Segacs's World I Know

Posts Tagged ‘iraq war’

The Nicholas Berg story has been getting so much coverage by the rest of the blogosphere, it seems redundant for me to say much. See Allison on how the Iraqis knew Berg was Jewish and Meryl on what the mainstream media won’t cover. And of course, LGF has been all over the story.

The angles are many. The fact that Berg was Jewish and the fact that the mainstream media is burying that. The media’s fascination with gore and the almost exclusive focus on one man’s death while major horror stories are ignored. The reaction in the street and press of the Arab world, and the reaction in our own press and street. But I think the most significant part of this story was how Berg’s family rushed to blame Bush for his death, and how the wingnuts like Indymedia immediately jumped on the story:

The Chomsky types, perhaps feeling a nagging sense of latent guilt, could not wait to make it clear to everyone how horrified they were by the whole scene. However, their hatred is not motivated by a disgust of the hideous practice, nor the brutality of our Islamist enemy; it stems from the fact that the terrorists’ action makes it harder for the Left to place the blame for Berg’s death “where it belongs”: on the United States of America.

It can’t be too difficult to understand why a grieving family might lash out. For them I have little else other than sympathy. But for the conspiracy theorists who tried to make it seem as though the American administration, and not sadistic terrorists, were responsible for this gory act, my sympathy doesn’t extend quite that far. I have a very different reaction to them… one more characterized by contempt than by sympathy of any kind. It’s not such a stretch to see why the whole world thinks that “Bush is worse than Saddam”, with this kind of moral-equivalency nonsense floating around.

Update: As usual, Damian Penny put my thoughts into much better words than I could.

That’s my feeling about the abuse of Iraqi prisoners and the ensuing scandal. There are no excuses for this kind of behaviour. None. And it has to be openly dealt with and stopped, immediately.

I’m hearing all sorts of disturbing things. That there are “two sides”. That it wasn’t an official American government policy, while torturing innocent civilians was an official Iraqi government policy. That most of the countries condemning the United States do far worse in their own prisons, and are just using this as another propaganda tool. Etcetera.

All of that may be true. But it doesn’t mitigate or excuse what happened, nor should it.

Excuses are unacceptable when they’re offered up by the enemy. We refuse to accept the Palestinian finger-pointing at the IDF every time there’s a terrorist attack, or the world’s babbling about “root causes” for suicide bombings in Iraq or Al Qa’eda terrorist attacks. We want sincere apologies without excuses. And even though we won’t get them, we keep demanding them.

So when the United States screws up, I don’t want to hear any nonsense like “yes, but…”. No buts. No excuses. Just outrage, apologies, and steps to fix it.

We have to hold ourselves to higher standards. Our “side” of the War on Terror must practice the ideals we preach. Otherwise, what the hell are we even doing?

Today’s suicide bombing in Iraq killed 68 people including 17 children. It was most likely Al Qa’eda’s handiwork:

“They just blew up innocent Iraqis,” Bush told reporters in Washington after the almost simultaneous car bombs hit three police stations in Basra and two more struck a police academy in Zubair, a mainly Sunni town 15 miles further south.

No excuses about occupation can justify the murder of innocent children. This is disgusting.

Also today, another suspected Al Qa’eda attack – this one in Riyadh:

A suspected al Qaeda suicide car bomber destroyed a security forces building in the Saudi capital Wednesday, killing four people and wounding 148 in the first major attack on a government target.

The attacks are happening because Al Qa’eda is fighting a war that the world seems determined to deny exists. You can’t negotiate with a group whose only acceptable endgame is having you and your entire way of life eradicated. They’re not attacking the “occupation” of Iraq or the U.S. interests in Saudi Arabia; they’re attacking the potential for democracy in the Middle East. They’re scared as hell that democracy might take root or even become a success someplace in the Arab world. And they’re determined to do everything and anything to stop it.

Israel’s security fence is doing a good interim job of cutting down on attacks within its borders. But we can’t build a wall around the entire world. No, sooner or later this war will need to be fought and won.

Fadi Fadel has been released:

Thirty-three-year-old Fadi Fadel was kidnapped 10 days ago, leaving his Montreal-based family fearing for his life. A Reuters report earlier Friday said that he had been assaulted but Arab television footage showed him ecstatic and displaying no visible injuries.

The Syrian-born Canadian citizen was not released as quickly as some of the other kidnapped aid workers, probably because his captors “accused” him of being Jewish, Israeli, or even an Israeli Mossad agent. (Apparently to the Islamists, they’re all equivalent accusations).

Fadal’s parents, family, and the Canadian government spent a lot of time denying these “accusations”. And precious little time saying anything about the fact that “Jew” and “Israeli” aren’t dirty words. Perhaps that’s understandable, as their goal was to secure Fadal’s release. But it leaves an icky feeling in the taste of my mouth. Perhaps the Canadian government didn’t directly negotiate with the terrorists… but they sure played their game. If we spend a lot of time saying “release him, he’s not Jewish”, then isn’t that almost like saying that it’s okay to kidnap Jews?

When in doubt, blame Israel:

A case of mistaken identity might be delaying the release of Fadi Fadel, a Canadian aid worker held hostage in Iraq, his brother said Monday.

Ghayas Fadel said Arab television is reporting the aid worker is an Israeli agent, which would make him a valuable target for insurgents. “(The tape) shows him giving a different name and saying he’s Israeli and this is what we’ve been trying to correct,” Fadel said in an interview from the family home near Montreal.

“He has never been to Israel and has never had any contact with any Israeli organization.”

It has not been established why Fadi Fadel would have said such a thing.

Ghayas Fadel said the Canadian ambassador in Jordan will help to confirm his brother’s real identity at a news conference in Amman on Tuesday.

Fadi Fadel, a Syrian-born Canadian, was kidnapped by local militia in southern Iraq last Wednesday while working for the New York City-based International Rescue Committee.

The real story isn’t why the Iraqis would force Fadel to claim to be an Israeli agent. That one’s obvious, and a pretty standard tactic in the Middle East, where a simple suggestion that someone is Jewish or in some way connected to Israel is enough to make them out to be the devil incarnate. It’s a convenient way of erasing any sympathy that the public in the Mideast might have had for Fadel.

No, the real story is the Canadian reaction… and how eager Canadian authorities are to state over and over again that Fadel has nothing to do with Israel, that this is false. It’s almost as though they’re validating the Iraqi rebel group’s demonization of Israel.

As Canada negotiates for Fadal’s release, I of course hope he makes it safely and unharmed. No humanitarian worker deserves this fate.

But at the same time, I almost wish that Canada was reacting more like the USA or Japan for their policies: “We will not negotiate with terrorists”.

Kidnapping of aid workers is a form of terrorism. Allowing it to succeed means ensuring it will repeat.

It’s been a long time since I’ve heard such moral clarity from Canada.

A Peewee hockey team from the U.S. was not booed this year. That’s the news. Why? Cause they were booed last year. Of course, this year they played in New Brunswick, and last year’s series was here in Quebec. That could have something to do with it:

Having borne the brunt of anti-American sentiment during their last visit to Canada, a peewee hockey team from Massachusetts is back again. And this time, they are being welcomed with open arms.

When the Brockton Boxers were in Quebec for a hockey tournament last March, fans upset by the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq let them know how they felt.

As they took to the ice in Montreal one day after U.S. troops rolled into Iraq, the 12- and 13-year-olds were lambasted with anti-American jeering.

The Brockton Boxers’ Jon Spano remembers the events well.

“There were protesters and everything… and we had to get escorted off the bus… because there was so many of them,” he told CTV Atlantic affiliate, ATV News.

“Then they burnt our flag and they booed the national anthem and all that stuff.”

Nice. Real nice.

At least the New Brunswick hosts seem to have caught on that these are kids, not international terrorists:

When their bus arrived, a welcoming committee of local pewee players was on hand, banging their sticks in welcome.

What a shame that the Montreal hosts couldn’t figure that out last year.

Following what was said below, it seems our schools are so eager to teach political correctness, tolerance, and multiculturalism, that they encourage pride in every background… except American:

A U.S.-born teenager carrying a U.S. flag in a multiculturalism parade was booed off stage and reduced to tears by fellow students at Wagar High School on Thursday, in an apparent protest against the Iraq war.

[ . . . ]

A parade of flags representing every nationality at the school – 39, this year – is an annual event at Wagar, the most ethnically diverse high school in the English Montreal School Board.

“During the parade, when the American flag (was) walked by, quite a large number of students booed, which was very upsetting to the student carrying the flag,” said Juanita Meikle, a parent who is chairperson of Wagar’s governing board.

The girl, a Grade 9 student, “was very upset. She was crying,” Meikle said.

No other flag was jeered.

Knee-jerk anti-Americanism is something that’s about as much a part of being a Canadian as street hockey. Unfortunately, even the most well-meaning educators encourage it. And lately, most of them haven’t been all that “well-meaning”.

With teachers ranting in classrooms about the evil American government and policies, the infringement of American culture on our own “wonderful” CBC, the exploitation of the rest of the world by America… small wonder students are booing the Stars and Stripes.

People don’t just come to believe something on their own. They need to be taught. I really hope that the teachers and administrators at Wager don’t just criticize the students, but take a long hard look at themselves. If we’re going to stamp out intolerance, that includes all forms of intolerance… including anti-Americanism.

Toronto has been hit with a wave of antisemitic vandalism… at exactly the same time as the massive one-year anniversary protests of the war in Iraq.

Coincidence?

Michele on the Spanish election results:

The terrorists got what they wanted. They won.

And now the U.S. will have one less ally. One less country to count on the war against terrorism. They’ll pull out of Iraq and it won’t be long before they pull out of fighting the terrorists all together. Appeasement is the new black.

Welcome to the new age of al-Qaid and radical Islam on the whole, built on the deaths of 200 people. They’ve been emboldened by the Spanish left. They’ve been told that terrorism works, terrorism gets results.

Iraq to UN: You failed us:

Iraq’s foreign minister accused the United Nations on Tuesday of failing his country by leaving Saddam Hussein in power for decades and appealed to the world body to assume a leading role in Baghdad immediately.

[ . . . ]

Zebari said the United Nations had failed to help rescue Iraq from “a murderous tyranny” that lasted more than 35 years and “today we are unearthing thousands of victims in horrifying testament to that failure.”

“The United Nations must not fail the Iraqi people again,” Zebari said.

[ . . . ]

Zebari accused the 15-member Security Council of being divided “between those who wanted to appease Saddam Hussein and those who wanted to hold him accountable” and said they should overcome the deep divisions over the U.S. invasion of Iraq.

[ . . . ]

Appealing for unity in the council, Zebari said “settling scores with the United States should not be at the cost of helping to bring stability to the Iraqi people.”

Annan said Saddam’s downfall was “an opportunity for a new beginning in the vital task of helping Iraqis to take control of their destiny — of helping them to create a secure, stable and independent Iraq.”

Of course, anti-Americans will dismiss everything Zebari says on the grounds that he’s part of a US-installed government and therefore his opinion shouldn’t count. But then, the anti-Americans have a long history of ignoring the actual thoughts and opinions of people who live in a country, in favour of what they believe is in their best interest. That kind of supremicist “they don’t know what’s good for them, we do” attitude is something I was under the impression was against liberal beliefs… but then, tell that to the guy chanting the anti-Bush slogan and trying to pretend that Iraqis would be better off still under Saddam Hussein’s dictatorship.