Follow-up to “Terrorism – no longer a concern?”

Although I have promised a second article on a different subject to Palm boy, I had to address some issues that one of my friends brought up.

My friend, a teen boy in a career military family, read my article entitled “Terrorism – no longer a concern?” and promptly told me how much it irritates him when people get the facts wrong.

“I mean, having lived there, and being an American, I know the entire story. Nobody gets it!” he said, commenting on the full year he spent while his dad was stationed in the Middle East and the two weeks he had had in Israel.

“Yes, Al-Quada needs to stop, but so does the US. Total troop withdrawal, and just get out of foreign affairs with the Middle East. We leave them alone, and they'll leave us alone. They have the right to rule their land however they want to,” he continued.

After I pointed out that our troops enlisting their aid would save many Israelis’ lives, he replied:

“I'm not saying that I hate Israel and all, I love that country. It's beautiful and is the most important country in the world. But, they can hold out on their own.”

Many people share the same philosophy: leave the Middle Easterners alone and they won’t bother us. Does anyone see the problem with this?

I told him that the Muslims will kill anyone that is friendly towards Israel, and he said that if we don’t help Israel any, the Muslims won’t bother us.

First of all, we are under obligation to help Israel – it’s part of the United Nations. Secondly, President Bush professes his friendliness towards Israel blatantly; what kind of friends would we be if they were under attack and we sat back and watched?

Thirdly, the terrorist groups have cells stationed all along the US, waiting for the time to strike. These “sleeper cells” have one mission: blow something up and take as many people down with you as possible. The terrorist groups hate us, and have stated on national television that they would welcome World War III. In fact, they believe in doing so, it will usher in Allah’s return to rule the land with an iron-grip and to remove any non-believers.

So, my friend, you’re still one of the best guys around, and I don’t deny that you’ve had much more groundwork experience than I have, but this one has too many variables saying this: even if we leave the Middle East alone completely, it would be impossible to disentangle ourselves from the web of hatred that is concentrated in those countries.

DDL is a staff writer for Pushing Back the Frontiers of Ignorance.