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You Know, Terrorism Did Exist Before Iraq

Jimmie | July 21, 2005 | Comments (0)

Australiam PM John Howard was with Tony Blair when the press questioned him about today’s bombings. Howard’s response to one particularly nutty question about whether or not the bombings had anything to do with Iraq is well worth reading. Here’s an excerpt:

Can I just say very directly, Paul, on the issue of the policies of my government and indeed the policies of the British and American governments on Iraq, that the first point of reference is that once a country allows its foreign policy to be determined by terrorism, it’s given the game away, to use the vernacular. And no Australian government that I lead will ever have policies determined by terrorism or terrorist threats, and no self-respecting government of any political stripe in Australia would allow that to happen.

Can I remind you that the murder of 88 Australians in Bali took place before the operation in Iraq.

And I remind you that the 11th of September occurred before the operation in Iraq.

Can I also remind you that the very first occasion that bin Laden specifically referred to Australia was in the context of Australia’s involvement in liberating the people of East Timor. Are people by implication suggesting we shouldn’t have done that?

In addition, The Australian has similar words debunking the “it’s all because of Iraq” meme and sharply rebukes the appeasement-mongers. Read the whole thing.

THE argument the London Underground bombings would not have occurred, or would have been far less likely to occur, without the US-led intervention in Iraq is so weak as barely to need refuting. In the first place, anybody who tells you they know conclusively why the Islamists perform the monstrous deeds they do is bluffing: the Islamists’ own statements of why they do what they do, and what they hope to achieve by it, are an impenetrable mish-mash containing elements of, among other things, religious fanaticism, anti-Semitism, pseudo-political polemic and a bizarre historical revenge drama stretching back to the Crusades. Second, the suggestion that what happened in London on 7/7 was blowback for Iraq conveniently overlooks a long sequence of Islamist outrages – including the Bali bombing, which claimed 88 Australian lives – that preceded the Iraq campaign and go back at least as far as the first World Trade Centre attack in 1993.

But if you’re still on the bubble, The Anchoress has a more graphical lesson in “al-Qaeda before Iraq” history that everyone ought to see. There are a couple photos there I bet you haven’t seen in nearly four years.

I still believe that the MSM’s embargo on 9/11 imagery is the biggest reason we can’t seem to remember what al-Qaeda had been doing before we deposed Saddam Hussein. They say that it’s so that we won’t get all excited and angry. I say they’re afraid that we won’t continue to accept their version of world history.