The Long War Journal: On the sidelines

Written by Bill Roggio on September 2, 2004 12:05 AM to The Long War Journal

Available online at: http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2004/09/on_the_sideline_1.php

"You were given the choice between war and dishonor. You chose dishonor and you will have war."
Sir Winston Churchill's remark after Chamberlain returned from signing the Munich pact with Hitler (1938)

The Global War on Terror rages. Russia, France and other nations that have opted out of the War on Terror must be wondering if their decision to sit on the sidelines has brought them the protection from Islamic terrorism they assumed they would receive. Both Russia and France have been on the receiving end of Islamic terrorism the past week, and even tiny Nepal has been struck by the hand of the Islamofascists. Russia has born the brunt of the fighting and casualties as of late in the War on Terror. Last week, two Russian airliners were destroyed in mid air, killing ninety. The Islambouli Brigades, an al Qaeda linked group, has claimed responsibility; this is the same group that claims to have attempted assassinations on Pakistan’s Prime Minister. Tuesday, a female Chechen suicide bomber immolated herself and nine others at a Moscow subway station. Wednesday, Chechen rebels have overtaken a school in the Russian republic of North Ossetia. It is believed that hundreds of students, their parents and teachers are being held hostage, and the school is said to be wired with explosives. The terrorist organization claiming responsibility for the school hostage situation is connected to Chechen terrorist Shamil Basayev, who has a long history of attacking Russian civilians.

Mr. Basayev has previously been involved or claimed responsibility for some of the worst attacks in Russia stemming from the long conflict in Chechnya. They include a raid in 1995 into Budyonnovsk, a town near Chechnya in Stavropol region, during the first war there. In that attack, Mr. Basayev's fighters killed 147 people and then held more than 1,000 people hostage in a hospital. That raid ended when they loaded hundreds of hostages on buses and drove to Chechnya. He also claimed responsibility for the wave of rebel attacks in Ingushetia in June that appeared to be at the center of the guerrillas' demands on Wednesday. The siege in Beslan had portentous echoes of one of the most notorious terrorist acts in recent Russian history: the hostage crisis at a Moscow theater in October 2002. A band of insurgents, also including women wrapped in explosives, seized the theater during a performance of a popular musical, "Nord-Ost," and held more than 700 hostages for 57 hours before commandoes stormed the building. At least 41 rebels died in the raid, but so did at least 129 hostages, most from the effects of a nerve gas that had been pumped into the theater hall.

The New York Times neglects to mention that Shamil Basayev has ties to al Qaeda and been designated a terrorist by the U.S. Department of State.

France, without a doubt the most supportive of the Western nations of dictatorial Arab regimes and the Palestinian cause, is currently negotiating with Iraqi terrorists to obtain the release of two French journalists held in Iraq. The group claiming responsibility for the kidnapping demands France rescind the law banning the hijab, the traditional headscarf worn by Muslim women, in public schools. France believed it was insulated from Islamic terrorism as it opposes American foreign policy, particularly in Iraq, and supports the Palestinian cause.

The kidnapping shattered the assumption here that France and its citizens enjoyed immunity from terrorism related to Iraq because of its staunch antiwar stance and its refusal to send any troops there, even to train soldiers and police officers. The crisis is also a personal challenge to Mr. Chirac, who has spent much of his four decades in elective office cultivating relationships with Arab leaders and considers himself an expert on Arab politics.

Despite their best efforts to placate the Islamic extremists, France has to now be asking why do they hate us? France is calling in its favors from its Islamist allies, including Hamas and Iran.

The Islamic world, mobilized by France and its allies, spoke with one voice in demanding that the journalists be freed. In Gaza, the Palestinian Islamic militant group Hamas said that the journalists were innocent victims who should be released and that because France was antiwar, it should not suffer. "France has been taking a positive stand in support of the Iraqi cause," Sami Abu Zuhri, a spokesman, said.

[:]

The government of Iran, which requires women to hide their hair and which has criticized the French law, condemned the kidnappings. "Human values and Islamic principles do not condone such methods," Hamid Reza Asefi, the Foreign Ministry spokesman, was quoted by the official press agency IRNA as saying.

France must take great comfort in receiving the backing of Hamas, who on the same day claimed responsibility for two suicide bombings of buses within Israel, killing sixteen. France must also be pleased with the support of Iran, the world’s greatest state sponsor of terrorism, a nation that recently executed a 16 year old girl for "acts incompatible with chastity". Some Europeans are stepping all over themselves trying to pin the blame on America’s actions in Iraq.

Other commentators noted that France, despite its antiwar stance, was now suffering the ripple effects of terror generated by the war in Iraq. "We are all hostages," declared the Spanish newspaper El País, based in Madrid, where bombs exploded on commuter trains in March.

What they fail to understand is the Madrid attack was planned years in advance by al Qaeda, prior to the invasion of Iraq. Expect France to debase themselves to get their citizens freed, as their past history of accommodating terrorists demonstrates. They have no problem selling out exiles, freeing criminals and paying bribes to Islamic terrorists to achieve their goals.

With his [Middle East specialist Rondot] help, France successfully freed hostages in the 1980s held in Lebanon by the Iranian-backed Hezbollah, cutting deals that placated Iran. In one instance in 1987 - with Chirac serving as prime minister - France expelled more than a dozen members of the exiled Iranian opposition People’s Mujahedeen to Gabon to win freedom for French hostages. In 1989, France freed Anis Naccache, serving a life sentence for the failed attempt to kill former Iranian Prime Minister Shahpour Bakhtiar, then living in exile in a Paris suburb. Naccache was put on a plane to Tehran. France also paid off at least part of a US$1 billion loan made by the former shah of Iran for a nuclear reprocessing project.

Nepal, a non-player on the global scene, has had twelve of its citizens brutally murdered in Iraq. The Nepalese, who were employed by a Jordanian firm, were beheaded and shot by terrorists of the Army of Ansar al-Sunna, another organization tied to Answar al-Islam and Al-Qaeda. This led to violent anti-Muslim protests in the capitol.

Demonstrators, some chanting "Punish the Muslims!", swept through Kathmandu early Wednesday, throwing stones and ransacking any targets with Arabic script. Protesters climbed on top of and set fire to the Jama Masjid mosque, the largest shrine of the city's small Muslim minority, after pulling out its furniture and electrical equipment for a sidewalk bonfire, witnesses said.

For those that doubt the depravity of this evil enemy, the video of these gruesome acts of murder an mutilation against the Nepalese can be viewed here. This video is extremely graphic and not for the faint of heart. You will see a man beheaded alive and the rest of the men shot while lying face down, begging for their life. The terrorist's cowardice and complete lack of respect for life is on display for all to see. This enemy is cold, heartless, cruel, without remorse. There is no negotiating with these animals, they will turn to bite the hand of their appeasers at the first opportunity, using the very bribes they extracted to pay for the means.

Yet these are the very same people France cultivates relations and curries favor with. These are the people France, Russia and others think they can sidestep by opposing American led efforts in Iraq and elsewhere. But they are wrong, as this not a war against America, or Israel or members of the Coalition in Iraq. They seek the destruction of our way of life, the destruction of Western civilization, as they cannot endure our presence. There is no appeasing these terrorists; the world the Islamic terrorists hope to achieve is not one we can freely give.

There is good reason many Americans do not trust politicians that are willing to subjugate American foreign policy to the internationals. Nations such as France and Russia do not comprehend the threat of Islamic terror, and their inaction will only lead to a brutal escalation of violence in this war. There is still time for France, Russia and the rest of the internationals to recognize the danger we all face and commit to the fight. Their peoples will either decide to capitulate to the terrorist, like Spain did, or man the walls in defense of civilization. Until that time comes, America and her allies must be willing to continue the fight, without the stamp of approval from the United Nations if necessary.