It’s funny how for lefties, “blowback” is only something that happens when we take violent actions; never: “Hamas is experiencing blowback for launching thousands of rockets into Israel"; not “al-Qaeda is incurring blowback for pissing off the United States”.
Juan Cole is one of those academics poisoning the young minds of college students and gullible left-leaning minds.
He now sees fit to hold Israel accountable for bringing on the events of 9/11.
His post from Wednesday:
In 1996, Israeli jets bombed a UN building where civilians had taken refuge at Cana/ Qana in south Lebanon, killing 102 persons; in the place where Jesus is said to have made water into wine, Israeli bombs wrought a different sort of transformation. In the distant, picturesque port of Hamburg, a young graduate student studying traditional architecture of Aleppo saw footage like this on the news [graphic]. He was consumed with anguish and the desire for revenge. As soon as operation Grapes of Wrath had begun the week before, he had written out a martyrdom will, indicating his willingness to die avenging the victims, killed in that operation–with airplanes and bombs that were a free gift from the United States. His name was Muhammad Atta. Five years later he piloted American Airlines 11 into the World Trade Center. (Lawrence Wright, The Looming Tower, p. 307: “On April 11, 1996, when Atta was twenty-seven years old, he signed a standardized will he got from the al-Quds mosque.l It was the day Israel attacked Lebanon in Operation grapes of Wrath. According to one of his friends, Atta was enraged,and by filling out his last testamentd during the attack he was offering his life in response.” ).
And speaking of “blowback”, Juan Cole includes Michael Scheuer in his post:
Michael Scheuer, who headed the CIA Bin Laden desk for some years and knows something about radical fundamentalism, concludes, “What is likely to become known across the Islamic world as the “Gaza slaughter” will ensure the continued growth of the Sunni insurgency al-Qaeda leads and inspires.”
And as though on cue, Ayman al-Zawahiri came out with a video Tuesday, saying, ""We will never stop until we avenge the death of all who are killed, injured, widowed and orphaned in Palestine and throughout the Islamic world . . .” He then attacked Barack Obama, saying “These air strikes are a gift from Obama before he takes office, and from Hosni Mubarak, the traitor who is the primary partner in your siege and murder.”
What I am saying is that Israeli leaders like Ehud Olmert, Tzipi Livni, Ehud Barak and the Israeli high command and intelligence all knew this danger very well when they launched this bloodbath. They subjected you and me to it anyway, because it is immaterial to them what happens to the United States as a result of their bloody-mindedness. They want theirs. They are no different in that regard from American hawks. Bush knew he was endangering Madrid and Glasgow when he attacked Iraq. He didn’t care about his allies, either. In the Hawk Business, provoking terrorism is all to the good. Nor are they different in this regard from the leadership of Hamas, which also acted provocatively without regard to the wider consequences.
The burden of peace is on Hamas. It is the writings and lectures of liberal academics like Juan Cole who make the moral inversions of terrorist apologists and the anti-war movement possible. They are silent on Iranian dissidents being tortured in Iran everyday; they express love and admiration for dictators like Castro; they sympathize with the plight of Hamas and Islamic terrorists; all the while they call President Bush who has liberated 60 million Muslims the warmonger, and the plight of Israel “illegitimate”, “criminal”, and an “illegal occupation”.
It is the moral inversion of liberal peace/anti-war movements that causes war and the perpetuation of “the cycle of violence” by not protesting and pressuring the true dictators and violators of human rights.
I encourage all FA readers to go support Michael Totten in defeating Juan Cole in the 2008 Weblog Awards for Best Middle East or Africa Blog:
Juan Cole is decrying all the neocons he’s forced to compete with in the 2008 Weblog Awards for Best Middle East or Africa Blog. He thinks Helena Cobban — a deranged Hezbollah supporter — should have been nominated instead of someone like me. He’s worked his leftist readers into a tizzy, and they’re putting him over the top. I don’t really care if I win this award; I won it last year. But Juan Cole certainly doesn’t deserve it.
You know what kind of abject nonsense he’s peddling now? He’s arguing that Israel’s 1996 attack in Qana, Lebanon, inspired Mohammad Atta, who led the Al Qaeda cell on September 11, to write his “martyrdom will.” But Atta’s will, as Martin Kramer points out, was written before the attack in Qana. And it wasn’t a martyrdom will. It was a standard will. But Cole won’t let facts get in the way of blaming Israelis for just about anything, including violence committed by Al Qaeda.
Don’t let Cole win. Go over there and vote for me.
