Et in Arcadia Ego Sum

There is no sanctuary. Repeat, there is no sanctuary. Radical Islamists don't care whether you are an Israeli soldier or their Leftist 'friend'. They will kill you just the same.

JERUSALEM, Sept. 9 — Two Palestinian suicide bombers killed at least 13 people in separate attacks today, striking a popular café in Jerusalem's most left-leaning neighborhood and a bus stop crowded with soldiers southeast of Tel Aviv. ...  In the first attack, during the evening rush hour in Tsrifin, a man carrying a leather bag detonated a bomb packed with hardware at a bus stop beside an army base. ...Less than six hours later, another bomber blew himself apart when a guard confronted him just inside the door of Cafe Hillel in Jerusalem, the police said. The cafe is in the so-called German Colony, a neighborhood known as the city's most dovish, secular area.

The Left should have figured that Osama was out to get them on September 11, when he targeted New York instead of Salt Lake City. Those who missed the point might have caught on when a truck bomb demolished the United Nations headquarters in Baghdad. The Islamist war against Marxist Algeria, which kills 150 people a day might have suggested that they too, were on the jihad hit parade. But the Left is clueless, so it was hardly surprising to hear Howard Dean say in response to recent attacks in Israel that "it's not our place to take sides", little reckoning that Islam may have already assigned Howard Dean his 'side' whatever he says, whatever he does.

Time and again terrorist groups have swept aside everyone who stood in their path, including all the 'reasonable' people, all the people who were their 'friends'. During the British Mandate the terrorist group al-Husseini liquidated "the mayor of Hebron ,the mukhtar of Caeserea and Hassan Sidqi al-Dajani, one of the most prominent members of the Jerusalem Municipal Council - all men who could have played a vital role in accepting, rather than rejecting the UN Partition Plan of 1947. Many other political leaders who fled would never return"  just because that Partition Plan simply gave them preponderance and not total domination over the Jews. Recently Yasser Arafat rejected an Israeli offer of 95% of the West Bank and Gaza as inadequate and his minions have executed every Palestinian who disagrees. Nothing changes their minds, even the facts. Although America has destroyed 2/3 of Al-Qaeda its goal remains confidently unchanged: "converting all humanity to Islam and 'effacing the final traces of all other religions, creeds and ideologies.' " Whatever you say, whatever you do.

That monomaniacal behavior might impress Howard Dean, but it is really a devastating weakness for anyone with the wit to exploit it. Radical Islam's enemies don't have to deal with a cunning, rational opponent who will strive to maximize benefit and minimize loss. All they must do is anticipate an irrational opponent whose behavior stays the same whatever you do. Radical Islam always does its worst, whether you are nice to them or not.  And that makes things simple. As argued in Are suicide attacks the 'ultimate weapon'?, this psychotic behavior makes Islamism do foolish, predictable things. It makes them play the long odds; play zero-sum games they cannot win. It forces them into behavior which is not in their interest.

On a strategic level, Islamic madness manufactures stalwart enemies where none would exist. They make it easy to maintain a sustained opposition to terror because jihadi outrages remind everyone  -- except the Left -- what happens if we relax. If India, Russia and Israel are sharing intelligence today we can thank Osama. Even tactically, Islamic irrationality raises up resistance where there would otherwise be submission. Ever wonder why Islam's enemies never surrender to it? Can you think of of a reason why Jessica Lynch's 507th Maintenance truck drivers and mechanics fought with greater ferocity than the 285th Field Artillery Observation Battalion which surrendered to to the Waffen SS at Malmedy? Come on Liberals, can you think? Can you think why the US 106th Division surrendered  en masse to the Germans in 1944 while six British military policemen fought in Iraq, 2003 until they were out of ammunition -- and were executed as they put up their empty hands. Can you think of why it was a mistake to put up their hands? Even the pathetically inept Armed Forces of the Philippines routinely fights to the death against the Islamic foe. Just how simple life is when fighting Islamic terrorism was illustrated by Todd Beamer on Flight 93. Islam can do what no drill sergeant ever did: convert the saddest of sacks, whether Filipino soldiers, underpaid Russian conscripts, Indian Jawans, US Army truck drivers or airline passengers into regular Davy Crocketts at the Alamo. By contrast most so-called Jihadis are almost indecently eager to surrender. Guantanamo Bay, with 600 Al-Qaeda, is scheduled for expansion as more Islamic warriors wait to surrender. Did Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and Hambali fight to the death? No. They surrendered because they knew, absolutely knew that they would not have to utter words like "my mother was a Jew" before having their throats slit on video.

President George Bush's success against terrorism is less due to brilliance than the astute realization that radical Muslims are as dumb as rocks. Dig a pit and watch them come. Max Boot recounts how Iraqi jihadis "would charge M1A1 Abrams tanks and M2 Bradley Fighting Vehicles in pickup trucks mounted with machine guns. Sometimes the tanks would not even bother to open fire; they would simply roll over the attacking vehicles. The "dead-enders" died by the thousands; few U.S. troops were killed." Nothing is more reliable than Islamic hatred. What could be reliably dumber than that? Can you think, Left, can you think? Well, the Liberal prescription for fighting the German Colony bombers is set forth by Judyth Hill:

Wage Peace with your breath.
Breathe in firemen and rubble.
Breathe out whole buildings and flocks of red-wing blackbirds.
Breathe in terrorists
Breathe out sleeping children and fresh mown fields.
... Make soup.

As Howard Dean says, "it's not our place to take sides".