Lots of diaries springing up venting about how this morning's bombings are somehow the fault of Bush, Blair, Israel, the Iraq war, etc. etc. etc.
Make no mistake about it, there has been a massive misallocation of resources in the West since 9/11, a series of mistakes that have NOT, as the good Doctor once said, made America (or anyone else) safer.
But I think we need to resolve to refrain from blaming the bombings on the conduct of Western leaders. The bombings are the fault of the bombers. Let's be clear on that. And there's more to think about ... after the jump.
Think about it. Is there any way, in a free society, to prevent publicity-hungry and bloodthirsty terrorists from blowing up buses and trains once in a while?
In the long run, it is counterproductive to imagine that if Bush & Blair & Sharon had the policies we prefer, or if they were replaced, then AQ would go just lay down their arms and go away.
AQ are bad people, professional killers, and they will blow things up, period. They'll still be blowing things up when Bush & Blair & co are a distant memory and progressives are running things. Remember, they hate liberal values above all else.
Come that day when President Feingold has to announce a sad death toll from some AQ atrocity, will we want to hear about how soft progressives create a permissive environment for bombers? I think not.
But it's the same foolish logic that would make such a claim. So let's work on being real about the persistence of terror, and not letting ourselves get drawn into the politics of blame that is really only part of a manipulative politics of fear shared by AQ and BushCo.
I'm not saying that we shouldn't work to end the war, to decolonize the Middle East, to spread true justice and international cooperation around the world. And I'm not saying that doing so wouldn't ameliorate the terrorist situation. What I'm saying is that it is important to recognize that terrorism is NOT simply a predictable function of everything else in the world, and recognizing that separation is key to having the proper perspective on how the terrorism threat should (or, really, shouldn't) figure into politics.
Remember, Iraq does not equal 9/11; nor does it equal 7/8.