Thank goodness Islam is a religion of peace or we would all be in big trouble.

It certainly is a wonderfully, supercalifragilisticexpialidocious happenstance that nothing like the terrible attacks suffered in Bali, London, Madrid and now Mumbai (Bombay, for those who blinked) have fallen on the United States since 9/11. I know it must be just dumb luck that we have been spared because that is what the current Congressional majority leadership as well as the incoming Administration (if we can actually believe what Mr. Obama was peddling during the campaign) have told us. We are given by them to understand that all the bad people out there will leave us alone just as long as we give them reason to like us and not doing those terribly effective acts around the world that they find so hateful and unhelpful to fostering good relations.

And, of course, it must just be coincidence that the terrorists in Mumbai sought out as hostages people holding American and British passports. Certainly those American and British hostages were selected only so they could have the truly ‘E Ticket” experience of the rich cultural diversity of the fringes of Islam that can only come from a bracing and thrilling brush with violent death.

Or just perhaps it is because, as George Orwell famously asserted we are a jaded, unworthy people who have always been protected by strong men with guns who allow us to sleep comfortably at home while they put their lives at risk around the world so we can afford the luxury of pretending there is no such thing as evil, that it’s all “shades of gray.”

A quick reading of Rudyard Kipling’s poem ‘Tommy’ would also be instructive to those of us of a decidedly civilian persuasion.

Life is just so much more pleasant when one can dispense with the concept of evil as unnecessary. TEC is far ahead on this count for TEC already believes there is really no such thing as evil. (Except, of course for the evil of the orthodox with respect to boundary crossing, schism and failing to toe the PC line in all things perverse. This evil must be pulled out root and branch.) Perhaps TEC is still the national church of the United States in these new times.

Dilbertnomore you were much nicer than I ever could have been. My initial responce was Nuke them all and let whats his name..Allah?.. sort it out.

This seems to indicate merely that while we’ve been pretty lucky that we haven’t been attacked, its probably not a good idea to leave the country.  Americans are safe.  Just not anywhere else in the world.  I guess that is a form of ... success.

It’s sad because I am, myself, half-Indian and an American citizen. 

And #3 “nuke them all” is an example of why many Muslims think maybe Christianity isn’t exactly a religion of peace….  Hitting Mumbai wouldn’t be a very accurate way of doing it either, given that 80 % are Hindu and there are a fair number of Christians. 

And Hindus haven’t been that peaceful either, given the way they’ve been treating Christians in India.

I would also add that the US has generally considered India the greater threat than Pakistan for the last 1/2 century.

“its probably not a good idea to leave the country”
And so the terrorists have won.

Dilbertnomore actually correctly describes these terrorists as “the fringes of Islam.”  It is blanket statements of hatred and anger like those of chips and Dacama that simply add to the problem.  Whether you are a hawk or a dove, we will never get anywhere until we understand that terrorists are terrorists regardless of their religion.

Interesting, John Wilkins, that you are half Indian.  Were your people Christian or Hindu?

While we were in India there were terrorist bombings in Mumbai (the train bombings) and at Malegaon on the other side of Nashik, where we lived.  Recently Hindus were arrested for a subsequent bombing at Malegaon, and the leaders included a serving Indian Army officer centered at a military college a five-minute walk from where we lived.  There is Hindu violence, Maoist violence, ULFA violence (secessionist Assamese) as well as the Islamist violence, which this appears to be.  We are grateful today to be celebrating Thanksgiving in Egypt—so much safer!

It’s too early to say, but it occurs to me that this might be a last gasp by al Qaeda to disrupt Indian-Pakistani peace agreements.  Al Qaeda is being pushed very hard in Pakistan by U.S. drone strikes and has few places left to go.  If Pakistan is gone, so might they be.

Also, just recently the All-India Muslim Council had a big meeting and all the leaders condemned terrorism.  This action by terrorists won’t help the situation of Muslims in India at all.  They are mostly poor and ill-educated.

JW, my point, which you seem to have missed by a mile, is that the United States over the past seven plus years has largely made its own luck in avoiding a follow-on to the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Quiet here didn’t just happen serendipitiously. Peace comes at a stiff price. Hopefully, the new administration will continue to write the checks.

From today’s (London) Daily Mail: Witnesses said they marched up to hotel reception desks demanding the names and room numbers of all British and American guests.
British guest, Rakesh Patel, who was staying at the Taj Mahal, said: ‘The gunmen came through the restaurant and they took us up the stairs. They wanted all those with a British or American passport.’
British, Americans and Jews apparently specially targetted.  We are in this together.  Let’s stick together.

#5: The reason India was considered the greater threat was because of its relationship with the old Soviet Union and not because of terrorism.

Terrorists of all kinds are real good at killing UNARMED people but they don’t do so well when the people are armed and shoot back do they?  The British found this out in the Revolutionary war.  Nuff Said!!

Harvey, your comment really saddened me.  I had hoped that when citizens of both our countries were targetted, a cheap shot might have been avoided on this site in the interests of unity in the face of the enemy.