Not in my name

I opposed the war in Iraq. Not because it didn't have permission from the irrelivant talking shop that is the UN. Certainly not because I thought that Saddam was couragous or indefatigable, or even remotly fit to rule Iraq. I simply felt the resources would be best spent in Afganistan getting Bin Laden. Saddam was a monster, but he was caged. He could not threaten anyone outside his borders, a situation that had held for 10 years. He needed to be removed, but he could wait. Bin Laden on the other hand could, and would, fund Islamist terrorism from anywhere on the planet that he could get a phone line to his various bank accounts.

But by not supporting the war does not mean that I in any way support the so called leaders of the anti-war movement, such as the odious George Galloway, in their rush to blame Islamist terrorism on the west. Islamist terrorism comes not from western actions but from the Wahabi sect of Islam, and began along time before Iraq or even 9/11. Muslims are not mere puppets driven in mindless reaction to the actions of the west. They have there own reasons for doing what they do, a point that has been taken up by the Guradian (but probably not for long):

"But it's a parochial line of reasoning to suppose that all bad, or all good, comes from the West - and a racist one to boot. The unavoidable consequence is that you must refuse to support democrats, liberals, feminists and socialists in the Arab world and Iran who are the victims of Islamism in its Sunni and Shia guises because you are too compromised to condemn their persecutors.

Islamism stops being an ideology intent on building an empire from Andalusia to Indonesia, destroying democracy and subjugating women and becomes, by the magic of parochial reasoning, a protest movement on a par with Make Poverty History or the TUC.

Again, I understand the appeal. Whether you are brown or white, Muslim, Christian, Jew or atheist, it is uncomfortable to face the fact that there is a messianic cult of death which, like European fascism and communism before it, will send you to your grave whatever you do. But I'm afraid that's what the record shows."

He then goes on to dismantle the standard supporting bush is the reason for the attacks argument that was wheeled out to explain the London bombings by pointing to the reasons Bin Laden gave for the Bali bombings. The left said it was because of the Australian support of Bush, Bin Laden said it was because of the Australian support of the East Timorese to get rid of the, Islamic, Indonesian government that had been massacring them for decades. This did not fit with the standard 'the west is bad' world view so Bin Laden's words where forgotten.