Here’s some sad YouTube video of Pakistani security guards at the Marriott Hotel trying to put out a ruse fire in the truck bomb that was to detonate moments later. The men you see in the video had but seconds to live. The guards initially run from the truck as it crashes the barrier. Later, when the truck bursts into flames, the watchmen, impelled by a sense of duty and concern, return with fire extinguishers to try and put the blaze out. Of course they were falling for the old “suck ‘em in so we can blow them up” routine that the al-Qaeda so often use to maximize their mayhem. Variations on this ploy are one-two attacks in which a small bomb is blown near a larger device waiting to catch responding emergency workers and civilians who come to the help of victims.
It is the nature of evil to use the language of good against itself; and so it is al-Qaeda’s practice to use mercy, trust, tolerance and love to catch their victims. This tendency is universal; the debauched libertines of the 18th century, jaded with their own perversions, always sought new innocence to corrupt. Their own corruption was not enough; only fresh destruction can bring additional delight. Thus, there is nothing accidental in al-Qaeda’s choice of markets, restaurants, schools and places of entertainment as targets. The holy killer’s special bonus is the extra thrill that comes with knowledge that soon he will turn all those children or beautiful women into pulp; even the laughter he hears as he nears his target gives him pleasure — the pleasure of knowing he will turn it into unutterable grief.
The physical weapons of al-Qaeda are objectively puny. It is the sheer monstrosity of their malice that raises them above the ordinary; a malice so concentrated and intense that it constitutes the litmus test of character of this age. From time to time evil sets up a shrine and tests humanity by commanding it to bow down before it. In the day of William Tell, it was the Landburger Gessler’s hat upon a pole; sixty years ago it was European civilization’s turn to be tempted by the smoking altars of the Nazi concentration camps. Today both the Left and the Right are asked to choose where they stand in relation to the ideology of al-Qaeda; whose part they will take in the act of the murder. A disappointingly large number of Western intellectuals have chosen to keep silent before this crime; or worse, to excuse it. It’s their choice; and a shameful one.
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32 Comments
1. Morton Doodslag:What about the hideous world of Muslims? Muslims who only decry Al Qaeda or the Taliban when they happen to slaughter fellow Muslims in their fury? We hear it again and again — “They’re killing Muslims!!!” our Muslim interlocutors say. They reveal that at worst the Muslims of the world aren’t upset when all we inhuman infidels get smashed in their Islamic schemes. It’s only when their precious Ummah has its face rubbed in the inevitable hideousness of the true face of Islam that they squawk. An even then it’s too often that their explanations, their “context”, their unique “Muslim perspective” usually blames America or the Jews for the sewage of their lives.
The NYTs has a vile Muslim stringer reporting from Pakistan on this latest barbarity — and he cannot help himself but to insert at the end of the latest “update”:
Muhammad Qadeer, 36, a security guard in an office nearby, said that he thought Indians could be involved, as the blast could have been a reaction to the July bombing outside of the Indian Embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan, and recent blasts in the Indian capital.
“It can be the work of America also,” said Mr. Qadeer, a bearded man wearing a blue uniform. “Maybe our new president didn’t agree to its dictations,” he said when asked why…
And the NYTs cannot help but print the slanderous lie. Anything but Islam.
Sep 21, 2008 - 6:34 pm 2. Doug:Some who survived said they headed for the back of the Hotel at the sound of a “small explosion” which preceded the blast.
Sep 21, 2008 - 6:50 pm 3. Uncle Jefe:—
“This tendency is universal; the debauched libertines of the 18th century, jaded with their own perversions, always sought new innocence to corrupt.
Their own corruption was not enough; only fresh destruction can bring additional delight.”
—
Much like the “education” being doled out at NEA Monopoly Schools, and by college professors.
…including, in this political season,
Campaigning for The Messiah.
What would you do, indeed?
Sep 21, 2008 - 7:34 pm 4. Son of Max:After what happened on 9-11, how do the firefighters continue to rush into disasters day after day?
How do our Troops continue to re-enlist and join battle?
True heroes, true courage.
Not the kind of ‘courage’ it takes to stand on a street corner brandishing ‘no blood for oil’ and ‘impeach’ signs…
Doug
If the first reaction of the Pakistani On The Street is to blame India or America, I don’t see the problem in reporting that reaction.
Why hide it? The hatred and delusion is a data point.
Sep 21, 2008 - 7:35 pm 5. Storm-Rider:Just before sunrise on July 7, 1944 my father’s position on the Island of Saipan was overrun by the most massive Banzai charge of World War II. Dad stood his ground with his buddies. They fought in close combat and hand-to-hand combat – it was a scene from hell – and dad had nightmares for the rest of his life. Dad knew that his death was close at hand, but he didn’t run to safety – he did his duty. Over 600 of dad’s buddies died within a few hours, along with 4,000 enemy soldiers. I’ve never been tested as my father; but if, or just as likely when the day comes, I’ve decided to prevail against the enemies of my life and liberty – to make the other dumb son-of-a-bitch die for his country or cause – or go down fighting.
“If ye love wealth greater than liberty, the tranquility of servitude greater than the animating contest for freedom, go home from us in peace. We seek not your counsel, nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you; and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen.” Samuel Adams
“A nation which can prefer disgrace to danger is prepared for a master, and deserves one!” Alexander Hamilton
“The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.” Thomas Jefferson
“As our enemies have found we can reason like men, so now let us show them we can fight like men also.” Thomas Jefferson
“I have sworn upon the altar of God, eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man.” Thomas Jefferson
“Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!” Patrick Henry
Sep 21, 2008 - 8:10 pm 6. Mad Fiddler:We’ve all of us heard idiot liberals express the thought that “every time we kill a Muslim terrorist, we create ten more.” I always wonder if these pathetickers ever consider that every time a Muslim fanatic kills an American, they create a hundred more Americans ready to fight them.
Sep 21, 2008 - 8:51 pm 7. ledger:“What would you do?”
How about creating a similar ruse on the al Qaeda and return the favor?
Grab a senior al Qaeda terrorist and put him in danger to draw in his buddies. Once a significant number al Qaeda had accumulated in one location – liquidate them.
There are plenty of angered family members of those killed in that terrorists attack to flip a few of them. Get information on the enemy and spring a trap.
Sep 21, 2008 - 9:10 pm 8. Brock:What would I do? I would use the strategy that, in the long run, always wins: tit for tat.
Pakistan, Al Quaeda, the Left – all of them, without cruelty or pleasure. Just business.
Sep 21, 2008 - 9:15 pm 9. Doug:Buffalo Soldiers
The Buffalo Soldiers was the nickname of the 92nd Infantry Division, which consisted of 15,000 African American men who served in Italy from August 1944 to November 1945. They were known as a particularly tough group, and those who survived found that their contributions went unnoticed upon their return to the States.
“They fought. They died. They shed their own blood. They gave the most precious thing anybody could ever give, which is their own life, for this country.
Sep 21, 2008 - 9:18 pm 10. trangbang68:Storm Rider, Might I add the name of USMC Gunnery Sgt. Dan Daly who exhorted the Marines to charge the German machine guns at Belleau Wood with the challenge, “C’mon do you S.O.B.’s want to live forever?”
Sep 21, 2008 - 10:17 pm 11. whiskey:Wretchard — the men of AQ are largely wife-less and child-less. Of course they wish to kill other men’s women and children. Since they have no hope of their own.
It is, as usual, the polygamy that is the heart of the great evil that beats in the center of the Muslim world. It is why it is so violent, debased, and subject to things like the Marriott bombing.
How could it not be?
Sep 21, 2008 - 10:28 pm 12. NahnCee:Al-Queda lost in Iraq because they killed too many fellow Muslims in their feeble attempts to get at one or two Americans. They gave up on trying to kill American soldiers (except for their cowardly LED’s), and went for the soft underbelly of killing civilians going about their daily business.
And how did that tactic end up working for them?
Frankly, I’m a little surprised that Al-Queda is trying the same stupid tactic now in Pakistan that was such a disaster for them in Iraq. However many people were killed totally in the explosion, two of them were Americans. And how many Muslims and how many locals? Doesn’t Al-Queda need the support of locals in Pakistan just as much they needed the same sort of support in Iraq.
I guess, though, if you’re dumb and vicious and evil and backwards, it’s difficult to come up with any new plan tht doesn’t involve mass massacres of your fellow citizens who will, sooner or later, get tired of being massacred and turn on you.
Sep 21, 2008 - 10:36 pm 13. whiskey:Nahncee — AQ lost because they challenged the dominant power structure in Iraq — the tribes and chiefs. If you have no law, no nation, no nation state, you have nothing BUT family and people there will fight and kill and die to defend it. AQ threatened the tribes by using Islam as a lever to take power themselves. And sought to abolish tribes and tribal authorities.
Hence the Awakening.
In Pakistan, the violence is all tribal. One tribe kills another. AQ does not threaten tribal authority, any more than in Afghanistan under Mullah Omar. It ENHANCES it. Killing lots of rival tribes makes the tribes AQ is allied with very happy. AQ has learnt it’s lesson, and is not killing tribal leaders. On the contrary, it makes them masters of the Northwest Frontier.
No one in Muslim nations minds killing per se. They do it all the time, themselves, to grab the few limited women and the wealth that goes with power. It’s the killing of the tribal support system that gets Muslims worked up — without tribe who will back them and look out for them?
Killing someone else from some other tribe? Muslims in Pakistan or Iraq or anywhere else don’t care. They would not get worked up about it. The whole point of tribe is that humanity extends only as far as your tribe. Other people are not even “human” but rather bugs to squash when convenient.
This is why tribes never go anywhere unless they cease to become tribes, and become something greater. Consider Rome versus the tribes of Gaul and Britain.
Sep 21, 2008 - 11:10 pm 14. Alexis:wretchard:
It is sadly not a surprise that al-Qaeda should revel in attacking the innocent when one considers the interesting correlation between the popularity of sodomizing boys in certain cultures (Pushtuns and rich Gulf Arabs) and the popularity of al-Qaeda in those same cultures. Our enemies are a bunch of perverts.
Sep 22, 2008 - 6:21 am 15. Roderick Reilly:The two-bomb ruse is an old IRA trick, just ask the Brits and the people of Ulster. The IRA, in turn, may have picked it up from someone else.
Sep 22, 2008 - 8:21 am 16. Fletcher Christian:Alexis, interesting point – and don’t forget, such behaviour is sanctioned explicitly by Islam, as Mohammed (hellfire and eternal damnation be upon him) is considered the perfect Moslem and to be copied by all, and he married a girl of eight.
If you haven’t just eaten your lunch, google “thighing”. I really don’t recommend doing it if you have.
Sep 22, 2008 - 12:23 pm 17. Fletcher Christian:Sorry, I just looked it up and I was wrong. The girl was six, not eight.
Sep 22, 2008 - 12:28 pm 18. Alexis:FC:
I wasn’t clear enough. When I commented about the social norms of Pushtun and rich Gulf Arabs, I was referring to the custom of sodomizing boys. That said, it is common knowledge in the Pakistani underworld that many Gulf Emirs pay heavily for the privilege of deflowering girls who have just reached puberty. Some Pakistani courtesans even regard a girl’s deflowerment by an Arab sheikh to be a privilege.
And just think, George W Bush nearly succeeded in handing control over dozens of American ports to those guys.
Sep 22, 2008 - 12:57 pm 19. PatriotFront:This attack is just another instance where reality unfolds and rolls over any hope for Pakistan (and Afghanistan). What can we really do to fight this? If a vision of peace with Islam is anything more than a fantasy, please someone tell me.
Sep 22, 2008 - 2:30 pm 20. NahnCee:Belly up to the bar, PatriotFront, and face reality. Since 9/12/2001, the ball has been in their court to civilize themselves or die.
Bush has fought a long and sincere war to try to prevent Muslim genocide. He’s done everything the most powerful man on earth can possibly do to avoid us having to make that Final Solution choice.
Since Arabs/Muslims refuse and/or are incapable of doing that, we have two choices: change ourselves into what they want us to be, or kill them. I have absolutely no problem with option #2.
How ’bout you?
Sep 22, 2008 - 3:17 pm 21. Patriot Front:I agree that Bush’s efforts are sincere; I also agree that he has done everything to avoid what you call, “that Final Solution choice.” But I don’t see the US (or anyone else) ever taking it to that level. Do you really believe that eventually, we will declare total war on this madness? I do not. I know it needs to happen, but it never will.
The American people have lost all stomach for war. 90% of the world believes that we went to Iraq to confiscate WMD stockpiles. People are oblivious. How can you lead your country to fight an enemy when they don’t even acknowledge that there is an enemy?
Sep 22, 2008 - 4:20 pm 22. Bob Murphy:@Whiskey
Wretchard — the men of AQ are largely wife-less and child-less. Of course they wish to kill other men’s women and children. Since they have no hope of their own.
Perhaps but that and the polygamy thing might be a long bow to draw for those who are “young, dumb and full of cum”.
When I was 18 and a soldier I just wanted to get my end in and hustle the sweet thangs.
To hell with all the rest of it.
That was for later, much later.
If I lived that long and I wasn’t particularly fussed about that, either.
My peers mostly seemed to feel about the same way.
Sep 22, 2008 - 5:19 pm 23. Bob Murphy:@Doug
Sep 22, 2008 - 5:21 pm 24. Bob Murphy:The term “Buffalo Soldiers” as far as I know originated in the American West after the Civil War and was applied to black US Army cavalrymen by the Indians who reckoned their curly hair was similar to a buffalo’s.
@Patriot Front
“The American people have lost all stomach for war. 90% of the world believes that we went to Iraq to confiscate WMD stockpiles. People are oblivious. How can you lead your country to fight an enemy when they don’t even acknowledge that there is an enemy?”
Now how long do you think that is going to last when an American city gets nuked or even when there is a series of suicide bombings or some other atrocity?
Sep 22, 2008 - 5:46 pm 25. Patriot Front:Great question! And please remember that I am playing Devil’s advocate here; I was–and still am–fully on board with the GWOT. Here’s my prediction on the American mindset when the mushroom cloud comes:
1. If Bush didn’t invade Iraq on a lie, this wouldn’t have happened.
2. We volunteered for this war when we arm and support Israel.
3. Let’s try to understand them; they are the same as us… only different. Why do they hate us?
4. The shadow government probably did it anyway so we have an excuse to invade ShitHoleIstan and steal their oil. Blah blah blah.
You think otherwise? Look what happened after 9/11! It was rah rah rah for a couple of years. Now, nobody cares. I went to Ground Zero on 9/23/01 and looked into the pit. The scope of that attack is beyond comprehension. A dirty bomb would have been easier to deal with and would have produced less casualties.
Our response to 9/11 was half-ass, yet twice what American civilians can handle.
Sep 22, 2008 - 6:22 pm 26. Storm-Rider:The American anti-GWOT movement is Marxist/Socialist. We are a house divided, and we can’t win this war with such a division in our nation. The kinetic war against Islamo-Fascism must coincide with a political war against Marxist/Socialism; they are allies after all against the American Revolution.
Sep 22, 2008 - 6:38 pm 27. NahnCee:Agree with Storm Rider. If you’ll notice, there’s a brewing Civil War coming in the streets of America. The Right has just about had it with the law-breaking suicidal antics of the Left. It’s like the Muslims: you Obamaniacs want to die so badly, fine, come here and let us take care of that for you.
After we’ve redefined their reality for the progressives, then I really don’t see any problem in going after the Muslims. I’m assuming, of course, that the Muslims will be watching in shock & awe as brother goes against brother in the US, and won’t be able to get it together to take advantage of the situation.
Sep 22, 2008 - 6:46 pm 28. Patriot Front:Yes, that is an excellent point, Storm-Rider. What’s most interesting is how the American Left that once supported Communism in the 60s & 70s now supports Islmao-Nazism. David Horowitz explains the how & why in a book called, “Unholy Alliance.” (A MUST READ)
Sep 22, 2008 - 6:53 pm 29. Storm-Rider:I haven’t read “Unholy Alliance” yet, but from my observations the linkage between Marxist/Socialism and Islamo-Fascism is to be found in our Declaration of Independence.
Both of these anti-American revolutions deny that all men are created equal. First of all, Marxist/Socialists don’t believe in God and they adhere to Plato’s idea of “Philosopher Kings”, i.e.: an elite group of people who rule over the ordinary people – the lower classes. They of course, the Marxist/Socialist governing elite, are the “Philosopher Kings.” In a similar vein, the Islamo-Fascists believe that Muslim men are superior to all non-Muslims and Muslim women.
Both of these anti-American revolutions deny that our human rights are sacred and unalienable, i.e.: irreversible. They both believe that human rights are actually reversible privileges granted by an all-powerful state; either Secular/Marxist/Socialist on the one hand or Muslim/Religious on the other.
Neither of these anti-American revolutions believe that just government power derives from the consent of the governed. They both believe that government power derives from a raw animal “will to power,” i.e.: they believe in unjust political power.
I believe that our Declaration of Independence is the key to understanding our enemies, and it is also the key to our victory – victory of the American Revolution. Our Declaration of Independence is an eternal declaration of war against every form of tyranny over the mind of man.
“I have sworn upon the altar of God, eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man.” Thomas Jefferson
Sep 22, 2008 - 7:15 pm 30. Bob Murphy:@Patriot Front
Sep 22, 2008 - 8:10 pm 31. Fletcher Christian:“Look what happened after 9/11! It was rah rah rah for a couple of years. Now, nobody cares.”
The response that I think should be automatic in the event of a nuclear attack on the United States takes about 15 minutes to initiate and about 20 minutes to effect.
The follow through to that might well be conventional after we figure out which pack of mongrels did it.
Given Leftist domination of most media the response should ideally outrun the news cycle, as in present them with a coup d’etat. It’s done, all over with, before they can wag their fingers.
In such an event I would settle on Mecca and Medina as immediate targets of convenience.
Then go look for the individual perpetrators after we analyze the debris to determine origin and put our feelers out to determine the specific organization responsible for delivery.
The pestilence is Islam and its roots and biggest symbols are in Mecca and Medina though I am open to suggestion on any better targets.
The idea of no more haj (because there is nowhere to go to) appeals to me since Islam is the central problem (followed by our America and western civilization hating radical left).
Decentralising Islam by force could produce some interesting changes.
I mean in its corrosive effects it has already metastasized almost world wide but ripping out the heart of Islam would surely slow or stop its progression.
And there wouldn’t be much Saudi money going to those people after Mecca and Medina disappeared with that initial strike.
In all fairness we should be letting Islamists know that their holy places have assured destruction in the event of such an attack.
I can’t imagine it happening but if there was some massive aggressive event capable of crashing the entire United States, every Trident submarine out on patrol should probably come home with empty tubes. It would give us time to rebuild this country.
The radiation probably would be no worse for the genes of the remaining ragheads than centuries of marrying their first cousins.
I think the way things are going we need the Federal Government to run a couple of test legal cases on treason charges for the people in the NYT for instance, who breach state secrets in such a way as to lose American lives.
A couple of legal precedents would come in handy if the excrement really did hit the fan.
It would minimise internal subversion while the rest of us took care of the nation’s enemies.
BTW, has anyone here read “In Defence of Internment” by Michell Malkin? She makes a good case for concentrating America’s internal enemies in the event of war so we can keep an eye on them and minimize their mischief.
I hope there are contingency plans for getting every American warplane in the ME into the air to attack Iran immediately should any missile from there hit Israel or Europe.
But we need to let the people in those nations know what they are up against should there be any WMD attack on the US. Automatic retribution.
Then they can make some choices as well. I think the reactions of the young people in Iran would be particularly interesting.
Just some random thoughts. Time to go till my vegie garden.:)
Bob Murphy, you’re a man after my own heart. I would add Qom to the list, however, and one more thing; the warheads should be very big, very dirty, and set to groundstrike. Maybe some of those couple of dozen Titans that I believe are still in inventory.
A little difficult to bow down in idolatrous worship to a rock that has disappeared altogether, to be replaced by a quarter-mile deep crater.
If they insist on going on hajj after that; well, radiation sickness will do the rest of the job for us, and it’s about what they deserve.
Sep 23, 2008 - 12:08 am 32. Steynian 253 « Free Mark Steyn!:[...] Richard Fernandez [...]
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