War begets terrorism begets war begets terrorism... etc

Note from Ed.: Walt began this piece around lunchtime yesterday, then got distracted by the terrorist attack -- for that's what it was -- in California. I asked him to get up early today and finish this, by which time the connection between these thoughts and the San Bernardino massacre should be clear. And so it is.

Three announcements were made today [Wednesday] in Washington, Ottawa and London, all connected more or less directly with the jihadist attacks in Paris. French President François Hollande has declared that his country is at war with ISIS, and has urged his NATO allies to do more to help.

In Washington, it was announced that the Paranoid States of America would be sending a few dozen more "advisers" to help the good guys fighting ISIS in Syria. Their problem, of course, will be identifying the good guys -- separating the sheep from the goats, as it were. Nevertheless, dozens of American troops will be on the ground in Syria within a few days. Then hundreds. Then thousands. (Walt's lifetime pct .985)

In Ottawa, Rona Ambrose, the fragrant new (interim) leader of Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition, has urged Canada's hot new Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, to reverse his decision to withdraw Canada's CF-18 fighter-bombers -- all six (6) of them -- from the mission against ISIS in Syria. Ms Ambrose told her caucus that there are times when you have to "go out to meet the enemy".

In London, British Prime Minister David Cameron won (on the second try) the support of the House of Commons for Britain to join the "coalition". This was after an intense debate of over ten hours, just before which Mr. Cameron is said to have accused those who didn't support British intervention in Syria of being "terrorist sympathizers".

So... the terrorist attacks in Paris lead to an increase in the West's involvement in the Muslim civil war in the Middle East. The Arabs, unsurprisingly, aren't altogether pleased to have the "crusaders" "helping out", while dropping death from the air on thousands of innocent civilians and generally laying waste to the already barren countryside.

Some of the militant Islamists are so displeased that they decide to go and meet their enemies -- that would be US -- on their (OUR) soil -- Madrid, London, Paris... or San Bernardino. And so the wheel of death turns, becoming ever more vicious, ever more unstoppable.

In A War Against Truth: An Intimate Account of the Invasion of Iraq (Raincoast Books 2004), Paul William Roberts writes: If our response to terrorism is merely to terrorize other people in return, we are not in fact fighting terrorism at all, we are creating yet more terrorism for the future.

In 1997, the American Defense Science Board reported that "historical data show a strong correlation between U.S. involvement in international situations and an increase in terrorist attacks against the United States." Given that "involvement" is a standard euphemism for covert or overt military intervention, what you have there is the real explanation for terrorist acts.

Indeed. That brings us to what happened in San Bernardino, which is my topic for the next post.