Those who blame anti-American terrorism on radical Islam, the Koran, the quest for a worldwide caliphate, regular Muslims, or hatred for America’s freedom and values are a bit stymied by the recent terrorist attack in Istanbul, Turkey. They just don’t know what to say.
Why? Because over 90 percent of Turkey is Muslim!
Obviously that puts the Islam-Koran-Muslims-caliphate crowd into a bit of a quandary. They’d have to say that in their quest to establish a worldwide caliphate, the terrorists who struck in Istanbul decided to begin by attacking a country that is predominantly Muslim.
But why do that? Why not attack, say, Switzerland, which is filled with Christians and has much more in common with American freedom and values than Turkey?
Let’s see now. Could there possibly be another motive for the Istanbul terrorist attack?
Maybe the following excerpts from the New York Times will provide a clue:
Analysts said Turkey was paying the price for intensifying its action against the Islamic State, also known as ISIS, ISIL or Daesh. Under mounting international pressure, the country began sealing its border last year, as well as arresting and deporting suspected militants. And last summer, Turkey allowed the United States to use Incirlik Air Base to fly sorties over the group’s territory in Syria and Iraq.
“Turkey has been cracking down on some of the transit of foreign fighters who are flowing into as well as out of Turkey, and they are part of the coalition providing support, allowing their territory to be used by coalition aircraft,” the director of the Central Intelligence Agency, John O. Brennan, said in an interview this week with Yahoo News. “So there are a lot of reasons why Daesh would want to strike back.”
Soon after the government’s decision to allow airstrikes to be carried out from the base in southern Turkey, the Islamic State began naming Turkey as a target, according to Michael S. Smith II, an analyst who closely tracks the group’s messaging. Last fall, the cover of the group’s Dabiq magazine ominously featured a photo of Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, standing alongside President Obama. (Emphasis added.)
So, there you have it. It turns out that Turkey has been partnering with the U.S. government’s death machine in the Middle East — the machine that has been killing people on an ongoing basis in that part of the world for some 25 years and that has produced terrorist blowback in the United States as well.
Am I surprised that Turkey has been hit with this terrorist attack? Not in the least. I also wasn’t surprised about the terrorist attacks in Orlando, Fort Hood, San Bernardino, Boston, and elsewhere. And no one should be surprised when the next one comes. As long as U.S. foreign interventionism continues to kill people in the Middle East, there will continue to be terrorist “blowback, not only against the United States but also against nations that partner with the U.S. death machine, such as Turkey, France, and Belgium. People living in those countries should expect more of the same until their governments dissolve their partnerships with the U.S.
According to a NYT op-ed entitled “What Comes After the Istanbul Airport Attack?” by Mustafa Akyol, “The assault on the airport is the latest in a series of horrible traumas in Turkey. In the past year, the country has endured almost a dozen major terrorist attacks.” Akyol points out that the country “was much more peaceful a year ago.”
What changed?
One factor, he writes, is that Turkish talks with Kurds broke down, leading to terrorist attacks from that faction.
Another factor, he points out is that “Since last summer, the Islamic State has been condemning Ankara as the capital of an ‘apostate regime’ that allies itself with ‘Crusaders.’” By “Crusaders” they are referring to U.S. military forces in the region.
Perhaps I should also mention that Turkey is a member of NATO, the old Cold War-era dinosaur-like organization that is bombing Syrian forces (and ISIS forces) as part of its regime-change operations in Syria.
By the way, have you ever noticed that the “Muslims, Koran, and Islam are bad” crowd never objects to the U.S. government’s alliance with Turkey, a predominantly Muslim country? Indeed, have you ever noticed that they never criticize the U.S. national-security state for installing and protecting official Islamic regimes in both Iraq and Afghanistan? Isn’t that worth pondering? If the Muslims are coming to get us, should be really be thanking the troops for fighting and dying to install and protect official Islamic regimes in Iraq and Afghanistan?
How about Switzerland? That country has much more in common with American freedom and values, including religious values, than Turkey does. But unlike Turkey, Switzerland is not partnering with the U.S. death machine in the Middle East and isn’t a member of NATO. It doesn’t go abroad in search of monsters to destroy. It doesn’t wage a war on terrorism. It’s not killing people in the Middle East or Afghanistan or anywhere else. It doesn’t partner with the U.S. death machine. It limits its military to the defense of Switzerland. So, not surprisingly, the Swiss have never been the targets of terrorist attacks by radical Muslims, regular Muslims, or caliphaters.
If Americans want to stop anti-American terrorism and all the horrific blowback that comes with it, including terrorist attacks, including out-of-control federal spending and debt, and the destruction of American liberty and privacy, there is one — and only one — way to do that: End foreign interventionism and the “war on terrorism” and bring all the troops home now. No more killing of ISIS, al Qaeda, the Taliban, or anyone else. Just stop the U.S. portion of the killing in the Middle East. After all, don’t forget: They’ve been killing people over there on an ongoing basis for 25 years. That’s a long time and it’s a lot of dead people. What good has it done? Look at all the bad it has done. Let’s face it: the fiasco is even worse than the war on drugs.
In the wake of Brexit, this would be a great time for the American people to exit from foreign interventionism and the war on terrorism, along with all its horrific consequences that come with them, especially before another terrorist attack occurs. It would be a good thing for the Turkish people to do the same.