Bombs and “Root Causes”
More than 200 Shi’ite Moslems were killed in three separate bombings in mosques in Iraq and Pakistan on a Shi’ite holy day as the CPA was coming close to finalizing a provisional constitution. More than 170 Spaniards were killed in bombings of commuter lines and rail stations days before the Spanish general election. More than 900 Israelis have been killed since the start of the current Palestinian war in 2000, many in bombings of buses, hotels and cafes.
This begs for a discussion of “root causes.”
More than 200 Shi’ite Moslems were killed in three separate bombings in mosques in Iraq and Pakistan on a Shi’ite holy day as the CPA was coming close to finalizing a provisional constitution. More than 170 Spaniards were killed in bombings of commuter lines and rail stations days before the Spanish general election. More than 900 Israelis have been killed since the start of the current Palestinian war in 2000, many in bombings of buses, hotels and cafes.
This begs for a discussion of “root causes.”
The attacks in Iraq and Pakistan were generally attributed to terrorists wanting to foment war between Shi’ites and Sunnis, or to provoke Shi’ite counterattacks. The goal would be turmoil to keep Iraq from moving toward a peaceful, representative government.
There are two early views on the Spanish bombings. Some blame Basque separatist terrorists wanting to disrupt the election (bombings are not unknown to the ETA). The Basques deny it and say “Arab resistance elements” were responsible, i.e., al-Qaeda, many members of which have been arrested in Spain by a government that strongly supported the war in Iraq.
In neither case has anyone suggested, nor will they, that Spain or the Shi’ites brought the carnage upon themselves and that perhaps they should consider the unhappiness of people who could be driven to such extremes by Spanish or Shi’ite behavior. And don’t wait for sympathetic stories about oppressed Basques, or sad Ba’athists, with a plea for an end to the “cycle of violence.” [Gen. John Abizaid, Commander of the U.S. Central Command, bizarrely was asked after the mosque bombings whether there was a civil war going on in Iraq. Since one side was blowing things up and the other side was dying, Gen. Abizaid wisely rejected the notion.]
In the case of Israel, of course, things are different. So how do we find a root cause?
The root is not in the perceived injustice perpetrated upon the terrorist by a nasty power – that holds only for Israel. The root is in the belief that terror works. This has been enhanced by large-scale indifference to Jewish victims, and worse, by the apparent belief that the bomber must have had a point. This surely made other potential bombers think they would get sympathetic treatment or at least cowardly acquiescence in their demands from the “international community.” The Court at The Hague is, after all, judging Israel, not those who blew up commuters on a bus or teenagers in a disco or a bride the night before her wedding.
All bombs, all bombers, all causes promoted by bombing are illegitimate – including bombs aimed at Jews. The war against terrorists and the states that harbor and support them is the same war both materially and ideologically – for Jews, for Spaniards, for Americans, for Iraqis. Only when the world gets to that point will we have begun to destroy the root causes of international terrorism.