Headwaters of War
This morning, I came upon a blog that proclaimed: “terrorism itself was not even thought about before September 11th.”
This blogger learned history from “Stewie and Family Guy,” whoever they are. Maybe “Stewie and Family Guy” never thought about “terrorism” before 2001, but others did - like the Irish and British, and the Basques and Spanish, and the Turks and Greeks, and the Communists and the Free World (which includes the U.S.). That is before we even get to tiny Israel and the Israelis who have lived with terrorism since time out of mind. Because terrorism had not been substantially inflicted against the homeland of the U.S. before September 11th, is to the credit of our government including our military who were able to keep us safe. However, many U.S. interests abroad were victims of cowardly terrorists, including the U.S. airmen asleep in the Khobar Towers, pictured here, in 1996.
When did this War on Terror begin? At the one year anniversary of September 11th, I wrote at The Spirit of September 11th, that I believe the War on Terror began almost 30 years ago in the days of Jimmy Carter, when American citizens were taken as hostages in Iran. Perhaps “Stewie and Family Guy” were not alive then, therefore are clueless.
Others believe this current war is but a new phase in an old war that began in the seventh century. The second phase of that war was fought with Sulieman and ended with the Siege of Vienna in 1683. I guess “Stewie and Family Guy” never learned about the Turks outside of the Gates of Vienna, when all of Europe was about to be overrun by the military forces of Mohammed. Europe was saved, for a few centuries, but that war never ended. Since “Stewie and Family Guy” and the blogger cited above obviously eschew the reading of history books, perhaps they could learn a bit from reading the blog “Gates of Vienna” which describes this current war as a continuation of an ancient conflict of cultures that began in the seventh century.
“When the Turks stood at the Gates of Vienna it seemed that all of Europe would be overrun by the legions of the Prophet. This war never ended. While many individual treaties were made between various states over the centuries, no truce was ever declared between Islam and the infidels, and no permanent peace was established.” (Gates of Vienna)
We are now in the third wave which began with either: 1) the establishment of the Muslim Brotherhood in 1928 by Hasan al-Banna; or 2) the Iranian Hostage Crisis in 1979; or 3) September 11th, 2001 - take your pick.
July 2002 ~ They Are Trying To Kill Us! ~ The first anniversary of September 11th is upon us and there is talk of a loss of interest in our fight against the evildoers. Some are hoping to wish the bad things of terrorism away. We cannot do that - we are under mortal threat. Just this week four nicely dressed young men walked into a Christian school in Pakistan and began shooting to kill the small American, Australian and European students there. Failing, because the youngsters were hidden behind strongly fortified doors, the gunmen calmly walked into a nearby woods and found some of the school’s employees hiding in a tree and shot them dead. A teacher heard the murderers exclaim “God is good!”
These people are trying to kill us! They are trying to kill our children and grandchildren!
- 1983 - 2 suicide car bombings embassy and Marine barracks in Beirut: 300 killed
- 1993 - World Trade Center bombing: only 6 killed
- 1995 - Saudi Arabia: 7 killed
- 1996 - Khobar Towers, Saudi Arabia: 19 killed
- 1997 - Pakistan: 5 U.S. oil-workers murdered
- 1998 - U.S. embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam: 263 killed, 5,000 injured
- 2000, USS Cole in Yemen: 17 killed
- 2001 - World Trade Center.
When will we get the message? They are trying to kill us!
I formerly was concerned that young Americans of today were learning current news and politics from late night comics on television. This new revelation that they are learning history from cartoon characters such as Stewie and Family Guy is indeed troubling. Is there no hope for the future?
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Thanks for bashing my post. First of all, you missed the point. The joke about Stewie and Osama was not to imply that we learn our history from them. It was that they mock history as a joke, and if you took it to mean that we, the young, learn history from these shows, you obviously need to get out and talk with us more. Thankfully, some bright person invented this thing called ‘the internet.’ Yeah. It’s what we usually use. That way, we get all the sides of the argument and decide for ourselves. Then we watch family guy to get some comic relief and lighten up how stupid we look in the eyes of the world. I don’t pretend to understand the terrorists, but it seems to me that this is their own twisted way of standing up for what they believe in. They don’t ‘hate our freedoms’ or plan to ‘destroy our way of life’ as we have been led to believe, but in their minds, this is the best way to send us a message that we are somewhere we shouldn’t be. And don’t you dare say I’m pro-terrorist or supporting them. The war on terror may have begun thirty years ago, but now it is only a front that is part of a bigger lie. Oh and another couple things: Stewie is a character in the show, which is called family guy. The joke refers to an episode. Nobody takes family guy seriously or as history. And lastly, those talk shows are nearly as bad as mainstream media news. At least the shows make it more funny and less vicious. So next time you decide to write this kind of crap, I’ll thank you to re-read my damn post before even mentioning in yours, and if you do, at least link to it so people interested in the horrors of my work can realize how badly you’ve twisted my words.
Comment by the scentless apprentice — May 30, 2008 @ 12:12 pm
Oh, I almost forgot to mention.When I said ‘terrorism wasn’t thought about…’ you missed that point there, too. I meant that it did not exist in the way it is used now, as a very broad and discriminatory term. Of course I didn’t mean it was invented then and never happened before this or anything like that. It’s used now to generalize, and that is wrong. The kind of fear the government has instilled in its people for its own uses is evident in your post. 9/11 became an excuse to invade Iraq. And uh, yeah, there’s hope for the future. Maybe if we (the young of this nation) watch cartoons and listen to our music, we’ll be too busy to start wars and go around killing each other. They say you learn everything you need to know in kindergarten. Staring with sharing, I’d say that’s damn right. Our cartoons and shows and music often point out how terrible violence is. We laugh, sure, but at least we realize that it’s an attempt to lighten up the horrible future you previous generations have created for us. Because it’s going to be hard for us to make it worse than you already have.
Comment by the scentless apprentice — May 30, 2008 @ 12:27 pm
The Siege of Vienna by the Turks from “The Awakening of Europe” by M. B. Synge
Practically all of human history can be summed up as a battle between civilization and barbarism. Most thinking people would agree that the battle we are in today against terrorism, is a continuation of the battles our ancestors fought against barbarism. We, the Free World, are civilized; the terrorists are barbarous. If those are mean-spirited, discriminatory words, so be it. There is nothing I can see about terrorism that is civilized. Terrorism deserves eternal damnation, for not only is it barbarism - it is COWARDLY barbarism!
“The Story of the Middle Ages” by Samuel B. Harding is on the “Internet.” Why not read it? Or you can listen:
Chapter 7: Franks and Mohammedans
Chapter 11: The First Crusade
Comment by Kerfuffles — May 30, 2008 @ 2:45 pm
Ok, now when you say the free world, you ARE referring to the U.S., right? This wonderful country where we can have our house bugged without knowing? Where we have blacklists, and Guantanamo conveniently located nearby? Where schools censor what pages we access online with the same companies that are used for censorship by the Chinese government? You see, kerfuffles, you obviously have a God-given talent for missing the point, because apparently no matter how clear I was, you did it again. I actually did say I did NOT condone terrorism, or say it was justified, all I was saying was that it has become an excuse for the U.S. government to invade Iraq. There’s no chance in hell that I would want to be a terrorist, or take people’s lives to prove a point. As well, terrorism is often used in America to group together the middle east, not only those radicals who are willing to kill themselves for this. Another thing- I find it disrespectful even to radicals like them to say ‘cowardly.’ I dare say that nobody I know believes in their ideals enough that they would willingly sacrifice themselves for those ideals. Again, I resent you making it sound like I’m being pro-terrorist, I don’t agree with what they do. So if you have something else you want to take up with me, feel free to look at my second post on this, its my URL, just click it. I’m glad you’re a fan of sarcasm, too, but next time: put it to better use ;) Oh and link to my post next time you wanna argue. Thanks.
Comment by the scentless apprentice — May 30, 2008 @ 8:29 pm
Although I don’t believe that history should be take from “Family Guy”, a television show, I believe that “the scentless apprentice” has a point that terrorists are people too.
Comment by cooper2634 — May 30, 2008 @ 9:17 pm
“terrorists are people too?”
Give me “Stewie” and Huey, Louie and Dewey too as my people anyday over terrorists.
Comment by Kerfuffles — May 30, 2008 @ 11:05 pm
When will you people get the idea that NO I am NOT taking history or indeed any information from Family Guy! The comment about Stewie and Osama was a joke referring to an episode where Stewie beats up Osama. If you still don’t get it, you obviously aren’t reading my comments or my posts. the comment about family guy WAS A JOKE. And yes, cooper2634, they are people too, just with the wrong values. But honestly, if you had lived an oppressive country all your life and had terrible things happen to you and your family and friends because of your (and other) governments, wouldn’t you do anything (well nearly so) to send a message about what you believed? I don’t agree with what they do, in fact I think it’s a waste of life on both sides, negotiation works much better, but still. They do have a reason, even if it gets blown out of proportion.
Comment by the sentless apprentice — May 31, 2008 @ 12:01 pm
Kinda strange how Bush had detailed warplans for the invasion of Afghanistan all ready to go, on his desk and awaiting his signature two days BEFORE 9/11, being approved a day before.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/1550366.stm
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4587368/
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4585010/ Now how do you think Bush (Cheney rather) would be able to make such an enormous decision, knowing that without a 9/11 event the U.S. populace would be heavily against any invasion of Afghanistan? Is Bush psychic? Of course not. Neither are the Twin Towers magical. But even the official myth’s own 9/11 whitewash commission and N.I.S.T. both admit the Twin Towers came down at freefall rate, meaning as quickly as falling through air. Meaning the uppermost mass “fell” into and THROUGH the remaining vast majority of solid concrete and steel skyscraper as quickly (meaning as EFFORTLESSLY) as falling through air, which is only possible if something e.g. explosives renders said solid majority of the building to such a state of offering no more resistance than air. Otherwise it’s not happening in the real world. Anyone with common sense can easily see the problem with solid buildings offering no more resistance than air.
Think it could have something to do with the oil and natural gas pipelines proposed to be built from Turkmenistan across Afghanistan to Pakistan and India?
http://www.btinternet.com/~nlpwessex/Documents/armitageafghanattack.htm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/2017044.stm
http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0513/p05s01-wosc.html
http://www.gasandoil.com/goc/news/ntc64919.htm
And to later be used as an excuse for the illegal, unprovoked invasion of Iraq which “just happens” to be sitting on a lake of crude oil with the potential to be the world’s 2nd-largest oil producer.
So if you want to find the “headwaters of terrorism” start looking in Langley, Virginia.
Comment by Lev — June 2, 2008 @ 9:40 pm
Let’s see - one moment you are telling us that George Bush is an intellectually challenged dummy who has no brains, and then the very next moment you describe him as an evil genius Dr. Strangelove. Which is it? Is he a criminal mastermind of a vast global cartel which includes the royal family of Saudi Arabia and world-wide oil enterprises, bent on self-enrichment and world domination, and able to karate-chop skyscrapers through thin air with his bare hands, or is he a blooming idiot?
Did you know that George Bush himself is wholly responsible for the colliding and crashing within your brain of these dissonant beliefs? Did you know that President George Bush is causing you to lose grip on reality and truth? In fact, it is wholly Bush’s fault that you have already fallen into the closed black cavern of BDS Psychiatric Disorder.
Comment by Kerfuffles — June 2, 2008 @ 10:23 pm