July 26, 2004
Give A Terrorist A Cookie
And he's gonna kidnap a glass of milk...
The recent spate of kidnappings in Iraq is growing predictably in response to cowardice and compunction from some fairly unreliable governments, from Madrid to Manila.
Between Spanish elections and Phillipino withdrawals, the message to the terrorists is - crime pays, at least when dealing with countries that have precious little backbone. It's simple demonstrable logic - if countries give in to kidnappings, more countries will see their citizens kidnapped. Having tasted the success of operations against Spain and the Phillipines, the terrorists are looking to wash it down with more kidnappings against others like Poland, Bulgaria, Egypt, Turkey, and Kuwait.
It's a strategy borne of years of warfare - kill all they send, and eventually, they will stop sending them.
Those countries in Iraq, or considering commitment of forces to Iraq, must at a minimum consider that either the cause is worth fighting, killing, and dying for, or it is not - there is no middle ground in warfare. To Manila, it was worth raising a little capital for workers and improving relations with Washington, but not worth doing any actual fighting or dying.
The Phillipines came to Iraq for the wrong reason - and hence, is susceptible to easy coercion. And now, defeating those who will kidnap foreigners for political ransom will be that much harder, and the price paid much higher - rather than taking a stand, drawing a line and saying here, and no further, Manila has erased the line, forcing it to be redrawn in starker relief with the blood of others. Weakness is provocative, as is cowardice.
Ask any criminal - they don't look for the richest mark, they look for the easy mark...
Posted by MEC2 at July 26, 2004 03:49 PM