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Robert Shepherd wrote:
> I don't see it as Bush being the only fool.
>
> I see it more in the historical contecxt you touched on. We in the
> west do NOT pay a lot of attention to the islamic tradition and
> heritage.
>
> But the liberites you spoke of, protections against arbitrary
> government, they are of LONG provenance and standing in the West. the
> Anglo-American tradition is something wholly apart from what Islam,
> even in its glory days of grandeur and brilliance (say 900 to 1300
AD)
> had attained to.
>
> Rights and liberties have been a steady growth under the kings of
> Enland, but even as they hailed the Magna Carta, they invoked the
even
> more ancient Saxon heritage, and "the good laws of King Edward" (ie,
> Edward the Confessor).
>
> It is humorous to hear Afganistan invoke its "soverign rights" as a
> nation, and the "International LAWS" --- ie, Geneva, etc.
>
> The very concept of law and right, of liberties and immunities, has
> been a development of the west, of the enlightenment and liberalism.
> It grew apace at the time of the Reformation, and with philosphers
> like Descartes and Locke, Grotius and Pufendorf, Montesquieu and
> Jefferson.
>
> Thus, when someone like the Israeli Ariel Sharon comes in with a
> nationalistic, jingoistic, Biblical-based program which elevates
> self-defense above law, Jewish survival above the niceties of
> diplomacy and the Geneva point of view, the liberals (myself
included)
> raise our eyebrows, and lamented the mood in Israel which gave rise
to
> his election.
>
> Sharone cares about one thing --- the surviaval of Israel. He cares
> not for national borders, he cares not for the Hague or the World
> Court. He cares not for the protests of squeamish liberals.
>
> He is motivated by a keen resolve to combat terrorism and stomp out
> the forces that threaten the lives, and the exiostence, of Israel and
> Israelis.
>
> America is linked, in the eyes of the Taliban, with Israel. We are
> branded as a nation that encourages Zionist mistreatment of innocent
> Palestinians.
>
> But what is it that has just occurred.
>
> How can they portray themselves as a little David, attacking a cruel
> Goliath. They have just committed a horendous atrocity, attacking not
> military aggressors or bullies (especially those at the World Trade
> Towers -- in Manhattan), but they have committed an unprovoked attack
> upon people who were at peace, people who had as little to do with
> government policies as could be imagined.
>
> I expect sentiment in America and throughout the world, I doubt not,
> will shift. Perhaps slowly, perhaps rapidly, in the direction of the
> thinking of an Ariel Sharone.
>
> Thomas Hobbes wrote at the time of the expanding development of the
> concept of liberties and rights, but he saw security and peace as
> paramount. If the lawless are allowed to triumph, there can be no
> safety .... or rights .... for anyone. Otherwise, what we have is
not
> a society ----- but a jungle.
>
> Leviathan is necessary. The Leviathan of authority which is strong
> enough to maintain peace and security, law and order. Government is
> not necessarily an enemy after all. In Hobbes view, Government is
> actually a God-send. Government is that divine-ordained Leviathan
> under whose authority and power we (the weak) enjoy (if not paradise)
> at least a measure of peace, repose, security.
>
> The Bible says, Pray for the peace of Jerusalem.
>
> But maybe we should pray for the peace of New York City ... and the
> rest of the world, too.
>
> Send the sword of Leviathan (authority) after the lawless, the
> hoodlums, terrorists, and criminals that threaten all of us.
>
> I might wish for a perfect Champion to lead the nations (or at least
> America's military). Saint George, perhaps, the Noble Knight,
> protector of women, etc.
>
> But absent a perfect leader, even Bush will do. He has my support,
may
> he have wisdom and may he have success, as he hunts down the sponsors
> of this murderous attack.
Yes. This is well said and needs to be reposted.
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