Wednesday, July 13, 2005
CLARITY ASSERTED
Phillip Adams’ latest column, reduced to its core:
Yes, what happened last week in London was appalling. But ...
The toxins fly once Phil gets that Damning But out of the way. “Let’s be clear about it,” he orders. “The people who died in the subway tunnels and on the bus were victims of the Iraq war. They died because of Blair’s London Bridge, the one he built from the Thames to the Euphrates.” Build a bridge between two cultures, and Phil slams you for it. “Had he not misled his nation into that murderous folly of an invasion, the people would have walked off the trains instead of being carried off on stretchers,” Adams continues. “Or had their body parts collected in bags.” (Note to British body-retrievers: keep a few hundred of these handy in case Phil is ever dispersed during a London commute.)
Adams may think his ridiculous assumption is safe, since the only people who might correct it are now in mist form. Yet we know of al-Qaeda plans to attack England soon after September 11—before the invasion of Iraq, or even the invasion of Afghanistan. One of the supposed bombers, Shahzad Tanweer, seems to have been moved to holy blasterdom following a visit to Pakistan and subsequent immersion in London mosques; friends recall him having no interest in politics.
In any case, Adams is assuming a sane cause-and-effect argument on behalf of people who think it rational to blast themselves to pieces causing dozens of innocents to die. That’s how incredibly stupid they are. Adapting policy to suit idiots this far gone is pointless; you may as well negotiate with semtex-infused crazy ants.