Sunday, April 08, 2007
Thank You, Britain. Thank You Tony Blair.
Thank you Britain, thank you Tony Blair, thank you, liberals in British parliament. Yes, because of your decisive action against Iran, which took your people prisoner in an open act of war, the world will have to endure a repeat performance.
Terrorists are, if nothing else, intelligent enough to know what works and to continue until they get what they want or their actions cease giving them the results they seek. The perfect example is hijacking airplanes. I’m, unfortunately, old enough to remember the first hijackings and the ever increasing need for security at airports. At first, the terrorists just took the aircraft, terrorized the passengers for a few hours or days then released them and destroyed the planes. Gradually, the terrorists were forced to harm or kill passengers as the world became bored and hijackings became second page news. Finally, they flew the planes into buildings to get the world attention they desired. Then George W. Bush declared that we had had enough and went after the terrorists and nations supporting them. But the public has tired of the war on terrorism. Primarily because of the success in reducing terrorist attacks.
So, how do terrorists garner the attention they want? By using an old, and failed, strategy, taking hostages. For years, including the Iranian Hostage Crisis, which brought to an end the Carter administration (Okay, there were some unintended good which comes from terrorism), terrorists tried to use kidnapping innocent people as a means for gaining world attention. Alas, they learned that, eventually, the public soon lost interest and news organizations turned to the issue of the day. Long termed hostage taking proved a no win situation. The world just did not have the attention span. The taking of hostages changed recently when the terrorists started killing their victims and releasing on the Internet the gruesome deeds. Except, the public responded with horror and condemned the terrorists, instead of sympathizing with their politics. Finding the method counterproductive, terrorists have been searching for a new means of forcing their agenda on the world. Britain showed an old tactic might have potential, again.
Thank you, Britain! Until the terrorists pick on the wrong leader, we will have to endure the spectacle of more hostages used as pawns in their deadly game. Those who do not learn the lessons of history will be forced to relive it.
Footnote: The media has underplayed it but, Iran reportedly blinked when they learned that President Bush had ordered a third aircraft carrier into the seaways around Iran and Iraq. Iran is a paper tiger. The US military could bomb Iran back to the stone ages with less than a dozen well placed guided bombs. What lessons should we learn from this? Yeah, right, the free world learn?
Terrorists are, if nothing else, intelligent enough to know what works and to continue until they get what they want or their actions cease giving them the results they seek. The perfect example is hijacking airplanes. I’m, unfortunately, old enough to remember the first hijackings and the ever increasing need for security at airports. At first, the terrorists just took the aircraft, terrorized the passengers for a few hours or days then released them and destroyed the planes. Gradually, the terrorists were forced to harm or kill passengers as the world became bored and hijackings became second page news. Finally, they flew the planes into buildings to get the world attention they desired. Then George W. Bush declared that we had had enough and went after the terrorists and nations supporting them. But the public has tired of the war on terrorism. Primarily because of the success in reducing terrorist attacks.
So, how do terrorists garner the attention they want? By using an old, and failed, strategy, taking hostages. For years, including the Iranian Hostage Crisis, which brought to an end the Carter administration (Okay, there were some unintended good which comes from terrorism), terrorists tried to use kidnapping innocent people as a means for gaining world attention. Alas, they learned that, eventually, the public soon lost interest and news organizations turned to the issue of the day. Long termed hostage taking proved a no win situation. The world just did not have the attention span. The taking of hostages changed recently when the terrorists started killing their victims and releasing on the Internet the gruesome deeds. Except, the public responded with horror and condemned the terrorists, instead of sympathizing with their politics. Finding the method counterproductive, terrorists have been searching for a new means of forcing their agenda on the world. Britain showed an old tactic might have potential, again.
Thank you, Britain! Until the terrorists pick on the wrong leader, we will have to endure the spectacle of more hostages used as pawns in their deadly game. Those who do not learn the lessons of history will be forced to relive it.
Footnote: The media has underplayed it but, Iran reportedly blinked when they learned that President Bush had ordered a third aircraft carrier into the seaways around Iran and Iraq. Iran is a paper tiger. The US military could bomb Iran back to the stone ages with less than a dozen well placed guided bombs. What lessons should we learn from this? Yeah, right, the free world learn?
# posted by Richard W Black : 7:17 AM
