George W. Bush still does not get it. He insists that the terrorists hate us because of our freedom. NO THEY DON’T!!!!!! What sheer, utter nonsense. If you don’t understand the task or problem at hand how can you come up with an appropriate fix? This is part of the reason that the Bush Presidency is in shambles. Call it the hubris of stupidity.
Let’s start with the basics. There is no such thing as a terrorist. There are individuals who engage in terrorist acts and many of those persons are affiliated in one fashion or another with a group of some sort. But “terrorist”? Doesn’t exist as an entity in and of itself.
The groups most keen on doing us in at the moment are Islamic extremists, largely Sunni, who swear allegiance of sorts to Osama Bin Laden. And what does Bin Laden want? God’s rule on earth. He sees the United States as a godless nation, full of pedophiles, drug addicts, and prostitutes. He sees a nation that tramples on the rights of other people in order to suck their natural resources from the ground. For Osama it is about faith and obedience. It has zippo to do with “freedom”.
Now, if you paid attention to the Bin Laden check list it probably reminded you a bit of the agenda of our own American religious extremists. What rich irony. A President waiting for the rapture complaining about Islamic extremists who want to destroy us because we are sinners.
That’s where the real battle needs to be waged. We need to confront religious extremism and intolerance. The President who presides over a Republican party committed to harassing homosexuals, denying global warming, preaching creationism, and sneering at science is frankly just a couple of steps removed from Islamic crazies hunkered over their prayer mats and praying to Allah.
At least most people of faith in the world–Christians, Moslems, and Jews–are not fanatics. Unfortunately the helm of two countries–the United States and Iran–are in the hands of such fanatics. It is an uncomfortable truth but it is still true. When a President consults his Father in heaven about the decision to invade Iraq, pray tell how that mindset differs from an Osama Bin Laden who is convinced that his God told him to strike the evil in America. Religious nuttery is nuts regardless of the particulars of the theology.
Left unsaid by George Bush is this terrible fact–his religious crusade to spread the faith of freedom in a land split between Sunni and Shia factions remains intact. God save us because our man of faith is still intent on going after the other religious kook in Iran.
