Profiling Terrorists, for Safety In the Skies
I was amazed to watch a segment on CNN earlier tonight (although not terribly surprised since it was, after all, the Clinton News Network), where the talking head was engrossed in a spirited condemnation of racial profiling as it pertained to the aftermath of the recent Christmas Day attempted terrorist attack on Detroit.
What I found most telling was the moral outrage, tacked to absolutely nothing real. Not a single line of lucid reasoning.
Let me be clear: If terrorists were mostly 5’11” 240 pound, bald, bespectacled, bearded Canadian writers of Southern European heritage, with a penchant for brown suede Oxford brogues and iridescent cuff-links, then I would expect to be strip-searched at every airport I ever attended and would be thankful for the intrusion.
It isn’t racial profiling, it’s called following the Israeli model and stopping terrorist bastards (redundant, I know) before they get to the airport. The Obama Administration in it’s race to the bottom prior to the mid-terms in the fall of this year, hasn’t the first clue how to manage the terror threat, that has now reared it’s ugly head once more. Al-Qaeda attacks are never isolated incidents (or attempts), but to St. Barry, who was more concerned about his golf game and took almost four days to come out of his Hawaiian hut to reassure the American public (and the rest of the planet) that he was on the job as the leader of the free-world, this is much ado about, well, something so long as David Axelrod and Rahm Emanuel tell him so. What fools!
The terribly flaccid reaction by the Obama Administration, specifically the now-revealed, very mortal, quite ordinary President, to almost anything related to pro-active (not preemptive!) foreign policy has swung the pendulum to the opposite extreme of where Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld had previously secured it.
Trying terrorists on American soil as you would an American citizen accused of a crime and releasing Gitmo prisoners to their homeland are acts of pure insanity. But telling of the mindset that has gripped this White House.
And the following from one the the chief Obamabots (read: dimwits), “Seven years of bellicose rhetoric failed to reduce the threat by Al-Qaeda” (referring to the Bush years which did not produce one single attack on US soil in the post-9/11 years). This nugget was proffered by none other than Dan Pfiffer, White House Communications Director.
You know, Danny, perhaps your propeller-beanie is on too tight, but your country is at war and your President isn’t taking it very seriously. Perhaps you’d be lucky if the comment you made was amended to include just this year and your Administration was fortunate to be able to lay claim to it?
So, if it takes unravelling everyone’s head-dress and checking under every robe, hijab and burkha, too bad. So be it.
What?! Offended by my position???
You wouldn’t be if that plane went “Boom!” and it was your daughter in seat 5C…
Think people…
On New Year’s day the National Geographic channel aired their series, Apocalypse, on the Nazi’s rise and destruction of Europe. This series of 6 parts was supplemented by 2 hours on Nazi cruelty, one hour detailing the Einstanzguppen [death squads] or Holocaust by bullets which preceded the death camps.
This series should be required watching by every human being that opposes war, and action against a despotic dictator [read Saddam]. And no there is no correlation between profiling Jews and profiling terrorists.
Clearly, many people have forgot or choose to ignore the mistakes of our past, which when taken down to the brass tacks all happened because we didn’t stand up and fight until it was almost too late. The world left Hitler far too long and ignored his actions hoping he would leave “them” alone. Well, we all know how that turned out now don’t we?
If there is one mistake that we should never make again, its allowing these bastards the chance to stake any ground anywhere. Unfortunately under Obama’s watch he will not take any threat seriously because he clearly doesn’t have the balls or the stomach to do what needs to be done.
What is so very unfortunate about this, is that as a black man he could end the debate on racial profiling by using it to keep Americans safe, and putting it’s detractors in their place because he is a black man.
His skin color was good-enough to be used during his election to clearly illustrate the “change” he would bring to America. Funny how he’ll use it when it suits his purposes, but not when it would keep his people safer.
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It’s interesting to see Obama is concerned about searching everyone going onto a plane including kids and 80 year olds. Yet if a person appears to be from the middle east with a lump in their crotch the shape of an AK47 Obama would think twice about searching him fearing being accused of profiling.
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Superb comment!
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Excellent piece Alex, and Glenn does a great follow-up. Let’s get one thing straight here, Muslims are welcome to live or travel to this country, but only if they understand that as long as Islamic terrorists continue to threaten innocent people, anywhere in the world, they will be subject to this kind of profiling. Just recently read that an attempt was made on the life of the Danish cartoonist who depicted their prophet as having a bomb in his turban. A few years back there was a depiction in a Saskatchewan university journal of Jesus Christ fellating a pig. Whether there were consequences for this childish blasphemy, I’m unsure, though there should have been, if not the riots, arsons and murders which came out out the former. The latter cartoonist, well we know who he/she votes for.
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Hi Alex, Three-in-one and you certainly nailed all of them, your insight on the issue above is, regrettably correct and I only will add a phrase often altered, repeated and usually ignored:
Edmund Burke (1729-1797) statement, “Those who don’t know history are destined to repeat it.”
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Thx Pedro. And you are quite correct.
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Alex, another wonderful piece of writing. You capture everything so many of us want to say and say it so eloquently and with such passion.
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Very kind of you. Thx for stopping by.
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Getting through the airport this Christmas was a nightmare. I must have gotten some funny looks while waiting to get through security because I started to chuckle and then giggle. In the line infront of me were 4 senior citizens, probably in their 70′s and 80′s. Listening to them chat, it was heartwarming to hear that their children had paid for their tickets for a family Christmas, in-laws and all.
Then as they were called through the scanner, it of course one went off and now came the “procedures”. 4 old timers with difficulty getting about, one with a cane and one noticeably limping, were now taking off their shoes (with difficulty), getting wanded, pulling belts out of their pants. So it occurred to me how many of the “caught” terrorists were white senior citizens of Canada? Thus I began to chuckle. The look on the faces of the security staff were very serious, and the search of one old gals purse ended with her being admonished for carrying eye liner without a plastic bag, while the contents were minutely scrutinized for what? Swabs of material swished around in her purse and then put into some kind of machine.
What a bloody joke. There is nothing wrong with profiling for these crazies. As I looked back in the line I counted no less than 20 seniors. No wonder they wanted me 4 hours early at the airport, lord knows we have to search those geezers for bazookas and such. What a waste of time.
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Ah, the Cossack speaks the truth…as always. I, too, have often found it incredible that so many of our border “security” are so bone-headed (frankly, it makes me worry that there must be an IQ test that you must fail to get the job!) We are in complete agreement.
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So now we’re all going to be electronically strip searched, despite experts saying that these scanners would not have detected the bomb, or ingredients thereof, that passed through security with the intent of bringing down a Northwest Airlines plane on Christmas Day.
Sadly, our right to privacy continues to be eroded.
Big brother has become rather portly if not obese, and obscene I might add.
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I’m not so much worried about our right to privacy although in principle, you are quite correct). I’m more concerned about our right not to be blown to bits by some angry extremist asshole.
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Really Alex. this is one of your best yet. I agree with you, we must do something to stop this terrorism. Obama is a big disappointment to me. I hate to say it but I think Bush had the right idea.
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You said it…not me…
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I heard an interview with an Israeli security official who basically said we are doing it all wrong in Europe and North America. He said a large reason for the Israeli success is that besides all the obvious (no luggage, paying cash for your ticket, no return ticket, a heads up from your dad) they “look the person in the eyes” which you cant do when you are rustling through a senior citizens handbag looking for plastic explosives.
I believe customs people have more training in this than security personnel at the airport. Maybe instead of spending all this money on equipment and extra security staff we have border personnel interview people before they leave the country and keep the security people to xray’ing handbags.this would be faster and probably a lot cheaper.
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Of course!
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I am of the opinion that the terrorist types are succeeding by their supposed failures. If the shoebomber and this last moron were really dedicated to bring down the airplanes they were on, then they would have made sure they would be successful. They do not run their terrorist training camps for something to do, but to fine tune their tactics. I suggest that they are deliberately getting caught to disrupt the USA’s commerce and that of its allies. Ever since the 9/11 attack the US and by coercion, its allies have had a predicted response, which is to make air travel much more difficult for everyone involved. The terrorists have succeeded in undermining the safety of air travel to such a point that the travelling public is either ready to succumb to any and all indignities or refuse to travel by air whenever possible.
Think about it. Since the World Trade Towers were wiped out, how many airplanes have been blown up by a terrorist? Nada. Is it because of the everchanging new security measures? That is doubtful as we have heard time and time again about the many breaches to the heightened security being employed around the world. If security at an airport was such an useful defence then wouldn’t one think that the security should start at either the gates of the airport grounds or at least at the entrance into the facility. Neither exists to my knowledge.
Meanwhile, there is little to no screening for passengers on ocean liners, unless you try and bring booze on board, or ferries, buses or trains. Any nutbar can make quite a statement by targeting any one of these if they so choose. One has to ask why these modes of transport are for the most part ignored.
The Brits thwarted an attack on their subway system, but that was not because every Tom, Dick and Harry was strip searched, but because their intelligence uncovered the threat and nipped it in the bud. The United States has always lead us to believe that their intellegence agencies are second to none, and as such should be able to do the same as the Brits did. Maybe the spy game is not sexy enough for the great unwashed, while publicized half-ass measures get better press coverage and therefore better acceptance. I suspect that the old adage of bs baffles brains is one more thing being employed by our governing bodies to deflect their inadequacies.
Maybe it is now time for our leaders to employ a large amount of logic and leave the hype to the advertising sector. The terrorists of 9/11 may have been armed with box cutters, but they didn’t have nail clippers, knitting needles or any other such innocuous items. They had an agenda which no scanner could detect unless it could read minds and instead used the commandeering of the aircrafts as their weapon of choice, not the destruction of said aircraft. Sadly, they were destined to succeed in their mission, and the majority of the defences employed to date will do little to curtail another such event.
Smarter wins, window dressing is as useless as teats on a boar. So far, we are being subjected to a whole lot of useless window dressing but very little smarter. Could it be that there are a lot of pockets to be lined by employing many of these supposed failsafe measures which portray a modicum of safety(proven or not), or are we just being conned into a false sense of security. Travel by automobile looks better and better everyday, and visiting faroff lands is becoming less appealing every day.
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A very astute analysis.
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Crank,
You know I’ve thought along similar lines but I’ve come to the belief that when they fail, it’s not because it was intended, it was because these poor souls just didn’t have the balls or what it takes to commit suicide and fumbled the ball.
Just think of how nervous you’d be if when the time came to blow yourself up you had second thoughts about dying, but were trying to go through with it anyway to get all those virgins.
If we think about Al-Queda for a moment, other than a few attacks, most notably 9/11, they have never achieved the level of recruitment for their suicide bombers as their cohorts in the middle east. Rather they prefer the cowardly route to planting roadside IEDs where their terrorist operatives live to plant another bomb tomorrow.
If they truly wanted to disrupt American commerce, they could stage an attack similar the the Madrid attacks in the NY subway system, paralyzing that city for a decade and terrorizing them for life. The chaos that a dozen such attackers [as in 9/11] would create in this type of an attack would do far more than blowing up any plane could do.
Good luck finding and stopping a dozen dark-skinned well dressed males from getting on a dozen random trains in the NY underground. Did you notice this last kid was black and not Arab, that isn’t a coincidence. They know it will be impossible for the white infidels to discriminate against young men of the same skin color as the American president. Look for more of the same.
I maintain these guys are stuck in yesterday. The 9/11 was a repeat performance of a failed attempt in ’93 to take down the towers. They couldn’t let it go and came back to it 8 years later, this time with airplanes. They had success with airplanes, it shook the US people, and so stuck in 8+ years ago, they keep trying for a repeat.
With cockpits being more secure and air marshals on inbound US flights, they know they won’t get a repeat of flying a plane into a building, but they are intent on bringing them down Lockerbie style with a hole in the fuselage.
Keep in mind, these guys may have video cameras, internet hookups, etc…but they still live in caves, shit in holes of dirt and bury people to their waists and stone them to death. And apparently prefer it that way. They’re not the most progressively minded thinkers looking at improving their way of life.
The only reason why any of them are left today is because we’ve tried to execute them one by one to save the massive innocent/civilian casualties that were seen in WWI and II, along with Korea and Vietnam. No one on this side of the fight has the stomach for that type of wholesale slaughter in this day and age. Considering the whining that takes place with as few Afghanny civilians dying as there is, and it’s no wonder these bastards are still operating. If the US wanted to, they clearly have the weapons to destroy any and everything in their path.
Anyway, my take is that you’ve confused their failure with an attempt to disrupt commerce, and I respectfully argue that they simply aren’t focused on anything more than a big boom and watching it on Al Jazeera or CNN.
Our society is far to open and accessible and the reality is that if anyone wanted to launch planned and coordinated attacks on North American soil, they could do so at any time. If they haven’t it’s not because they lack the will, it’s because they lack the intelligence.
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Crank,
you are as hateful and have a criminal mind as the terrorists themselves.
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Andy, if you are going to come around here, you cannot write like this. I will let this comment go forward, but Crank is not hateful and makes excellent points.
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Your endorsement of the new peek-a-boo security system at YVR makes sense as far as it goes, but I still don’t understand why I almost need to bend over and cough before getting on a plane and yet I can easily drive a concealed anti-warfare tank onto BC Ferries and be waved on happily by their uber-unionized hacks. We are so anal about the security measures we are taking at our airports that, by comparision, we are exposing the other areas that are also inviting of terrorists: our sky trains, our ferries, our float planes, etc. Is there something more devastating about 300 people being blown up on a jet as compared with a ferry? I say, bring on the screening; endorse the technology but stop advertising when and where we use it. As well, let’s be consistent with all of our major public transportation security, otherwise forget it.
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I couldn’t agree more. My endorsement of the scanners is only as a stop-gap measure. We should be proactive in our approach to terrorism as you suggest.
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It is very wrong to use Muslim and terrorist interchangeably. Discrimination against Muslim would not bring us our security back.
Please note that Since 9/11 the West has spent 100′s of billions on security not considering the cost on the economy and we have not succeeded. We are living in FEAR since then.
Your suggestion of using the Israeli program in the air space in the west lacks vision and understanding of the cost to the economy. I agree with you that our security in the airports will be enhaced just because we will not have enough fuel to fly our planes.
If he Muslim world stopped the flow of oil and other resources to the west, our economy will be paralyzed. We will expedite the loss of our economic power to the Chinese.
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There is no way to restore our security until we wisely reflect on what drives these people to DIE other than “they hate us because of our freedom.” And when we understand our transgression against them and take action to correct it, we will restore our freedom.
Your suggestion is futile as Al Quiada has never repeated an action. they always hit us where we are not paying attention.
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Nonsense. The Israeli model is entirely achievable. Al-Qaeda have never repeated an action? Ah, attempted plane bombings, suicidal idiots on buses and truck bombs sound familiar?
And who interchanged ‘Muslim’ with ‘terrorist’? I’d never allow that on this site.
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Alex,
with all due respect, is it a coincidence that all the comments you are getting are from people who agree with you?
hope you acceptt that someone disagree with you
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No! I get lots form people that disagree, BUT THEY MUST BE RESPECTFUL. I am dropping lots of comments lately because they are just looking to smear the Premier/Prime Minister etc. I don’t mind someone coming around with a strong opinion, but that has to be based in logic and reason. Wild-eyed conspiracy theories do not survive past my delete button.
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I get a sense that you are implying that the US and Canada should turn into a police state interrogating every Muslim in the land until proven innocent? Israel may be able to do that because it is a small country and gets a lot of help from Uncle Sam. We don’t.
Do you want the West to take an aggressive stand against Muslims as the Israeli government does in the occupied land? Don’t you think this will alienate the Muslim community and has its repercussion in the Muslim world? And, isn’t that what Hitler did to the Jews in Germany?
Unfortunately, the US and the West CANNOT afford to do what you are suggesting. It will be to their demise and they know it.
Can you tell me why Obama in his first international speech directed it to the Muslim World from Cairo?
Alex, it is a fact of life that the Muslim World OWNS plenty reserves of resources and interrupting the flow of these resources to the West will end the economic boom we live in today.
Are you aware of the recession the US suffered from when the Arabs stop the flow of oil in 1970s? Imagine that happens to day not just with oil but with other resources from the rest of the Muslim World. What do you think would be the outcome?
Alex, I dream of a day when we will have security not “Israeli style” but just as we had it 30 years ago. We can get that back when we face our demons and stop our aggression against them. It is stupid to assume that those who we call terrorists die for the sake of terrorizing us. They have a strong cause they believe in and sacrifice their life for it. When we understand their cause and act with fairness to their people, there would be no reason for them to attack us.
We need to raise our children to be loving and peaceful and not to be judgmental about other people because they are from a different religion or race. That is when we will have peace and security.
May God bless you!
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Andy, you get a sense of nothing. The notion that I’m implying the US and Canada should turn into a police state is asinine. Do you really understand the Israeli model? I doubt it, for if you did, you wouldn’t be going off on this like you have.
Yes, I want to see the West take an aggressive stance against Muslim EXTREMISM (as Quebec did). I have many Muslim friends who agree. You have confused my respect for other religions with my concern that political correctness has run wild.
And again, you’re contentions about what the West can afford, are steeped in a misperception that global conditions that turned the oil tap off in Carter’s time, exist today–that’s nonsense. The Arabs are the ones who cannot afford to turn them off this time. Ever heard of a place called Dubai?
We don’t treat “their people” fairly. Are you a revisionist? What an excuse! You’ve thumbed my eye so I’m going to empty a 9mm into your daughter’s head. That’s essentially what you’re saying here–and I think it’s beyond the pale.
“We need to raise our children to be loving and peaceful and not to be judgmental about other people because they are from a different religion or race. That is when we will have peace and security.”
That’s what many of us do. Maybe you could go to your nearest madras and teach them not to use our kids for target practice. See how long you last doing that. See how long you survive stopping the preaching of HATE.
Bless you as as well.
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Quebec did not turn against Extremist Muslims. Those who wear the neqab are not extremists. They are ignorant. They don’t understand their religion. I believe they do not distinguish between religion and the culture in their homeland.
I did not say that the Muslim States will stop the flow of oil and resources. The “Terrorists” in their countries would and would get more support from their people.
Dubai my friend is led by a misguided stupid Shiekh who I watched him on 60 minutes bragging about his extravagances and spending money as if he had infinite financial resources. I was not surprised with what happened to his country. It was expected and the world financial crisis brought his arrogance to an end.
The whole world should take a stand against EXTREMISTS from ALL Religions. Religious extremism on both sides in Palestine had been devastating for both Jews and Palestinians. Sikh Extremists caused us another tragedy (Air India plane in the 80s).
Just because i have a different opinion from you, you started insulting me, then you asked me to go to my nearest “madras” as if i know one. Sorry, Alex I don’t. But if you have any idea where my nearest madras is, let us go together and teach them about peace. How about that?
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Andy,
I have no idea where some of your statements come from. You paint with such a broad brush and then ask me to marvel at the short strokes.
You were not insulted. You came around here and erroneously suggested that Crankypants was preaching hate.
As for the Quebec issues, it’s exactly what they did: Stop extremism. You might want to define it differently all you want, I call it what it is. EXTREMIST STUPIDITY.
You are wrong about Dubai. The Sheik’s money mania notwithstanding, what it illustrated is that the Arab world’s dependency on our dependency is huge. They need us as much as we need them. To argue otherwise is foolhardy: Look at the trade barriers that existed before. Look at how much more of the greenback is being used. Pay attention to the amount invested not just by the Arabs in America, but by America in the Arab world–including partnerships forged out of necessity, not desperation.
Extremism in Palestine? When’s the last time you heard of a Jewish suicide bomber blowing himself up in the middle of Lebanon or Beirut, on bus full of women and children? Is it 25-40 year old Jewish men who are bastardizing Judaism so that they can drop airplanes from the sky and use little kids for target practice because there’s less to clean up? How many Rabbis have you ever heard of putting out a ‘holy’ contract on a writer or cartoonist’s head, based on nothing more than insane whimsy?
Me go to a madras? And preach peace? What are you, some kind of pie-in-the skyer? Get real.
Look, I’ve given you MORE than enough talk time here. We do not agree. Your’ welcome to keep talking, but I’m out. I like your hopefulness but it’s bathed in big sky dreaming.
Meanwhile, the Jews are still under siege, while the world waits for more mindless pulp from CNN about how the Palestinians are trying to make “real progress.”
We call a spade a spade around here, not a strand of spaghetti. Take Andy.
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I know you don’t like people criticizing the prime minister or the premier, but what do you think of what Robert Fowler said?
MONTREAL — Former Canadian diplomat Robert Fowler has slammed Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s foreign policy, accusing the Conservatives of pandering to Canadian Jewish voters with a “reckless” Middle East policy that blindly favours Israel.
He also says Canada does not deserve a seat on the United Nations Security Council; that the Afghanistan mission is doomed to failure; and that Canadian politicians — Conservatives and Liberals — set their foreign-policy goals only to “corner the ethnic vote” in Canada.
“The world does not need more of the kind of Canada they have been getting,” Fowler said in a speech in Montreal on Sunday. “Canadian governments have turned inward and adopted ‘me first’ stances across the international agenda; and Canada’s reputation and proud international traditions have been diminished as a result.”
Fowler made his remarks at a weekend “thinkers” conference organized by the Liberal Party of Canada, with Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff and former prime minister Paul Martin looking on.
He was brutal in his assessment of the Conservative government’s foreign policy.
He said the Conservatives must “accept the reality and importance of the ironclad link between . . . continuing turmoil and volatility in the Middle East and the rise (and) growing strength of international terrorism.”
But, he said, doing that means confronting Israel, as it “builds ever more settlements in illegally occupied territories in contravention of a myriad of international judgments.”
He said Canadian politicians — and here he seemed to suggest both Liberal and Conservative politicians — refuse to acknowledge that reality for fear of being labelled anti-Semitic.
“It is there for all to see, but apparently politically incorrect to draw attention to it.”
Moreover, he accused Canadian politicians of formulating foreign policy, on the Middle East and on other issues, only with a view to winning votes and scoring political points at home.
He said politicians are merely engaged in “the scramble to lock up the Jewish vote in Canada (and) selling out our widely admired and long-established reputation for fairness and justice. I have no reason to love Islamic extremism or indeed terrorism of any stripe, jihadi or political, but I do deplore the abandonment of our hard-won reputation for objective analysis and decency as a result of our reckless Middle Eastern posturing.”
Fowler speaks with considerable experience in foreign affairs. Not only was he a civil servant for 38 years, he was the foreign policy adviser to prime ministers Trudeau, Turner and Mulroney; he was Canada’s longest-serving ambassador at the United Nations; and he was the personal representative for Africa for prime ministers Chretien, Martin and Harper.
In 2008, while representing United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon in Africa, he was captured and held hostage by al-Qaida for 130 days. He now teaches at the University of Ottawa.
Ignatieff said Sunday he has always stood for a two-state solution in the Middle East and rejected accusations of pandering.
“The Canadian consensus — and it is a consensus, darn it — is two states between two free peoples, living side by side with international recognition and international security guarantees,” said Ignatieff. “I say that in every room I go into. I don’t chop it. I don’t change it.”
Fowler, though, cited other examples of “radical voices within domestic constituencies (that) are being indulged” by politicians seeking electoral support.
“Look only at Liberal politicians falling over themselves to celebrate supporters in Toronto of the Tamil Tigers, one of the world’s more unpleasant terrorist organizations,” Fowler said.
“Or consider the ethical and international implications of politicians of all parties attending the Surrey, B.C., spring parades to mark the anniversary of the Sikh religion, where photographs of Sikh terrorists, like the leaders of the Air India bomb plot and Free Khalistan separatists, are prominently displayed and venerated.”
While he praised the key foreign policy initiatives of Pearson, Trudeau, Mulroney and Chretien, Fowler was withering in his assessment of Harper’s approach to world affairs, suggesting that, because of the Conservative approach, the world is becoming increasingly suspicious and distrustful of a Canada that has increasingly turned away from the world.
Canada will vie with Germany and Portugal to win one of the two seats on the United Nations Security Council 2011-12. Fowler said Canadians should not assume the rest of the world wants Canada to win that race.
“If we win, it will not be because we have contributed much to the effective management of world affairs over recent years, because we have not,” Fowler said.
The Afghanistan mission, Fowler said, is doomed because neither Canadians nor its allies are prepared to pay the price, “in blood or treasure” to essentially colonize that country.
“The bottom line is: We will not prevail in Afghanistan,” Fowler said. “We are simply not prepared to foot the massive price in blood and treasure, which it would take to effectively colonize Afghanistan — the least fortunate country in the world — and replace their culture with ours, for that seems to be what we seek, and with the Taliban share that view.”
Fowler argued that Canadian troops should immediately withdraw from that country. “It is time to leave. Not a moment, not a life, and not a dollar, later.”
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Listen, you need to really pay attention when I write something. I never wrote that I don’t like people who criticize the Preem or the PM. You are, AGAIN, confused. I don’t like it or allow it on this blog when the criticisms are cheap shots-period.
As for Mr. Fowler’s idiotic drivel, I have only to offer a simple reply: He’s wrong. He’s accusing the Tories of vote pandering? At a LIBERAL convention?? AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! The Grits invented vote pandering. Not to mention, that his notion of “illegally occupied settlements” by the Israelis is almost stupefying….where was his concern when the reverse held true? Over 11,000 rockets have occupied land on the Israeli side for over a decade. Where was his concern then? Where is his concern for spilled Jewish blood?
Fowler’s thesis is foolish. There is only ONE way to confront terrorism, and that is to meet it straight on. The Israelis are the ONLY country in the region who without question understand this. The others are all busy praying for more mindless mandarins like Bob Fowler.
Pls. I like the fact you are here, but come up with something better than this. And I don’t need to the whole column, just post the link please. Thx.
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Alex, down deep you are a good guy. You are intelligent but one thing I would like to bring it to your attention. I noticed that those who have different opinion from yours are wrong. Mr. Fowler is an EXPERT on international affairs. He had a lot to lose and nothing to gain by saying what he said. He criticized both the Conservatives and the Liberals.
Since you seem to be knowledgeable about the region, tell me how many Arab children are in Israeli jails now?
As a father, how would you feel if one of your children is now in an Israeli jail?
Why does not Israel withdraw from the occupied land and leave those people alone after abusing, torturing, and maiming them for more than 60 years?
What is happening between the “Terrorists” and the West (regardless who is right or wrong) is a kind of guerrilla war (organized armed forces and another party that can’t be identified. They attack where and when they are not expected to.
I would like you to reflect on this question as it will give you an idea about how I see the current situation and how it can be resolved:
Do you know in the history of man of an organized armed forces that won this kind of war just by force?
Thank you for giving me so much of your time, but we see the world differently. i hope one day our vision will meet.
all the best.
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Not true! I have been corrected by commenters. And I’m happy to accept that when it’s appropriate.
Fowler is an “expert”? That doesn’t make him right. Arab “children” in Israeli jails? Great if they showed up with Kalashnikovs and grenades, they should rot in those jails.
What about Israeli children in premature graves, all for the crime of being Jewish?
My pleasure having you here, pls come again.
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