Dazed and Confused

Bush urges US to unite against terrorism

US President George W. Bush solemnly marked five years since the September 11, 2001 attacks and urged a US public deeply divided over the war in Iraq to unite to defeat terrorism.

He also defended his frequent appeals for spreading democracy as an antidote to terrorism at a time when fragile US-backed governments in Iraq and Afghanistan face bloody insurgencies that caught Washington by surprise.

"Spreading democracy" -- or, more narrowly, meddling -- is exactly what causes terrorism in the first place. I'm pretty sure that President Bush is aware of this fact, and is simply preying on those whose knowledge of world history began on this day five years ago. Or maybe he has no clue. A quick glance at the havoc wreaked in Europe two centuries ago when the same idea materialized as action might put it in perspective. As Robespierre said: "The most extravagant idea that can be born in the head of a political thinker is to believe that it suffices for people to enter, weapons in hand, among a foreign people and expect to have its laws and constitution embraced. No one loves armed missionaries; the first lesson of nature and prudence is to repulse them as enemies."

To those who might fall for such lunacy, and heed his call to support war in Iraq simply because of what happened to the World Trade Center, I will offer these ancient words of wisdom. Figure it out.

War on Terror; Robespierre

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