The enlightened intelligentsia, the sensitive liberals, the sophisticated Europeans, the journalists whose goal is to make this a better world — they all agree that we unenlightened American yahoos need to be less judgmental and more understanding of the grievances of the radical Islamists, that we need to be willing to talk with them, to negotiate and search for common ground. That we need to temper our hostility, abate our anger, abandon our adversarial stance, and ask ourselves and them, "Can't we all just get along?"
Yesterday, Little Green Footballs pointed out this AFP story that further illuminates the nature of the enemy with whom we're supposed to reconcile. In case you missed it:
Insurgents in Iraq detonated an explosives-rigged vehicle with two children in the back seat after US soldiers let it through a Baghdad checkpoint over the weekend, a senior US military official said Tuesday.
The vehicle was stopped at the checkpoint but was allowed through when soldiers saw the children in the back, said Major General Michael Barbero of the Pentagon's Joint Staff.
"Children in the back seat lowered suspicion. We let it move through. They parked the vehicle, and the adults ran out and detonated it with the children in the back," Barbero said.
The general said it was the first time he had seen a report of insurgents using children in suicide bombings. But he said Al-Qaeda in Iraq is changing tactics in response to the tighter controls around the city.
They parked the vehicle between a market and a school. The explosion was relatively small, really. It only injured seven and killed five. Including the two children, of course.
No, we can't understand. Or talk. Or find common ground. Or get along. There is nothing to negotiate and no middle ground. Is that clear?
Named Klondike and Snow, they were the first polar bears successfully hand-raised by humans. People around here went nuts over the adorable little critters, which were a