Thursday
July 7 2005
EVIL STRIKES THE HEART OF BRITAIN: America feels for
Britain today. Out of a sense of sadness and grief, yes, but also
out of a sense of rage. More than any terrorist attack abroad
so far, this one is intensely personal.
As I read
news accounts of the attacks I found myself reacting with almost
the same emotion as if they had happened here in The States. I
caught myself thinking of London not as an English city but as
my city as well. And when Tony Blair spoke I felt immensely proud
of him, much like I felt about George W. Bush on September 11.
I suspect other Americans had the same reaction.
Such emotion
serves to highlight an important point, which is that the terrorists
made a serious strategic blunder today. It could very well be
that the terrorists have no strategy at all and are simply trying
to inflict damage whenever and wherever they can.
But whether strategic or not, today's attacks
will almost certainly serve to stiffen - rather than soften -
the spine of the Brits in fighting the war on terror. That goes
for the United States as well.
The reason
is that the Brits are at their core an extremely tough bunch.
Terrorists who may have sought a repeat performance of Madrid
need to read up on history: when it comes to matters of courage,
fortitude, toughness and tenacity, the British have a heck of
a lot more in common with America than they do Old Europe.
In fact,
over the course of the last century there have been only a tiny
handful of countries who have shown a consistent willingness to
do the heavy lifting for the rest of the world to fight evil;
to spend the blood and the treasure other countries were either
unwilling or unable to spend to defeat the evils of Nazism, Communism
and now radical Islamism. Along with America, Britain has always
been one of those countries - and she always will be.
"Never,
never, never believe any war will be smooth and easy, or that
anyone who embarks on the strange voyage can measure the tides
and hurricanes he will encounter." - Sir Winston Churchill
-
T. Bevan 11:05 am Link | Email
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