So Just Why Does Al Qaeda Want to Harm Us?

by Michael Jones · 2010-01-09 20:48:00 UTC
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IraqWe hear a lot about Al Qaeda. We know they're active in the Arabian Peninsula, and countries throughout North Africa, to name just a few. We know they're primarily the reason behind airport security policies that make a flight from Dulles to LAX seem like an epic journey.

But do we know why Al Qaeda wants to harm us?

Moreover, does the White House?

Leave it to dean of the White House Press Corps, 89-year-old Helen Thomas, to try to get to the bottom of that question. Thomas peppered White House counter-terrorism expert John Brennan during a press briefing this week surrounding the "intelligence gaps" that lie at the heart of the Christmas Day underwear bomber saga. But it's not what Brennan said during the briefing that should have heads turning. It's what he didn't say.

Thomas' question wasn't a hard one. She just simply asked, "Why do they want to harm us?"

Brennan spun more wheels than you'd find at a NASCAR race.

"Al Qaeda is an organization that is dedicated to murder and wanton slaughter of innocents," Brennan said.

OK, so why do they want to attack us?

"They attract individuals like Mr. Abdulmutallab and use them for these types of attacks," Brennan added.

OK, but why do they want to attack us?

"Unfortunately, al Qaeda has perverted Islam, and has corrupted the concept of Islam," Brennan said.

So they attack us because of Islam?

"I'm saying it's because of an Al Qaeda organization that used the banner of religion in a very perverse and corrupt way," Brennan said.

OK, so for the fourth time, let's all channel our inner Helen Thomas and ask, "WHY!"

"I think this is a -- long issue, but al Qaeda is just determined to carry out attacks here against the homeland," Brennan concluded.

Anybody else feel like yelling expletives ala the cartoon character Lucy from Peanuts?

Glenn Greenwald cuts to the chase over the government's lack of response to Thomas' question. "[Saying] Al Qaeda is evil and murderous and perverts Islam is a judgment about what they do, not an answer as to what motivates them," Greenwald writes.

Most of us know what motivates them. And yes, part of the equation is religion gone amok. But so too is Guantanamo. So too is Abu Ghraib. So too is torture. So too is preemptive war.

Nobody is defending Al Qaeda by saying that.

But if we're going to fight a War on Terror throughout pretty much the entire globe, shouldn't our leaders have an answer to the question, "Why are the terrorists attacking us?"

Photo: The U.S. Army

Michael Jones
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