London Attack: Political Left & Democratic Rhetoric Helps Terrorists; London Holding the Bag of Horror
by: Steve Yuhas
It took less than 10 pounds of explosives on each bus or tube (subway) station car to make London look more like a street in Israel at the height of Palestinian terrorism on Thursday when explosions ripped through the rush hour calm taking the lives of at least 50 people, injuring more than 700 (22 critically). The attacks remind the world about who our enemy is, but I wonder if people realize the friend that the terrorists have in Democratic American politicians and left leaning newspapers from London to Los Angeles? They should because the sides have been taken by both and the terrorists are betting that the newspapers and politicians will continue to divide us.
Although the best speech given by a politician regarding the events of Thursday came from the mayor of London, who was in Singapore after London being just named the site of the 2012 Olympics, one has to hope that Democrats and left leaning newspapers are examining their own words since this terrible attack on civilians.
The answer is probably no, but let’s review what many on the left have said about the terrorists we face and consider for a moment that just maybe if the United States united around killing the terrorists instead of elevating them to mythical status if they’d be so bold in their attacks. It is, after all, the left that told us and the terrorists:
* That the prisoners at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba who were caught on the battlefields of Afghanistan and Iraq are all innocent and being treated inhumanely – so much so that their choice of chicken dishes is left to only three a week and their freedom to worship is greater than that of an American fighting man who must stand duty on a Friday night, even if he is Jewish.
* Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) who compared the treatment of US enemy detainees to the treatment of people under Nazi rule or in a former Soviet gulag (Durbin later retracted the comments in a tearful speech on the Senate floor, but nothing helped al-Jazeera’s ratings and al-Qaeda’s recruiting more than a U.S. Senator comparing us to the most heinous regimes in world history).
* The Democratic Party who invited al-Jazeera to their convention to cover every anti-American and anti-Bush speech made that was regurgitated for the people of the Arab world to illustrate the divide in the west.
* Left leaning political groups like Moveon.org and Democratic Underground that purposefully and wrongly accuse the Bush administration of deceit in the war on terror and use the excuse of not finding WMD (an obtuse conclusion since WMDs were found – maybe not vast quantities, but to say millions of tons of weaponry is not WMD is folly) for keeping the war in Iraq as an issue years after it was won continue to make the news in the Arab world – emboldening the terrorists.
* Spain changed a government after their March 11th attacks killed enough people and the government handled the investigation poorly and pulled their troops from Iraq, as promised by the Socialist regime in place in Spain today – I wonder if terrorists figured if they hit Spain and they relented if they hit London if the UK would relent? Sounds logical.
* Left leaning papers like the New York Times refuse to use the word terrorist when they describe the man responsible for more civilian deaths in Iraq than anyone else, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, as a “Jordanian fighter.” They equate cutting off the heads of Americans, British and other international folks as well as blowing up car bombs to kill civilians fighters to liberating and humane troops from the USA and refer to our troops as “occupiers.” I wonder what side left leaning papers are on today in Great Britain?
The list could continue, but the point is made that comments from left wing politicians and their attack machines really put the attack against London right at the feet of the Democratic politicians who take to the floor of the Senate and public to blast the ideological differences on how to fight the war against terror and turn that debate into a fight about whether to fight it or not. That nuance, since Democrats are lovers of nuance, should not be lost on the world and has not been lost on terrorists.
It would be as if people watching the war from a distance were watching a different conflict and forget the images of September 11, 2001 when the world watched as a second plane hit the World Trade Center. As soon as America saw that we were under attack we joined as a nation to make sure we would never be hit again, and we haven’t, but with the help of the words and deed of people like Senators Durbin and Kennedy, left-wing organizations like Moveon.org and Democratic Underground as well as left wing media that equate terrorists with soldiers and demand court rooms instead of bullets for people who want to kill us – the contrast between who wants to stomp out terrorists and the states that support it and those who want to coddle the killers could not be more real.
The attack on London on Thursday put everything in perspective very quickly: the search for Natalee Holloway, the missing in Aruba Alabama woman whose mother has spent the last month living it up shopping on the island with the occasional ambush of a bartender or libelous statement against a released man is gone off the front page - does anyone wonder why she is still in Aruba considering if she had gone the first time as a chaperone her daughter might have been looked after properly? Hurricanes are second fiddle to the attack in London and we are once again reminded of who the enemy is, but more importantly, that the enemy knows us.
President Bush said that the war on terror goes on, but do Democrats and left leaning organizations and media outlets know that? Some of them stopped fighting that war when the clean up of ground zero was over and instead of asking “why is the USA still in the war that Clinton started in Kosovo?” they’re asking why did we take out Saddam Hussein – a brutal dictator who said he hated America and would take pleasure in our downfall. The problem is that those who protest the war in Europe probably will still believe that it is their involvement in Iraq that made the attack happen against London and one can only hope they’re reminded that September 11, 2001 happened long before any Iraqi invasion.
Terrorist attacks sometimes require context and in the days that follow perhaps some will be given and the words of Democrats and their supporters will be re-played and re-printed so that people can see who called the war in Iraq a lie, misguided, fraudulent and illegal; who gave comfort to the enemy in the form of sound bites and who called the enemy every cuddly little name except terrorist. Everyone who talked that way or printed those words should feel a little heavy on the shoulders today as they soak up the news from London where their words and deeds helped to embolden those that wouldn’t dare strike the United States again, but is certainly plotting to, but felt perfectly alright in hitting an ally.
Londoners will do what they always do: they withstood the Blitz during World War II and that tenacity has rubbed off on their children and grandchildren, thankfully, so they will rally around one another as they always do, but terrorism is in the heart of Europe and no nation is safe or immune from an attack. So long as freedom rings louder than cynics there will be hope for terrorists. It is indeed unfortunate that so much hope comes from the leaders of nations, their supporters and the mainstream press.
The next time al-Jazeera picks up a Democratic speech and replays it over and over again for the Arab world to hear that incites violence against the west or a politician or newspaper or magazine; television or cable network tells the world that a rumor of torture or Koran desecration is true – that politician or show, writer or station should be run out of town for he or she is not just making American troops and our interests a victim, but emboldening terrorists to hurt our friends and there is no better friend to America than Great Britain.
Today it is London that is left to pick up the pieces and to hold the bag of sorrow that follows a terrorist attack with no small amount of help from the American left and Democratic political machine. What nation or city will be next?
G-d does not reward terrorists with virgins or any other nicety, but unlike the left and those who would coddle the terrorists and provide them fodder to recruit and advertise, I am not averse to sending as many to Him to find out for themselves how He treats people who kill the innocent. Thankfully, they’re not the ones in charge of anything other than obstructing progress on the Patriot Act or getting lawyers to line up to represent them: that is a project of the political left in America and the United Kingdom – a project I’m happy to say will eventually fail.
Steve Yuhas is a columnist and radio talk show host on KOGO AM 600 based in San Diego. He may be reached at steve@steveyuhas.com or www.steveyuhas.com