Politics of Terror & Appeasement

Todays news of possible bombings of overseas flights heading to the United States is worrying at best, terrifying at worse. Dave for example just arrived in Toronto and it makes me worry more about his return trips and the potential risks he faces simply by going about doing his job.

This is what Terrorism is really about.

It isn’t that it makes you wait ten times longer in a line to board a plane, but that even after all that the odds of not making it safely become lower. The risk increases the more you fly and it helps to stunt the free flow of people across international and regional boundaries.

It isolates different cultures.

And that is what is scary to me, yet if you look at the reports, all you hear or read is about how some politician might gain inroads because of this. You hear people suggest that the threat is being hyped by politicians based on upcoming elections. In short it is the disinformation that is perhaps more troubling than the actual facts.

Who do you trust these days?

Thanks to George Bush and Colin Powell who cleverly forged a fake excuse to invade Iraq, the honesty and integrity of the intelligence community has been undermined. Joy for the Terrorists, as people take their warnings less seriously, when they should be taking extra care.

Jean Chretien was right when he said that if we attack the core problems of the refugee’s in the Middle East we will go a long way to eradicating Terrorism. Unfortunately not many have accepted that especially people like George Bush or Stephen Harper. Even Tony Blair doesn’t get it, that if you take away hope from people, you leave them open to abuse by thugs like Hezbollah and Osama Bein Laden.

It is how Hitler gained power, or have we all forgotten that?

When you dispose of a politician who stands firm on an unpopular war, ignoring that you are at war, you send a message to your enemies that a few more bombings, a few more innocent murders will win the day. That is what happens when you look for appeasement as a way out instead of hunkering down and fighting them tooth and nail. It isn’t a quick solution either, neither are, though fighting costs lives it does save lives too.

It is a trade off that it seems many in the world are unwilling to make. Too bad because all that does is give the Osama Bein Ladens a chance at victory.

Is that really what the world wishes? More Adolph Hitlers?