YOU HAVE TO KNOW YOUR ENEMY AND YOURSELF

Al Qaeda has claimed responsibility for scores of attacks across the Iraq. At
least 116 people were killed and about 300 wounded in bomb and gun attacks on
Monday. Eggheads say terrorism originates in the clash of cultures and foreign
meddling. Ein volk, ein ummah, ein Muhammad! Promised with 72 virgins in
heaven, martyrs have become the worst victims of Islam. But government is the
#1 terrorist organization! Many governments, especially the disgusting
government of Greece, terrorize their own people.

Greeks tend to persecute and ostracize their heroes and magnificent citizens.
Athenians killed Socrates, and they tried to kill Aristotle. Athenians
ostracized Themistocles, who fought against Darius's invading army at Marathon
and masterminded the Athenian victory against Xerxes at Salamis. Persecuted also
by Spartans, Themistocles fled to the Persian Empire and eventually found
employment at the Persian Court and was made governor of Magnesia, where he
lived out the rest of his life.

The freakish government of Greece is so stupid that it hoodwinked all media that
I conspired to trigger a war between Greece and Turkey and blame Mariliza
Xenogiannakopoulou, Alternate Minister of Foreign Affairs of Greece, for it!
Accusing dissident bloggers of treason, Graecokleptocrats have manufactured a
blood libel in cyberspace, which in turn incites hatred and violence. The
barbaric government of Greece gave my head on plate to Erdogan. Brutal
Graecokleptocrats have destroyed my life. My life is stolen. Now I demand my
life back! For those who are kind enough to contribute to my legal defense,
please click the Donate button on the right column of venitism blogspot.

Al Qaeda says: The Ministry of War has mobilized its sons and mujahideen
brigades and their military groups in a new blessed foray in the holy month of
Ramadan. Simultaneous and co-ordinated jihadist operations have swept across the
country in a spate which stunned the enemy, made him lose his sense and showed
the failure of intelligence and security plans which filled the world with noise
and bluster.

Most kleptocrats are complicit in today's terrorism. The answer to terrorism is
better intelligence, improved international cooperation, and limited use of
Special Forces, drones, and other limited means. In fact, intervention and war
make terrorism more likely. As Occident has expanded operations in Pakistan and
Yemen and backed foreign African military forces in Somalia, those nations have
become greater incubators of terrorism. Unfortunately, Occident creates
terrorists faster than it can kill them!

On Monday insurgents hit targets including Shi'ite areas of Baghdad, the Shi'ite
town of Taji to the north and the northern cities of Kirkuk and Mosul, hospital
and police sources said. Political tensions have escalated between Iraq's main
Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish factions since the U.S. withdrawal. Saudi Arabia
finances the Sunnis, and Iran finances the Shiites.

UK's biggest arms dealer, BAE Systems, bribed billions of pounds to Bandar bin
Sultan and other Saudi princes. The bribes were made with the full knowledge of
the British Ministry of Defense. The bribes were discovered during a Serious
Fraud Office (SFO) investigation, but the SFO inquiry was stopped by the
attorney general of UK, under pressure from the Royal House of Saudi Arabia.
Saudi Arabia's sink-in-chief, with the twinkling eye and hawkish views, is now
the spy-in-chief of the corrupt kingdom. Bandar finances many terrorist groups,
such as Mujahedin Khalq, al-Qaeda, and Fatah al-Islam.

Geoffrey Stone has always been skeptical of the notion of terrorism being a war
without end. When you were in the middle of World War II, or the middle of the
Civil War, you didn't know when it was going to end. You only knew when it was
going to end after it was over. It's true this is not a conventional war where
you can defeat the enemy in as neat a way as you could by capturing the
Confederate Army, but Stone suspects the war on terrorism will end.

Stone thinks the rhetoric of that is blown too much out of proportion on both
sides – among those who say we can't mess around here because it'll be a
life-and-death struggle as far as the eye can see, and those who say that there
won't be an end to this, so we have to be especially wary. Stone is much more
closely aligned with the latter. If you believe it's an unlimited war, or at
least a long war, then the message you should take from that is not that we
should pull out all the stops –– do whatever you can to win this war, civil
liberties be damned –– but that we should be especially cautious.

Ron Paul points out that before the American invasion of Iraq, only 10% of
suicide terrorism was aimed at Americans. Since then however, not only is
suicide terrorism greatly on the rise, but 91% of it is now directed at
Americans.

Yes, the attacks of 9/11 deserved a response, but the manner in which we
responded has allowed radicals in the Muslim world to advance a very threatening
narrative about us and our motivation in occupying their lands. Osama Bin Laden
referred to Americans as crusaders with a religious agenda to convert Muslims,
westernize their culture and take control of their resources.

If we had targeted our response to only the thugs and criminals who attacked us,
and refrained from invading countries that had nothing to do with it, this
characterization would seem less plausible to the desperate and displaced.

Instead, we chose a course of action that led to the further loss of 8,000
American lives, 40,000 wounded, and has left hundreds of thousands seeking help
from the Veterans Administration. We are $4 trillion poorer. Our military is
spread dangerously thin around the globe at the expense of protection here at
home. Not only that, but we have allowed our freedoms to be greatly threatened
and undermined from within.

The PATRIOT Act, warrantless searches and wiretapping, abuse of habeas corpus,
useless and humiliating circumstances at the airport, are just a few examples of
how we have allowed the terrorists to win by making our country less free.
Suicide terrorism did not exist in Iraq before we got there. Now it does. There
are no known instances of Iranians committing suicide terrorism. If we invade
and occupy Iran, expect that to change, too.

Ron Paul muses that sometimes it can be very uncomfortable to ask the right
questions and face the truth. When a slick politician comes along and gives a
much more soothing, self-congratulating version of events, it is very tempting
to simply believe what we would like to hear. But listening to lies does not
make us safer, even though it might make us feel better about ourselves. The
truth is that ending these misguided wars and occupations will make us safer,
more prosperous and freer.

We definitely underestimate the ideological motivations for terrorists, what
makes people blow themselves up. It's not politics. You have to know your enemy
and yourself. Unfortunately with the war on terror we forgot who we are, but
also we didn't know our enemy. Look at al-Qaida. They led us into a war longer
than World War I and World War II. Not because they are such smart people, but
because we did not understand our enemy. Instead, we applied waterboarding and
enhanced interrogation techniques. We did exactly what al-Qaida wanted us to do.
When you do this, what are you proving to the guy? You're proving that
everything he thinks about you is right. But if you come with a drink and
kindness, he doesn't know how to act.