Why?

Why do they hate us? That always seems to be the question when the Muslim extremists strike. Is it because even our poorest people can still get a car and 2000db stereo system? Is it because we are considered to be arrogant, rude, lazy, morally deficient rubes who treat this planet like our own personal playground/cess pool? Is it because our presidents tend to be loud-mouthed frat boys who posture and preen all the while being told what to say from just off stage? Is it because we are (currently) the only superpower so they must strike us at our few vulnerable spots; namely civillians? Did they bomb London for the same reason that mobsters in movies capture Mel Gibson's children: 'we won't hurt you, but we will hurt your family', since the British, with the exception of that little incident in the late 1700's, have always been part of our extended family? And the biggest question, in my mind anyway, is what do they hope to accomplish? I think I might have an idea on that one.

These people aren't terrorists. They're revengists. They can't all be idiots, and only an idiot would believe that car bombs and explosives belts will change governments. Terrorism has never succeeded, and never will, since it's primary effect is to further entrench those being attacked. I don't believe that the 'terrorists' hope to change anything. They are just angry, disaffected, ignorant zealots who have been convinced that the only way to heaven is to take out a handful of infidels in a blaze of C-4. The bombers are victims as much as the casualties. The real villians, as increasingly seems to be the case in many negative situations[such as at a certain Louisiana school] are the relatively few 'holy' men who are spewing this billious rhetoric, and convincing these poor schmucks to give themselves a nitro enema and two-step into a restaurant to get a take-out order for Allah. Our military forces can kill all the insurgents they want, but until the heads of the hydra are cut off this battle will continue ad infinitum. I'm sure the real military commanders know that, but I'm not so sure that the civillian officials over them get it. W seems honestly perplexed that the American people are losing faith in the war. I'm sure he gets a daily body count, and sees that there are more turbans than kevlar helmets on the tally sheet, and thinks, "Yippee Kai Yai Yay, Mother-F**ers!" And one of the most evil (in my opinion, of course) men in the world today, Dick Cheney, actually had the audacity to suggest that the insurgency in winding down. I won't dwell on that, since Gary Trudeau and Jon Stewart have already done so with much greater finesse than I could, but it seems that the people who led us into this war truly believe that we are winning.

I don't have a solution to suggest, but I do have a plea to Donald Rumsfeld, Dick Cheney, and most especially to George W. Bush. Let the people who know how to fight a war do their jobs; give them all the support they require to get it done and get us out of there, but let them make the decisions. You three have proven over the last two years that you couldn't strategize your way out of a game of capture the flag, let alone deal with a situation as complex as Iraq. And please, please realize that just because you say something on camera, or have someone put it on a banner on an aircraft carrier, that doesn't make it true.

Peace out,
Marius