"Shortly after jihadist murderers killed over 130 people in Paris, seven of the terrorists blowing themselves up in the process, President Obama spoke to the nation and described the massacres as “an attack on all of humanity and the universal values that we share.”
No, Mr. President; with all respect, it was not...."
A Thanksgiving Meditation on Freedom and Its Enemies | George Weigel | First Things
If I may offer an alternative interpretation. This statement was not an explanation of why the terrorists attacked (like Pres. Bush's "They attacked us because they hate our freedoms") rather it was Pres. Obama seeking to say who and what they attacked. I have no idea what sort of twisted religious justification went through their minds but my response was like the headline in Le Monde after the 9/11 attack "Nous sommes tous Americans". For me it was the same, an attack on the humanity and values we in the West seek to embody, freedom, tolerance and non-violence. And now to further show the uselessness of their attacks we are turning that humanity and principles to helping the Syrian refugees (some Republicans in the US excepted).
ReplyDelete"The face of terror is not the true faith of Islam. That's not what Islam is all about. Islam is peace. These terrorists don't represent peace. They represent evil and war."
Pres. Bush Sept 17, 2001
True then and true now.