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SUNDAY SPECTATOR
August 20, 2006
Make war not love
I must say, my spirits were lifted this week, when a bunch of “pro-war Buddhist monks” (so described by the news agency) in Colombo, Sri Lanka, attacked a rostrum on which Hindu, Muslim, Christian, and Buddhist clerical peaceniks were posing themselves.The peaceniks were promoting various acts of appeasement towards the psychopaths in Sri Lanka’s northern jungles, who are called the Tamil Tigers. But mostly, they were like peaceniks anywhere -- on the lookout for a photo opportunity. I must admit, there is a certain thrill in sanctimony, even when, as in the West, it involves taking no risks -- and the harm you do, by undermining people who are risking their lives, can only come to others. That does not make it less evil, however. In my experience, the sanctimonious pose is the invariable indicator of a fraud, before God and his fellow man. You find that, the moment his ideals are put to the test. Whereas, truly righteous indignation is not a pose, and will endure testing. Naturally, the peaceniks fought back when attacked. Their prescriptions are only meant for others. It was a good scuffle, according to Reuters journalists. Although, “There were no reports of any serious injuries.” Nearly a thousand people have been slaughtered, this year alone, by the Tamil Tigers, who use, who even pioneered, many of the techniques that fanatical Muslim terrorists now use around the world. They are for instance the original “suicide bombers”, according to one account; and pioneering recruiters of women and children for sucker-punch terror hits. Their fanaticism is more ethnic than Hindu -- but anti-Muslim as well as anti-Sinhalese. Arguing with them is as pointless an activity as this planet offers. They are armed, organized, determined, ruthless, and the thing to do is kill them. Capturing them is only a holding action, because they will return to slaughter the moment after they're released. As usual, the Western media tends to romanticize the Tamil Tigers, and gives easily-distracted attention to any “war crimes” that could possibly be charged against the legitimate forces of the government of Sri Lanka. What can I say? It is hard to account for the behaviour of some Western journalists without a fairly robust theory of demonic possession. I’m sure the pro-war Buddhist monks would agree. All I can say is, “Bravo, pro-war Buddhist monks!” You do honour to your saffron robes. Am I a war-monger, as many of my correspondents, and some journalistic colleagues, are eager to suggest? I am glad they are able to get something right. When there is a war to fight, and no alternative to fighting it, you bet I am a war-monger. The sooner we have destroyed the enemy, the sooner we can get back to sucking our thumbs. The rostrum I should particularly like to attack -- ideally with the help of a few battle-seasoned Buddhist monks -- is that upon which the West’s diplomatic community has arranged itself this week, after brokering a Lebanese ceasefire that leaves Hezbollah neither disarmed, nor accommodating; that leaves it waiting to have its missiles replenished by its masters in Tehran and Damascus. I must say, I felt particularly ill while reading Dr Condoleezza Rice’s defence of the infamy in Wednesday’s Washington Post. It contained the ridiculous lie that Hezbollah had earned “the blame of the world for causing the war”. (Lying is another indication of poor character.) The war wasn’t over. Israel hadn’t won it yet. They had no business signing a ceasefire agreement before Hezbollah had been destroyed. The rest of the world had no business making them sign a ceasefire, that the whole Muslim world is reading as a “hudna” (a deceitful peace, allowing one’s own side to regroup). I can only hope a few lessons are learned, and that the next round in this war will end differently. In the meantime, do not ask peace from Israel. The sponsors of Hezbollah and Hamas, chiefly Iran and Syria, have been perfectly candid about their intentions: “Ceasefire now, annihilation later.” I am a Catholic. We have our own history with the Jews. But forget that: no time to discuss it. If the reader of this column is a Jew, I want him to go to the mirror right away, and say one thousand times, “Never again!” And I want every Catholic, every Christian, every decent person, Muslims included, to say the same on Israel’s behalf. This is a war -- a real, honest-to-goodness war between irreconcilables -- and it ends not in ceasefire, but in victory or defeat. David Warren
© Ottawa Citizen
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