...The Mumbai atrocities show very clearly what too many obdurately deny — that a war is being waged against civilization. It is both global and local. It is not 'our' fault; it has nothing to do with Muslim poverty, oppression or discrimination. The Islamic fundamentalist fanatics use specific grievances — Kashmir, Iraq, Palestine, Chechnya — merely as recruiting sergeants for their worldwide holy war against all 'unbelievers'.The Mumbai attackers targeted British, American and Indian citizens simply because they wanted to kill as many British, American and Indian 'unbelievers' as possible.Where they found Muslims, they spared them. They also singled out for slaughter the occupants of an outreach organization geared to Jews with no Israeli or political agenda — underscoring the point that at the core of the Islamists' hatred of Israel festers their hatred of the Jews.
This was not, as is so often described, 'mindless violence'. On the contrary, the terrorists precisely calibrated both their choice of targets and the way in which they attacked them...
Melanie Phillips examines the Mumbai massacre with an honest, relevant and fact-oriented perspective terribly lacking in most of the press coverage of the tragedy. Read her article here.
