The Fear

I regularly enjoy the writers at Commondreams.org. They are often articulate and thoughtful. Their writing on the impending war today, however, struck a shrill and paranoid tone.

Doug Thompson wrote of the homeland security bill calling it the American Gestapo. He states, “these fears have forced America to abandon its principles and create a police state.” Admittedly some of the powers granted in the name of Homeland Security are scary, particularly those related to the surveillance of Americans. But calling it a Gestapo and painting it as a force that Bush will use to maintain political power is questionable in the extreme.

Seumas Milne, writing in the Guardian, states that “But there is little sign of any weakening of the wilful western refusal to address seriously the causes of Islamist terrorism.” What are the causes of Islamist terrorism against the United States?

The United States supports Israel. I believe we could put some pressure on Israel to move towards peace. But it is clear that the Islamist Terrorists for the most part are more interested in eliminating Israel all together.

Most of the rest of the arguments I hear coming from Islamist Terrorists have to do with our being in the middle east, or with our (and Western Europe’s) Secular, Christian, and Jewish societies. I hear dozens upon dozens of arguments coming from apologists for terror, but from the terrorists themselves, these are the only arguments. Does Thompson really expect the United States or his own Great Britain to convert to Islam en masse?