Know Thy Enemy
Reported by Eleanor - June 29, 2004 -
On Fox News this morning (June 29, 10:15 a.m. ET) and again on CNN' s Anderson Cooper 360 at 7:30 p.m., Michael Ware, a Times Magazine reporter who spent months with the insurgents in Iraq, sounded an alarm that we all should hear. On both networks, he said the same thing: That we are now involved in a holy war for the soul of Islam. This New Jihad sees the U.S. as a mortal enemy that must be crushed. Considering Ware's anti-Bush views, in blaming the Iraq War for opening a "Pandora's Box" of violence, I was pleased that Fox let Michael Ware say what was on his mind.
On Fox News, Ware said that a year ago, the insurgents were young Iraqis resisting the U.S. occupation of their country, and they were not terrorists. Now, the terrorists have hijacked them. We are faced with "an international jihad against the infidel crusaders." According to Ware, "the West knows little about Iraq." It is now "fertile ground for religious conservatives." We have opened the borders, by not protecting them. The terrorists' goals have changed. "We gave them a platform, inspiring jihad."
On CNN, Ware continued along the same lines. Cooper asked, "How do they defend the killing of civilians and muslims?" Ware responded that a year ago, a muslim life was worth more to them than an American life. Now, a year later, things have changed. "Suicide bombing is more acceptable than before." They are willing to sacrifice muslims to kill Americans. "They cannot apologize for innocent victims because they go straight to paradise."
Ware ends with, "Who is our enemy? What is motivating them? Know thy enemy."
I have no comment that will add anything to this. Michael Ware knows his subject very well, and I'm unqualified to add to or detract from anything he had to say.
