Terrorists Want to Change Us

Wall Street Journal reports today on the terrorist attempt in Jakarta, Indonesia to influence the election in Australia. Tom Ridge has consistently told us that they are picking up "chatter" from terror groups indicating they wanted to scare us like they did Spain.

The Journals said:

Defeating terrorists sometimes seems an impossible task. For starters, as U. S. President Bush said last week, there will be no formal surrender on their part. Critics of the war on terrorism also often point out that it is very difficult to protect all people at all times from anyone with a grievance and home-made explosive devices.

However, the type of attacks the world has seen in Beslan, Jakarta, Madrid, Bali, Istanbul, New York and elsewhere are not carried out by random misfits who want to vent their frustration, but by a dedicated group of Islamic fundamentalists with a well-defined support network. Though they are bent on destruction, these terrorists are not nihilists, but have clear goals. The overarching aim is to spread Islamic fundamentalism.

In the case of yesterday's attack, the intermediate goal was to affect the outcome of Australia's general elections on Oct. 9. The Australian government has been a steadfast ally of the U.S. and Britain in the war on terror. Yesterday's cowardly act, probably carried out by Jemaah Islamiyah according to police, and which left seven Indonesians dead and 100 wounded, sadly brings to mind the attack in Madrid in March, on the eve of the Spanish elections.

The parallels between the two situations are indeed strong. Spain's government then was very similar to Australia's today. It had a stellar economic record, was strongly pro-Western and took its global responsibilities seriously. Their oppositions, on the other hand, campaigned on a promise of bringing troops home from Iraq.

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I travel to Singapore which is next door to Indonesia several times each year and I can tell you that Muslim terrorists are active there. The Muslims are trying to get even with the Christians and Jews because of things that happened several hundred years ago. They never forget nor do they ever stop unless they are stopped.

Pray for the families who have lost loved ones.

Pray for world leaders to have the wisdom to protect us.