yes -- true. You do wonder to what extent they play for different teams, are totally different, etc. But they seem to learn the same creepy, rotten tactics. And then execute with brutal force.

And Putin then trying to tie "his" to "ours" to further his political shenanigans.

Res -- what do you think Paul Wellstone would be saying very loudly right now? So sad he's gone.

[res publica]

He would also say that you are smart, thoughtful, beautiful, and better than Lance!

[blue girl]

Ok, Res!

You are now off the hook, officially out of the *dog house* so to speak. Also, your use of the *G* word gives you 3 extra credit points!!

Ding! Ding! Ding!

[denisdekat]

"Can you imagine sitting on a train and a bomb goes off? "

Can you imagine living in Iraq? These poor people had nothing to do with 9-11 and now we made their homeland into a war zone...

Most of us, fail to see the difference in magnitude, as most of us are racist arab haters...

[blue girl]

Denisdekat: The Iraqis were included in my thoughts in that little random paragraph I wrote. I was thinking of them when I wrote "corner market."

And to your point, it was the main reason I included Jedmunds' post here in this post. I thought he wrote about it well. Click through and read his entire piece.