They Worship Death

They Worship Death
by Marcus Bachler

This year is the 400th anniversary of the Gun-Powder plot—that act of rebellion in 1605 by a group of fanatical Catholics who tried to blow up Parliament in London by lighting barrels of gunpowder in the cellar as it was being opened by the King, James I. The plotters were reacting to Catholic oppression in a country that was effectively ruled by a Protestant majority, and their target was the Government and Monarchy. However, the conspirators were not freedom fighters. They longed to return the country to Catholic rule so that they in turn could persecute the Protestants. They were caught in the act and subsequently arrested and executed, or died resisting arrest.

Following the thwarting of the plot, the 5th of November became earmarked as a day to celebrate national salvation and the joyful repudiation of terrorism. It is still celebrated to this day in the UK and commonwealth countries with the lighting of fireworks and the burning of effigies of Guy Fawkes, the Catholic conspirator who was caught lighting the fuse. Today London is gripped by a new wave of religiously-motivated violence, one that is threatening the entire civilised world. However, this type of terrorism is not Catholic versus Protestant, but attacks the value of human life itself. The terror is not directed at any particular Government or head of State, but at any person going about their business regardless of their race, religion or political affiliation. I am of course referring to the recent rise of Islamic terrorism.

Sympathy for current plight of London has been inspiring. Pouring in from every corner of the globe, other countries have shared the UK's indignation at the attacks. Even Arabian newspapers have referred to the terrorists scornfully as “sewer rats.”

These “sewer rats” are fanatical Muslim fundamentalists who insist that they are fighting a war against the decadent ways of Western culture and the occupation of their Muslim “homelands.” Regardless of a country’s religion, ethnic mix or politics; they have been intent on killing civilian and soldier alike in Iraq, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Africa, Spain, the USA, the UK. They don’t discriminate. The terrorists’ websites and propaganda have proudly boasted, “We love death just as they love life.”

Way back in 1998, Bin Laden was interviewed by a Western journalist and asked why he considered civilians to be targets of his terror campaign, after previously complaining that terrorizing of innocents in the Middle East by the West was unjust. He replied, “We do not have to differentiate between military or civilian. As far as we are concerned, they are all targets, and this is what the fatwa [edict] says ... The fatwa is general (comprehensive) and it includes all those who participate in, or help the Jewish occupiers in killing Muslims.”

This is the weird logic of Osama bin Laden. His brand of terrorism does not have to discriminate—anyone living in a particular country is guilty by association of killing Muslims regardless of his background.

Tony Blair highlighted this point in an excellent speech he gave to the Labour Party National Conference on the 16th of July.

This ideology and the violence that is inherent in it did not start a few years ago in response to a particular policy. Over the past 12 years, Al-Qaeda and its associates have attacked 26 countries, killed thousands of people, many of them Muslims.

They have networks in virtually every major country and thousands of fellow travellers. They are well-financed. Look at their websites.

They aren't unsophisticated in their propaganda. They recruit however and whoever they can and with success.

Neither is it true that they have no demands. They do. It is just that no sane person would negotiate on them.

This is a religious ideology... Those who kill in its name believe genuinely that in doing it, they do God's work; they go to paradise.

They demand the elimination of Israel; the withdrawal of all Westerners from Muslim countries, irrespective of the wishes of people and government; the establishment of effectively Taleban states and Sharia law in the Arab world en route to one caliphate of all Muslim nations.

We don't have to wonder what type of country those states would be. Afghanistan was such a state. Girls put out of school.

Women denied even rudimentary rights. People living in abject poverty and oppression. All of it justified by reference to religious faith.

What we are confronting here is an evil ideology.

The sad fact is that fundamentalist religious zealots such as Osama bin Laden, while claiming to practice a religion of peace, will not rest until every last country in the world is an Ayatollah-run dictatorship composed of veiled submissive women, violent bearded men and dead infidels.

However, the battle to preserve our “love of life” in the West can and must be won, as it was against Communism and Fascism, by not giving an inch to the anti-life ideology that is shrouded by the terrorists’ political demands. As Tony Blair put it:

Whatever excuse or justification these people use, I do not believe we should give one inch to them, not in this country and the way we live our lives here, not in Iraq, not in Afghanistan, not in our support for two states, Israel and Palestine, not in our support for the alliances we choose including with America. Not one inch should we give to these people.

This is the battle that must be won, a battle not just about the terrorist methods but their views. Not just their barbaric acts, but their barbaric ideas. Not only what they do but what they think and the thinking they would impose on others.

These defiant words from Tony Blair highlight the true nature of the war over ideology the terrorists present the West with. They are trying to destroy not just our love of life, but our way of life too.

However, while they choose death, we in the West will carry on choosing life. Death is not a lasting philosophy, but a rejection of reality and reason, just as Communism and Fascism were. That is why the West will inevitably prevail and the terrorists will eventually lose. Even Islamic terrorists can’t cheat reality and reason forever. Their philosophy of death will inevitably destroy them.

Then we will let off our own celebratory fireworks and throw the Osama bin Ladens of this world onto the bonfire of history, just as we did 400 years ago.

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