Warmonger?

For those who honestly believe that the present "war on terror" is an "optional" conflict Leonidas must dissagree. This conflict began during the 7th century A.D. and continues.

In any conflict it's a good idea to take seriously the motives the enemy professes and not rationalize or explain them away in terms of your own cultural assumptions. The murderers we call terrorists are traditional jihadists, as much as were the first Islamic armies that swept away the Judeo-Christian and Greco-Roman civilizations of the Mediterranean. They are not going to be bought off with votes, a free press, more cable channels, Wal-Mart, or any other material good that to us constitutes the good life. They are fighting for a spiritual cause, the establishment of Islam as a global order in fulfillment of the will of Allah, and the reduction of all those who will not become Muslims to dhimmi, inferiors who acknowledge the superiority of Islam and the rightness of their subjection to it. For example, Messages to the World: The Statements of Osama bin Laden was the first accurate compendium of the terrorist leader’s words, threats and ruminations from 1994 to 2004.

Its editors have rooted out many statements which they identified as forgeries and retranslated to correct “horrendous” errors.

The Wahabbist's terms for America’s surrender appeared after the September 2001 suicide attacks and include demands that amount to the abandonment of much of western life. Alcohol and gambling must be barred and there is to be an end to women’s photos in newspapers or advertising. Any woman serving “passengers, visitors and strangers”, presumably anyone from air stewardesses to waitresses, would also be out of a job.

The West must: “stop the oppression, lies, immorality and debauchery that has spread among you” [defined as "cultural imperialism"] and has become the “worst civilisation witnessed in the history of mankind”. The following is a recent quote from the commander of the terrorists who carried out the bombings in Bali that killed over 200 civilians including 88 Australians:

"You who still have a shred of faith in your hearts, have you forgotten that to kill infidels and the enemies of Islam is a deed that has a reward above no other," says the 60-page polemic written in Indonesian by "Sheikh Mukhlas", posted on the anshar.net website, which has since been shut down by Indonesian police.

"Aren't you aware that the model for us all, the Prophet Mohammed and the four rightful caliphs, undertook to murder infidels as one of their primary activities, and that the Prophet waged jihad operations 77 times in the first 10 years as head of the Muslim community in Medina?"

Many in the West were/are inclined to dismiss these statements as mere demented rantings of religious fanatics which indeed they would be except for the Tehran events of 1979, the Beirut incident of 1982, Somalia 1993, WTC bombing 1993, Khobar Towers, USS Cole and 911. These were all acts of war perpetrated against the U.S. and evidence that the Islamists posessed both the will and the means to actively pursue their stated aims.

We know that the Taliban government in Afghanistan provided sanctuary and support for those who had comitted acts of war against the U.S. We also know that the Saddamite regime in Iraq provided haven and financial support for those who committed acts of war against the U.S. as well as failing to comply with the cease fire agreement ending the gulf war in 1991. For these reasons it was legitimate to use military force to assure protection of U.S. national interests. The traditional collectivists both in the U.S. and abroad have opposed all of these legitimate actions. Indeed the Democratic party is only united in a single policy and that is opposing all policies of the Bush administration.

Leonidas as well as virtually all liberty loving people abhors war and would favor its renunciation as an instrument of policy whenever the enemies of western culture credibly do the same. In other words "when pigs can fly".