by Victor Davis Hanson<\/p>\n
Tribune Media Services<\/p>\n
For three days, Islamist gunmen nearly shut down Mumbai, the financial center of India.The terrorists \u2014 Pakistani militants, according to Indian authorities \u2014 murdered almost 200 innocents and left hundreds of others wounded, giving reprieve only to hostages they thought were Muslims.<\/p>\n
The timing of their assault seemed aimed for maximum shock value here in the U.S. \u2014 during the transference of American presidential power and amid a long U.S. holiday in which millions of Americans were glued to televised news.<\/p>\n
The macabre killing spree was apparently part of a larger, though failed, effort to shoot or blow up a planned 5,000 civilians \u2014 especially Americans, Brits and Jews. The jihadists may have hoped that India would heed Islamist warnings to loosen its connections to Western finance and commerce, and pay better attention to Muslim grievances.<\/p>\n
There are a number of things to take away from the Mumbai atrocities.<\/p>\n
First was the welcome re-emergence of concerned discussion of the dangers of global Islamist violence. George Bush apparently was not fabricating a global terrorist bogeyman \u2014 as was sometimes alleged over the last years of calm \u2014 when he sought support for his war in Iraq and domestic security measures.<\/p>\n
In fact, caricatured efforts like the Patriot Act, the FISA accords, the detention center at Guantanamo Bay, the fostering of Middle East constitutional government, and the killing of violent insurgents abroad in Afghanistan and Iraq might seem once again understandable in the context of preventing another major violent terrorist attack of the sort we just saw at Mumbai.<\/p>\n
Second, in the fashion of the old post-9\/11 apologists, we were lectured once again that global terrorism is not necessarily an Islamic phenomenon. Supposedly the poverty and mistreatment of India’s Muslim minority, not jihadist ideology and hatred, better explain India’s incessant sectarian violence. That theory of victimhood is no more convincing now than it was in 2001.<\/p>\n
Transnational\u00a0<\/em>terrorism still remains mostly Islamist in nature. Very few impoverished Hindu, Christian or Sikh terrorists go abroad to murder civilians. Nor are the wretched poor of Brazil or Haiti organizing mass-murdering assaults against foreigners and Western iconic targets in their cities.<\/p>\n Third, the serial excuses of Pakistan are also beginning to wear thin. Hundreds of Indians have been killed by Pakistani terrorists, who have routinely attacked both foreigners and Christians in their own country. It is now over seven years since more than 3,000 innocent Americans were murdered on orders from terrorists now all but certainly in sanctuary in Pakistan \u2014 and whom we are still told cannot be extradited.<\/p>\n So despite billions of dollars in American military and financial assistance given to Pakistan, nothing really changes. When pressed to explain the apparent role of the Pakistani military or intelligence services in turning a blind eye to jihadists, the government \u2014 whether a Pervez Musharraf in uniform or now civilian President Asif Ali Zardari (formerly known as “Mr. Ten Percent” for allegations of graft) \u2014 still politely offers a variety of clich\u00e9s.<\/p>\n The Pakistani borderlands are beyond the government’s control. Pressuring the existing government for either more order or more democracy will lead only to worse alternatives \u2014 such as a takeover by fundamentalist clerics, authoritarian generals, or weak democrats whose plebiscites will ensure rule by popular fanatics. No Pakistani leader of any stripe ever quite takes responsibility of the government for the mayhem committed by its own citizens or foreigners on its soil.<\/p>\n Instead, there always seems an implied threat that it would be unwise to push too far a volatile Pakistan that possesses nuclear weapons, or whose fanaticism makes it immune from classical laws of nuclear deterrence, or whose poverty and mismanagement ensure that it simply cannot be expected to meet international norms of behavior.<\/p>\n Fourth, the problem of Pakistan and the Islamist terrorism that so frequently emanates from its soil will now be President-elect Obama’s to deal with. He will have to decide whether George Bush’s anti-terrorism architecture shredded the Constitution and should be repealed, or helped to keep us safe from attack for seven years, and thus should be maintained, if not strengthened.<\/p>\n Obama once advocated open intrusions into Pakistan in hot pursuit of terrorists, and will have to adjudicate whether such actions will more likely enrage nuclear Pakistan or finally eliminate the followers of Osama bin Laden. At the same time, Obama also must ponder whether he should continue our subsidized “alliance” with Pakistan.<\/p>\n Just as I didn’t envy George Bush’s lose\/lose dilemma in dealing with Pakistan and global Islamic terrorism, so too I can only sympathize with President-elect Obama, who faces the same dismal choices.<\/p>\n \u00a92008 Tribune Media Services<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Victor Davis Hanson Tribune Media Services For three days, Islamist gunmen nearly shut down Mumbai, the financial center of India.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[736],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p466Sb-Pr","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1402,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ground-zero-mosque\/","url_meta":{"origin":3189,"position":0},"title":"Ground Zero Mosque","author":"victorhanson","date":"August 12, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Why it is counterproductive to the Islamist cause. by Raymond Ibrahim PJ Media While vexing to many, the\u00a0mega mosque\u00a0set to be built two blocks from Ground Zero has produced one interesting but unintended consequence: like the 9\/11 strikes a decade before it, the \"9\/11 mosque\" is also creating a stir,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Raymond Ibrahim"","block_context":{"text":"Raymond Ibrahim","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/our-contributors\/raymond-ibrahim\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6383,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/a-terror-leader-behind-bars-in-egypt\/","url_meta":{"origin":3189,"position":1},"title":"A Terror Leader Behind Bars in Egypt","author":"victorhanson","date":"August 27, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"by Raymond Ibrahim \/\/\u00a0FrontPage Magazine The supreme leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, the head of the Islamist snake, Muhammad Badie\u2014who had slipped security forces by traveling in and out of the\u00a0Brotherhood torture camps\u00a0(known as \u201cpeaceful sits ins\u201d by the mainstream media\u201d)\u2014has finally been arrested in Egypt and is awaiting trial.\u00a0\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Egypt"","block_context":{"text":"Egypt","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/the-world\/the-middle-east\/egypt\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2158,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/sacrificing-americans-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":3189,"position":2},"title":"Sacrificing Americans","author":"victorhanson","date":"November 12, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"by Victor Davis Hanson NRO's\u00a0The Corner Many in the media are arguing there is nothing more to the Major Hasan mass murder than derangement and the various personal \"issues\" that \"set him off.\" But there are two considerations that argue against such an interpretation. First, we look for patterns in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "November 2009"","block_context":{"text":"November 2009","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/archives\/2009\/november-2009\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3342,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ideals-trump-interests-in-obamas-libya-policy\/","url_meta":{"origin":3189,"position":3},"title":"Ideals Trump Interests in Obama’s Libya Policy","author":"victorhanson","date":"April 15, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"by Raymond Ibrahim Hudson New York President Obama's\u00a0recent explanation\u00a0for militarily engaging Libya is yetanother example\u00a0of how US leaders increasingly rationalize their policies via sentimental and idealistic platitudes, rather than reality or the long view \u2014 or just plain common sense. In a speech replete with moralizing intonations, Obama did manage\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Libya"","block_context":{"text":"Libya","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/the-world\/the-middle-east\/libya\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2217,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/an-open-question-to-osama-bin-laden-or-any-other-islamist\/","url_meta":{"origin":3189,"position":4},"title":"An Open Question to Osama Bin Laden–or Any Other Islamist","author":"victorhanson","date":"October 14, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"by Raymond Ibrahim PJ Media Ever since 9\/11, when Osama bin Laden was thrust into the spotlight, he has made it a point to occasionally submit questions to Americans \u2014 questions which he apparently thinks are unanswerable. In\u00a0his last message\u00a0[1] \u201ccommemorating\u201d 9\/11, for instance, after rehashing the storyline that the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Raymond Ibrahim"","block_context":{"text":"Raymond Ibrahim","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/our-contributors\/raymond-ibrahim\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4090,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/radical-muslims-in-america-all-the-benefits-and-still-turning-to-jihad\/","url_meta":{"origin":3189,"position":5},"title":"Radical Muslims in America: All the Benefits and Still Turning to Jihad","author":"victorhanson","date":"January 16, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"by Raymond Ibrahim Hudson New York Recent remarks by Attorney General\u00a0Eric Holder\u00a0on the threat posed by \"radicalized\" American Muslims are revealing \u2014 not just because of what they say regarding the domestic situation, but for their international implications as well. According to Holder: \u201c[T]he threat is real, the threat is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Terrorism"","block_context":{"text":"Terrorism","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/war-on-terror\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3189"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3189"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3189\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3190,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3189\/revisions\/3190"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3189"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3189"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3189"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}