Prime Time Crime
(Published in the Abbotsford News week of July 18, 2005)
Terror tactics are far from new
John Pifer
Canadians have little, if any, understanding of the fanaticism of those who will stop at nothing – including killing and maiming children and innocent citizens – to justify their cause or religion or belief.
In the wake of the July 7th bombings in London that killed 56 people or more, the radio talk shows and letters to the editor clearly illustrate that lack of understanding, just as the reaction to the September 11th, 2001, terror attacks in New York did.
Callers and writers whine on about how it is all George Bush’s or Tony Blair’s fault, and what about all those innocent civilians dying in Iraq every day? To suggest that there would not be terrorism or suicide bombers had the West simply let bully-boy Saddam Hussein alone to continue his killing and plunder is naïve in the extreme.
Terrorism in its various guises has been around for decades, no, centuries, with its perpetrators condoning any means to further their desire to change the world to suit their version of what is “best”. If that means bombs tearing apart the bodies of men, women and children who have nothing to do with the issues, so what? They maintain that only they know what is right, and unless or until everyone comes around to their way of thinking, whether through conversion or intimidation, anyone is a legitimate target.
With the extreme Muslims, who are gaining followers in nations across the globe, that ideology is clearly spelled out and preached ad nauseam: the world must return to the “perfection” of the 10th century when Islam ruled the known world and all was perfect.
Labelling anyone outside of their own narrow circle of fanatics as Satanist infidels or worse, these zealots teach the hate to their children that they were taught when they were children, ensuring that the circle of hate and fear and violence is maintained.
To these demented killers, time is irrelevant – they think in terms of decades and centuries when we Westerners deal in months and years. Some of the seeds of the extremists’ hatred and indiscriminate murder in the name of their God were sown long, long ago, and passed on to generation after generation.
So it is little wonder that the Americans’ “war on terrorism” is as big a joke as was its “war on drugs”: they were doomed to failure and lack of resolution before they were even launched. Until the leaders of the extreme groups and their slimy supporters are eliminated, terror and the threat of terrorist action will dominate. And it may already be too late, anyway, as the spread of hate and far oozes around the world like a virulent cancerous growth.
Is Canada a target for terrorism? Can we expect to see bombings and killings on our soil as part of this never-ending jihad? Of course, we can; and no amount of alleged increased security is going to stop it. No amount of appeasement and kissing up to those plotting our ultimate death and overthrow is going to stop it, either.
Be vigilant, be active, and do not be soft in this 21st-century version of survival of the fittest. Remember the old truism (author forgotten): “All that is necessary for the triumph of evil, is for good men to do nothing.”
Don’t “do nothing”.
Veteran B.C. journalist/broadcaster John Pifer may be reached at jwpifer@shaw.ca.
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