| GREG-STRANGE.COM |
"If you haven't found something strange during the
day, it hasn't been much of a day." -- John A. Wheeler
day, it hasn't been much of a day." -- John A. Wheeler
PROVIDING SUBSTANTIVE COMMENTARY ON THE
PEOPLE, POLITICS, EVENTS AND ABSURDITIES OF
OUR TIME. SERVED UP WITH ACERBIC WIT, YOU
SHOULD FIND IT QUITE SATISFYING.
PEOPLE, POLITICS, EVENTS AND ABSURDITIES OF
OUR TIME. SERVED UP WITH ACERBIC WIT, YOU
SHOULD FIND IT QUITE SATISFYING.
Messin’ With Mecca
A Retribution of Biblical Proportions
The problems with fighting radical Islamic terrorism are
multitudinous and complex. The single biggest problem could
be trying to find a way to deter people who are nuttier than
your Aunt Ethel’s fruitcake, whose goals don’t seem to extend
much beyond nihilistic destruction, and who not only are
unafraid of death, but actually seek it. Just how in the world
do you deter people who hold the truly astonishing belief that
mass murder and destruction are what the almighty creator of
the infinite universe desires and for which they will be richly
rewarded in a blissfully sensuous afterlife?
Needless to say it ain’t easy. The only thing that comes to
mind is to somehow fight fire with fire, to get crazy right along
with the terrorists. How else are you going to scare them? The
conundrum is how to do that without resorting to barbarism
ourselves.
The creator of an acclaimed intelligence website by the
name of Jack Wheeler has put up quite a theory and while
there may not be a shred of truth in it, the concept is utterly
fascinating and worthy of some consideration.
Wheeler believes the reason there hasn’t been another 9/11
is because “the U.S. has threatened to nuke the Muslim holy
city of Mecca should the terror leader [bin Laden] strike
America again.” Wow! Wheeler went on to explain that
“completely obliterating the terrorists’ holiest of holies,
rendering what is for them the world’s most sacred spot a
radioactive hole in the ground, is retribution of biblical
proportions--and those are the only proportions that will do
the job.”
Now that’s thinking outside the box. What an utterly
fantastic idea, an absolute bolt of lightning. No, no, not that we
would ever actually nuke Mecca, but the idea that we might
somehow convince the Islamo-loonies that we would. Hey, it
beats just sitting around waiting for the next attack.
But would bin Laden and his unmerry band of homicidal
maniacs buy it? We all know it will never happen, that it’s
inconceivable to the civilized mind. But what about the
uncivilized mind, the medieval mind, the fanaticized mind
that already believes we are the great Satan? To such a mind,
wouldn’t the great Satan be capable of any imaginable
atrocity? Why wouldn’t we annihilate Mecca?
But how would such a message have been conveyed to them?
Obviously it wouldn’t have gotten aired out in a state of the
union address. If you think the “axis of evil” line flopped with
Democrats, Europeans and the Hollywood crowd, just imagine
any recommended course of action with the word “nuke” in it.
The idea would have been surreptitiously put out there by
the CIA or some other shadowy intelligence entity. It would
have been communicated to certain indigenous people in
places like Afghanistan and Pakistan, people who knew other
people, who knew still other people, who could have gotten
word to various and sundry tribal chiefs and warlords, and so
forth and so on, until eventually the word would have filtered
up to the honcho himself.
I’m just fantasizing here, but the message might have gone
something like this: “Here’s the deal, bin Laden. That we still
enthusiastically seek martyrdom for you is a given, but here’s
something else for you to think about. If you ever pull off a
catastrophic hit on America again, the consequences for your
neighborhood, as well as your ’faith,’ will be, let us say,
ruinous. To be succinct, Mecca will be done, finis, extirpated, a
smoldering radioactive hole in the ground. There won’t be
enough left to stick a fork in. In other words, back off or we’ll
drive a stake through the heart of Islam. See how popular you
are in the Muslim world when that happens and you get all the
credit. To say the least, sales of Osama t-shirts will dry up.
You won’t be able to draw flies, let alone crowds of new jihadi
recruits. It’s your choice.”
Okay, so it probably would have been worded a bit
differently and who the heck knows if such a nastygram was
ever actually conveyed. But if it was, one can only imagine the
discussions that would have echoed through the al Qaida caves
afterwards.
“Would the cowboy crusader Bush really do this thing?”
“There is little doubt that the destruction of Islam is his
ultimate goal, so anything is possible.”
“But what about world opinion? If everyone hates America
now, see what happens when they vaporize a city full of
innocent Muslims. The rest of the world would never tolerate
wanton mass murder on such a scale.
“The world is famous for its tolerance of mass murder. It
has been thus since the dawn of mankind and continues unto
this day. Anyway, what would the world community do about
the destruction of Mecca other than issue useless statements of
condemnation? It is quite likely that the Europeans and
others, though they would never admit it publicly, might
actually be glad to see Islam take such a hit. They are, after all,
godless infidels who prefer that there be no religion anywhere
on earth. Just because they are without the courage to stand
up to us themselves doesn’t mean they wouldn’t ultimately be
glad to see our demise.”
“Well, if the destruction of Mecca ever did come to pass,
there would be more of our people lining up for martyrdom
operations than the Sahara has sand fleas. We would descend
upon America like a plague of locusts to wage endless jihad
against the infidels.”
“Yada yada yada. That’s what would have gotten Mecca
vaporized in the first place. Would you want to see Medina
follow and all the other holy cities that dot our sacred land?
As we all know, the ways of Allah are mysterious and the
passage of a thousand years is but the twinkling of an eye to
him. Civilizations rise and fall like the undulating dunes of the
great desert. Nothing happens unless Allah wills it and our
time will most assuredly come, as paradise is promised to true
believers.”
“But what about here on this earth, right now? Why has
Allah forsaken us and fated our once preeminent civilization to
now be the world’s armpit while the infidel West is fat,
prosperous and happy?”
“I grow weary of your disputatiousness and your
impertinent questioning of the will of the one true God. Shut-
up, or I’ll make a trophy of your head.”
Which always stifles a good debate.
A Retribution of Biblical Proportions
The problems with fighting radical Islamic terrorism are
multitudinous and complex. The single biggest problem could
be trying to find a way to deter people who are nuttier than
your Aunt Ethel’s fruitcake, whose goals don’t seem to extend
much beyond nihilistic destruction, and who not only are
unafraid of death, but actually seek it. Just how in the world
do you deter people who hold the truly astonishing belief that
mass murder and destruction are what the almighty creator of
the infinite universe desires and for which they will be richly
rewarded in a blissfully sensuous afterlife?
Needless to say it ain’t easy. The only thing that comes to
mind is to somehow fight fire with fire, to get crazy right along
with the terrorists. How else are you going to scare them? The
conundrum is how to do that without resorting to barbarism
ourselves.
The creator of an acclaimed intelligence website by the
name of Jack Wheeler has put up quite a theory and while
there may not be a shred of truth in it, the concept is utterly
fascinating and worthy of some consideration.
Wheeler believes the reason there hasn’t been another 9/11
is because “the U.S. has threatened to nuke the Muslim holy
city of Mecca should the terror leader [bin Laden] strike
America again.” Wow! Wheeler went on to explain that
“completely obliterating the terrorists’ holiest of holies,
rendering what is for them the world’s most sacred spot a
radioactive hole in the ground, is retribution of biblical
proportions--and those are the only proportions that will do
the job.”
Now that’s thinking outside the box. What an utterly
fantastic idea, an absolute bolt of lightning. No, no, not that we
would ever actually nuke Mecca, but the idea that we might
somehow convince the Islamo-loonies that we would. Hey, it
beats just sitting around waiting for the next attack.
But would bin Laden and his unmerry band of homicidal
maniacs buy it? We all know it will never happen, that it’s
inconceivable to the civilized mind. But what about the
uncivilized mind, the medieval mind, the fanaticized mind
that already believes we are the great Satan? To such a mind,
wouldn’t the great Satan be capable of any imaginable
atrocity? Why wouldn’t we annihilate Mecca?
But how would such a message have been conveyed to them?
Obviously it wouldn’t have gotten aired out in a state of the
union address. If you think the “axis of evil” line flopped with
Democrats, Europeans and the Hollywood crowd, just imagine
any recommended course of action with the word “nuke” in it.
The idea would have been surreptitiously put out there by
the CIA or some other shadowy intelligence entity. It would
have been communicated to certain indigenous people in
places like Afghanistan and Pakistan, people who knew other
people, who knew still other people, who could have gotten
word to various and sundry tribal chiefs and warlords, and so
forth and so on, until eventually the word would have filtered
up to the honcho himself.
I’m just fantasizing here, but the message might have gone
something like this: “Here’s the deal, bin Laden. That we still
enthusiastically seek martyrdom for you is a given, but here’s
something else for you to think about. If you ever pull off a
catastrophic hit on America again, the consequences for your
neighborhood, as well as your ’faith,’ will be, let us say,
ruinous. To be succinct, Mecca will be done, finis, extirpated, a
smoldering radioactive hole in the ground. There won’t be
enough left to stick a fork in. In other words, back off or we’ll
drive a stake through the heart of Islam. See how popular you
are in the Muslim world when that happens and you get all the
credit. To say the least, sales of Osama t-shirts will dry up.
You won’t be able to draw flies, let alone crowds of new jihadi
recruits. It’s your choice.”
Okay, so it probably would have been worded a bit
differently and who the heck knows if such a nastygram was
ever actually conveyed. But if it was, one can only imagine the
discussions that would have echoed through the al Qaida caves
afterwards.
“Would the cowboy crusader Bush really do this thing?”
“There is little doubt that the destruction of Islam is his
ultimate goal, so anything is possible.”
“But what about world opinion? If everyone hates America
now, see what happens when they vaporize a city full of
innocent Muslims. The rest of the world would never tolerate
wanton mass murder on such a scale.
“The world is famous for its tolerance of mass murder. It
has been thus since the dawn of mankind and continues unto
this day. Anyway, what would the world community do about
the destruction of Mecca other than issue useless statements of
condemnation? It is quite likely that the Europeans and
others, though they would never admit it publicly, might
actually be glad to see Islam take such a hit. They are, after all,
godless infidels who prefer that there be no religion anywhere
on earth. Just because they are without the courage to stand
up to us themselves doesn’t mean they wouldn’t ultimately be
glad to see our demise.”
“Well, if the destruction of Mecca ever did come to pass,
there would be more of our people lining up for martyrdom
operations than the Sahara has sand fleas. We would descend
upon America like a plague of locusts to wage endless jihad
against the infidels.”
“Yada yada yada. That’s what would have gotten Mecca
vaporized in the first place. Would you want to see Medina
follow and all the other holy cities that dot our sacred land?
As we all know, the ways of Allah are mysterious and the
passage of a thousand years is but the twinkling of an eye to
him. Civilizations rise and fall like the undulating dunes of the
great desert. Nothing happens unless Allah wills it and our
time will most assuredly come, as paradise is promised to true
believers.”
“But what about here on this earth, right now? Why has
Allah forsaken us and fated our once preeminent civilization to
now be the world’s armpit while the infidel West is fat,
prosperous and happy?”
“I grow weary of your disputatiousness and your
impertinent questioning of the will of the one true God. Shut-
up, or I’ll make a trophy of your head.”
Which always stifles a good debate.