Our hearts today are full of grief, but tomorrow let them not be full of hate. That is what terror demands, and we shall not give it that victory. If it is our way of life they seek to destroy, let us respond instead by standing stronger and taller still, uncowed by these acts from Paris to Ankara to Brussels, unshaken by their cowardice and hatred. Let us remember that good people, of all faiths and nations, suffer from extremist terror and religious violence. We must be united in both our compassion and our resolve. There will be those who seek to exploit this bloodshed to their own aims and ambitions, doubling down on their rhetoric and politics of fear and division. Our mettle as freedom-loving people shall be sorely tested by these attacks. Whatever we do next, let it be without haste, without hatred. That is a difficult thing to ask, a very tough and narrow path to tread, but it is the only way through.
Related Off-site Links
Deadly Explosions Rock Brussels Airport and Subway Killing at Least 34 People – Alana Horowitz Satlin and Eline Gordts (The Huffington Post, March 22, 2016).
ISIS Claims Responsibility for Brussels Attacks "in Revenge for Belgium's Role Fighting Militants in Syria and Iraq" – Lizzie Dearden (The Independent, March 22, 2016).
The Brussels Attacks: Our Pain and Rage Are Immense, But We Need Reason and Understanding More Than Ever – Frank Barat (Films for Action, March 22, 2016).
Our Response to the Brussels Bombings Requires Patience and Restraint – Simon Jenkins (The Guardian via Common Dreams, March 22, 2016).
Brussels Bombings Draw Wide Range of Reactions From Political Leaders – Alan Jude Ryland (Second Nexus, March 22, 2016).
Here's How Not to Respond to the Brussels Attacks – Ken Gude (The Guardian, March 22, 2016).
As Twin Attacks Kill at Least 34 in Brussels, How Should Belgium and Europe Respond? – Democracy Now! (March 22, 2016).
After Brussels Attack, Will Response Be More War or a Look at the Root Causes of Terrorism? – Democracy Now! (March 23, 2016).
Days Before Brussels, There Were Two Devastating Terror Attacks the Media Ignored – Amanda Girard (U.S. Uncut, March 22, 2016).
Why is the American Media Mostly Ignoring Two Other Terror Attacks That Happened This Month? – Nidhi Prakash (Fusion, March 22, 2016).
Terrorism and Failed States: High Price for the 2003 Iraq War – Mohamed Hemish (teleSUR, March 20, 2016).
See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• In the Wake of the Paris Attacks, Saying 'No' to War, Racism and Islamophobia
• Saying 'No' to Endless U.S. Wars
• Everywhere
• Europe 2005: Part 2 – Bruges and Brussels
Image: A woman places candles in the shape of a heart outside the stock exchange in Brussels on Tuesday, March 22, 2016. Explosions, at least one likely caused by a suicide bomber, rocked the Brussels airport and subway system Tuesday, prompting a lockdown of the Belgian capital and heightened security across Europe. At least 34 people were reported dead. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)
All day long, with all the hours of coverage of the ISIS bombing in Brussels, there was not one mention of the fact that ISIS came into being as a result of Bush-Cheney's misbegotten war on Iraq, then furthered by Obama Admin's toppling of Libya, then giving a nod to Saudi Arabia's funding of Syrian "rebels" to topple the Syrian government and so on and so forth. So people obviously believe that ISIS, and Al Qaeda before that, just sprang up. Almost no one in the U.S. understands how the U.S. itself, in its misbegotten quest for "full spectrum dominance" of the world, helped create the terrorism that they sit glued to and watching in horror unfold on their TV sets.
ReplyDelete