...but only for a moment.
I have to admit it. When I read about things like this, I wonder if it’s all worth it.
We’ve long known that Islamists would murder the children of their ethnic and religious brethren—not to mention those of the infidels--to make their point.
BAGHDAD, Iraq - A series of bombs killed 35 children and seven adults Thursday as U.S. troops handed out candy at a government ceremony to inaugurate a new sewage treatment plant.
What’s their point again?
Oh yeah, that’s right. Kill or convert the “occupying” infidels, no matter if they saved you from the hands of a mass murderer, no matter if they are trying to build Iraq back up to a functioning society. Kill them in the most brutal ways possible. And—as an addendum—kill the Iraqis that are “collaborating” with the infidel: man, woman and child.
In more blood-thirsty moments, I’m inclined to say, “Let the cretins blow each other up.” Then I remember that not all Arabs are cretins or Islamists, and those that are tend not to confine themselves to their own countries.
Taking the long view of this endeavor is difficult, especially when imagining the horror of dead and maimed children and beheaded adults. But that’s the whole point: the horror of the bombings and the decapitations are meant to influence the actions of the living, that is, the Iraqi public, the US voting public and that of our real allies. The terrorist attacks are meant to make people like us "go wobbly."
Remember that when someone floats the notion (again) that troop withdrawal from Iraq ASAP as a good idea. I’ll try to do the same.
God rest the children.
