For at least the last thirty years, and especially since 9/11, the United States has agonized over why Moslems don't like us. TV commentators speculate about what we could have done to them to make them hate us so much. Even after they launched attacks that killed thousands of people, our leaders bend over backwards to say nice things about their "religion of peace". When our troops capture Moslem terrorists, we not only supply them with copies of the Koran, but we wear gloves when we hand it to them, in deference to their belief that non-Moslems are lowly scum who are not worthy to even touch their holy book. Curiously, when they capture our people, they do not seem to show the same delicacy, but instead torture and kill them.
The United States continues to pay the Arabs large sums of money for their oil, plus billions in foreign aid on top of that. In return, they blow up our buildings and kill our people.
In September 2000 Israel offered to give the Arabs 90% of the land they said they wanted and many millions of dollars to help them establish a new government there. In exchange they asked just that terrorist attacks on Israelis stop. The Arabs angrily refused and launched a new wave of terror attacks.
So it is clear that the only thing that the US and Israel can do to make the Arabs stop hating us is to commit suicide. Personally, I'm not a violent person. I don't like to fight. But I'm not willing to go that far to appease someone who wants to be my enemy.
So here's an idea. Let's just quit worrying about whether terrorist-supporting Arab nations like us. Let's stop begging and grovelling before them. Instead, let's tell them that we are happy to discuss any grievances they may have. We will make every effort to address any legitimate complaints fairly. But the terror attacks will stop today. The next time an American is killed, we bomb one of their cities and burn it to the ground. If the terror attacks do not stop, the next day we level another city. There will be no "cycle of violence", because we continue this until the terrorism stops or there are no Arabs left alive.
Instead of worrying about what we have to do to make them like us, let's let them worry about what they have to do to make us like them.
© 2006 by Jay Johansen
No comments yet.