Libertarian Librarian

The CPT feels that the kidnapping of their four associates was due to the foreign troop presence in Iraq. Of course, it couldn't possibly have anything to do with their group sending civilians into hostile territory without any protection other than their belief that monsters like the terrorists who captured them would not harm anyone who was only there to help, could it?

Also, remember that these three rescued hostages were initially kidnapped along with Tom Fox, a 54 year-old American whose body was found in early March with gunshot wounds to the head and chest. Iraqi officials have also stated that it appears that Fox was tortured before his murder.

This incident will not stop CPT members from going to Iraq, nor will it cause them to consider using security forces. Jan Benvie, who was interviewed by the Telegraph, says that she plans to go to Iraq this summer. She further stated, "We make clear that if we are kidnapped we do not want there to be force or any form of violence used to release us."

Fine then. I wash my hands of these pacifists. If terrorists nab Ms. Benvie, I really don't care. It was her choice. And I fully support the coalition forces ignoring her plight as well. After all, violence only begets violence, right? The coalition forces are the source of all the pain and suffering in the region, right? And the kidnappers aren't terrorists, but rather freedom fighters and the noble resistance, right?

I say send the lot of them and, if they are captured by the enemy, good riddance to them.
 

Coalition forces rescue a British man and two Canadians, and this does justifiably make the news. There is another very newsworthy item out there with an Anglo-Canadian connection, but you probably haven't anything about it in the press.

When Mounties raided the Ottawa residence of Momin Khawaja two years ago, they found homemade electronic equipment to detonate bombs in London and elsewhere in the United Kingdom, possibly including Europe's largest shopping centre, a British prosecutor revealed in court yesterday.

They also discovered unspecified "documents" about Islamic jihad, or holy war, and Mr. Khawaja's "radical views in that direction," Crown attorney David Waters told the Old Bailey trial of seven young Britons charged with plotting a terror campaign against Britain for its support of the U.S. war against Islamic extremists. The men deny the charges.

Police later recovered e-mails allegedly written by Mr. Khawaja to one of the men on trial. They detailed his efforts in late 2003 and early 2004 from his family's home to make remote-controlled detonators with electronic transmitters and receivers. "Then we get fireworks," said one message.

On Jan. 19, 2004, Mr. Khawaja allegedly wrote: "It's not working correctly yet, we need a few more days on this."

Three weeks later, Mr. Waters said, Mr. Khawaja relayed another message: "We're starting to work on a far more sophisticated project that could be of great benefit to the 'J' [jihad]."

Pacifists against the U.S. war are "released" from captivity: Front page news.

Another example of the enemy amongst us in the West: Let's not be Islamophobes.
 

"Pacifism is a cunning philosophy: it's adherents do nothing to promote or protect liberty, while enjoying all the blessings thereof; then, claim a halo for their hypocrisy."
-- Robert Heinlein

"Is life so dear or peace so sweet as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God. I know not what course others may take, but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!"
-- Patrick Henry
 

"Those who refuse to support and defend a state have no claim to protection by that state. Killing an anarchist or pacifist should not be defined as 'murder' in a legalistic sense. The offense against the state, if any, should be 'Using deadly weapons inside city limits,' or 'Creating a traffic hazard,' or 'Endangering bystanders,' or other misdemeanor. However, the state may reasonably place a closed season on these exotic asocial animals whenever they are in danger of becoming extinct."

Robert Heinlein, The Notebooks of Lazarus Long