I'm somewhat ambivalent about the folk that hosted the Mohammed cartoon even in Garland that drew an ISIS-inspired terror attack to the North Texas town. The organizers have the right, of course, to do any sort of event they like so long as they are peaceful about it and people have the right to say whatever they want about it so long as they too are peaceful. But the people who organized this had to know they were painting a target on themselves by deliberately offending the Muslim community in this fashion. Were they putting lives at risk, had the terrorist attack against the even spilled over into the nearby community or gotten officers killed or injured? It's a difficult question that every community will have to answer for themselves.
That said, setting these sorts of entrapment events to draw out jihadis isn't necessarily such a bad idea if our only concern were eliminating jihadis. Even ISIS was thrilled to claim credit for the attack, which gives you an idea how hard up for headlines they are, given the anti-climactic results.
- Jihadi jumps out of car, draws his weapon and shouts, "Allahu............Ack!" and drops to the ground.
- Second jihadi jumps out of the car and reaches for his weapon................"Ack!" and drops to the ground.
- A hail of bullets strike the fallen jihadis from all sides.
- "Terrorism" managed!
There is something to say for throwing the occasional provacative anti-ISIL or anti-Al-Quaeda event. It would after all, give bored jihadis something to do with all that pent-up anger they're carrying around. I am suggested that such such an outrageously provacative thing as this kind of event might have a purpose, because I have this fear is that unless we throw up these kinds of incendiary and flagrantly obvious targets, the ISIS-inspired jihadis, who are already in the States, are going to eventually become bored and restless. If that happens, they will, as they've done elsewhere in the world, finally resort to conducting random terrorist attacks in less conspicuous places that are offensive to radical Islamists like gay pride parades, Florida Spring Break wet t-shirt contests, Femininst rallies, synagogues, Bhuddist temples, flea markets, buses and Christian church services.
Perhaps such honey traps might serve to draw the inevitable jihadi attacks away from peaceful folk and put jihadis where we can see them clearly. We might at the very least reduce the number of breathing jihadis in America. You'd think these two ego-maniacs would have twigged to the idea that someone might be waiting for them in Garland, but noooooooo.
And no, I won't call them by their names. I believe their names should be deliberately forgotten. I can think of other more colorful things to call them. Let's not immortalize their names and make martyrs out of two guys who were almost cartoon characters themselves. Ironic, given they were attacking a cartoon convention.
I don't think front-line terrorists are being chosen for their vast brain-power these days. I don't really think it's going to sink in to these guys that they are being lured to their doom every time a bunch of heavily armed rednecks do something deliberately offensive to Islam. Since 9/11, the U.S. has picked off most of the terrorist leaders with any brains anyway, although our current president seems intent on letting them back out on the street lately. Whatever happens, the question is a difficult one to answer. Big game hunters used to stake out a goat in the jungle to lure in the tigers. Not very sporting, but an effective way to get yourself a nice tiger skin rug.
Whether we want to encourage a repeat of the Garland incident by hosting more blatantly anti-Islamist events like the Mohammed cartoon event or not is part of a larger moral debate that frankly, we each must conduct within ourselves. We really have no say-so as to whether such events should be held or whether someone ought to go jihadi because of them. Alls we can do is choose not to participate in something designed to offend others if we decide it's wrong to do so. It is not our business to make them stop.
In the meantime, what about the Garland beat cop who put a stop to the attack in short order?You know, once in a while you see a news story about the part if the
country where you grew up and you think, YES! I'M FROM THERE! THOSE
ARE MY PEOPLE! The guy who single-handledly put "PAID" to these two
accounts is 60 years old (my age). He's been on the force for 38 years and practices
so often at the gun range and is such an outstanding marksman that he was able to take
down not one, but two heavily armed terrorists in body armor before either could get 20 feet from their car. I mean
that's how we deal with terrorists in TEXAS!
We Texans have a message for ISIS:
Don't mess with Texas,
you terrorists, but if you insist, we'll be happy to send you on to where you can find out
for yourself that there ain't no virgins waitin' for you. They ought to allow that Garland officer to
paint a couple of ISIS symbols on the door of his squad car. He's just 3
short of being an ace now.
I'm sorry for being a little sanguine here and I
apologize to my friends who are Muslim, but these guys were very bad men as even members of several Islamic groups and everyone but their mothers have admitted. And this doesn't ONLY apply to Islamist jihadis. I don't like any brand of terrorist. I'd have advocated
painting a white pointy hood on the car if he'd taken down a KKK terrorist burning churches back in the 60s or a Symbionese Liberation Army bank robber in the 70s. A terrorist is a terrorist. Some people are just
evil and that's that. They self-identify as evil. They murder and
terrorize innocent people. It's time we call evil by its name. You can
have evil opinions all day long, but as soon as you strap on body armor
and pick up an AK-47 or wire up a bomb, then it's time for right thinking men to step in and
protect the innocent. If two nations just want to slug it out over oil
or real estate or power, then count me out. I'm a pacifist. But start
murdering the innocent and I don't believe I can stand by any longer with my hands in my pockets.
To the Texas cop who took care of business, I say, "Good for you sir! God bless you for saving lives."
Just my opinion,
Tom King © 2015
