| Butchers of Bogota |
10 February 2003
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Colombian Terrorism: Where's Mr. Bush?
At last count, 32 people died in a bombing at a nightclub in Bogota, Colombia. The bombers are opposed to the current government, they are using violence against soft-target, civilian sites, and they are using cocaine to fund their efforts. If the US is fighting a war on terrorism, why hasn't President Bush deployed aircraft, infantry and smart bombs to deal with the Bogota Butchers?
The unpleasant truth is that the "War on Terror" is encoded terminology. If the White House were to call it a Crusade against Muslim Fanatics, the truth would be told, but the depth of the coalition against the West's enemies would not include a great many Islamic forces. Divide and rule requires the American administration to use its might in concert with nations that have the right ethnic and religious attributes. So, Saudi troops are important (although not terribly effective), and the code words are uttered that keep their sensibilities intact.
If this hypocrisy offends, consider the alternatives. Either the infidel Americans, and their few infidel allies, will have to take on the entire Muslim world, or America will be fighting not only in Afghanistan and Iraq, but also in Colombia, Spain and France (against ETA), Chechnya and Ulster.
No one every said that global empire would be easy. To expect it to be logically consistent is intellectually even more perilous. Meanwhile, America will sit out the 30 year civil war in Colombia for a bit longer, hoping that the cocaine that gets smuggled into the States doesn't do too much harm here or there.