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(Disclaimer: This is completly based on my own opinion and I claim no special knowledge of how counter something as terrible as this latest attack. Terrorism has no easy answers and I have always been better at asking questions, anyway. I just know how I feel and what I fear, and this is an expression of it.)
I'm sure most of you have seen the scenes from Spain after the bomb attacks there - it's now reached two hundred dead from eleven different countries. And we don't even know who is to blame. If it's ETA, it does not bode well for Spain, and if it's Al Queada, it does not bode well for Europe.
*shakes head* Either way, it's a tragedy. For Spain firstly, but all here in Europe feel with them, their anger, their grief, their search in the shadows for someone to bring to justice. My heart goes out to anyone affected by this tragedy and all Spaniards who feel the loss.
This is not the first terrorism related tragedy to strike Europe, of course. There's been worse, but nevertheless, this is an ill omen. With the attacks in Turkey not long ago, there was a sense that Al Queada was moving closer to Europe and now they may have taken the step here.
I'm a horrid cynic for hoping with every fibre in my being that this is ETA. I don't want the 'war on terror' (what's with that idiotic name, anyway? As if war isn't terror...) on our front lawn. It's a terribly selfish thing to wish for, but there it is. Europe's had (and have, I suppose) enough troubles with homegrown terrorists and extremist groups to be straddled with Islamic extremists as well. It would do nothing good for the racism problems Europe's already struggling with, either. I was so hoping that all the blood shed in Europe this last century, would be blood enough for this century as well.
But I guess there is never enough blood shed - not in Europe, not in Asia, not in any part of the world - for there are still those whom blood have no meaning for. It's just means to an end.
Sometimes, that is true of non-terrorists as well. And every time that happens, the terrorists win. Let us not have a war on terror. War is a negative word, implying death and blood, that your opponents are soldiers. These people are no soldiers. They are criminals.
Is it not better to call it something like a placification of terror? With a pledge - to stand strong in the face of fear and never let fear weaken the principles of human rights; to let terrorists know justice for blood shed; and to honour the blood lost by never giving terrorists what they want. I don't want to give them a war. And if Al Queada has come to Europe, I hope Europe will give them nothing but disgust and calm, unbiased justice for crimes committed.
Anything else will be giving them more than they deserve. There's been enough wars in Europe already. Let us not make another one.
(Of course, what I'd really like to do is to get a hold of the people responsible for this atrocity and tear them limb from limb. But engaging my worst instincts is probably not a great idea. I mean, if I did that on a daily basis, I probably would have done griveous bodily harm to John Howard and the Shrub long ago.)
I'm sure most of you have seen the scenes from Spain after the bomb attacks there - it's now reached two hundred dead from eleven different countries. And we don't even know who is to blame. If it's ETA, it does not bode well for Spain, and if it's Al Queada, it does not bode well for Europe.
*shakes head* Either way, it's a tragedy. For Spain firstly, but all here in Europe feel with them, their anger, their grief, their search in the shadows for someone to bring to justice. My heart goes out to anyone affected by this tragedy and all Spaniards who feel the loss.
This is not the first terrorism related tragedy to strike Europe, of course. There's been worse, but nevertheless, this is an ill omen. With the attacks in Turkey not long ago, there was a sense that Al Queada was moving closer to Europe and now they may have taken the step here.
I'm a horrid cynic for hoping with every fibre in my being that this is ETA. I don't want the 'war on terror' (what's with that idiotic name, anyway? As if war isn't terror...) on our front lawn. It's a terribly selfish thing to wish for, but there it is. Europe's had (and have, I suppose) enough troubles with homegrown terrorists and extremist groups to be straddled with Islamic extremists as well. It would do nothing good for the racism problems Europe's already struggling with, either. I was so hoping that all the blood shed in Europe this last century, would be blood enough for this century as well.
But I guess there is never enough blood shed - not in Europe, not in Asia, not in any part of the world - for there are still those whom blood have no meaning for. It's just means to an end.
Sometimes, that is true of non-terrorists as well. And every time that happens, the terrorists win. Let us not have a war on terror. War is a negative word, implying death and blood, that your opponents are soldiers. These people are no soldiers. They are criminals.
Is it not better to call it something like a placification of terror? With a pledge - to stand strong in the face of fear and never let fear weaken the principles of human rights; to let terrorists know justice for blood shed; and to honour the blood lost by never giving terrorists what they want. I don't want to give them a war. And if Al Queada has come to Europe, I hope Europe will give them nothing but disgust and calm, unbiased justice for crimes committed.
Anything else will be giving them more than they deserve. There's been enough wars in Europe already. Let us not make another one.
(Of course, what I'd really like to do is to get a hold of the people responsible for this atrocity and tear them limb from limb. But engaging my worst instincts is probably not a great idea. I mean, if I did that on a daily basis, I probably would have done griveous bodily harm to John Howard and the Shrub long ago.)
