Newsweek killings: The deeper story.
The deeper story behind last week's deadly Newsweek blunder really depends on why one believes the muslim extremists hate us here in the west. There are two schools of thought:
1) They hate us because of our foreign policies. They are simply reacting to myriad wrongs that we have done to brown peoples across the globe. They are upset over how America uses it's political, economic, and military might to keep the little man down.
2) They hate us because of a fundamental difference in ideological worldview. The western concept of a society ruled by individual concience flies in the face of their concept of a superior society ruled by a religious minority. Rather than change their worldview, which to them is holy writ, they invoke jihad.
If you're a member of the first school, than the deeper story behind Newsweek is whether there really are abuses at the hands of the military (and whether said abuse was authorized by the Bush administration) going on at Gitmo and around the world.
If you're a member of the second, than the deeper story is how there are muslim extremists out there willing to pounce on a false story in order to propagandize against the west. With deadly results.
I admit to subscribing to the second school. The things that keep me awake at night are not visions of Lyndie England stripping prisoners, but rather, another 9/11, or worse. To crib from Limbaugh, there are two wars going on right now. President Bush is leading us in the fight against a radical minority of the muslim world who want to subjugate first their fellow muslims and then all other societies, while Newsweek and others, subscribers to the first school, are warring against George W. Bush.
1) They hate us because of our foreign policies. They are simply reacting to myriad wrongs that we have done to brown peoples across the globe. They are upset over how America uses it's political, economic, and military might to keep the little man down.
2) They hate us because of a fundamental difference in ideological worldview. The western concept of a society ruled by individual concience flies in the face of their concept of a superior society ruled by a religious minority. Rather than change their worldview, which to them is holy writ, they invoke jihad.
If you're a member of the first school, than the deeper story behind Newsweek is whether there really are abuses at the hands of the military (and whether said abuse was authorized by the Bush administration) going on at Gitmo and around the world.
If you're a member of the second, than the deeper story is how there are muslim extremists out there willing to pounce on a false story in order to propagandize against the west. With deadly results.
I admit to subscribing to the second school. The things that keep me awake at night are not visions of Lyndie England stripping prisoners, but rather, another 9/11, or worse. To crib from Limbaugh, there are two wars going on right now. President Bush is leading us in the fight against a radical minority of the muslim world who want to subjugate first their fellow muslims and then all other societies, while Newsweek and others, subscribers to the first school, are warring against George W. Bush.