War of Conquest
The Sunday Age Sunday, October 20, 2002
We ask why? But we in the West have grown so accustomed to tolerance and multiculturalism that we have already forgotten one of the oldest reasons for war - conquest!
We are still the same species that spawned the Romans, Genghis Khan, the Vikings, the Conquistadors, the Crusaders, the old Muslim conquerors, the British Empire, the Nazis and others.
The current slaughterers are trying to start a war between Islam and the infidel. Their aim: the world for Allah. It has been tried before. Only the brand changes. Of course, no one would actually win.
The intelligent response is not to get sucked in. The question is, are all the relevant governments ready to show an ethically advanced standard of leadership and treat these killings, not as acts of war but as crimes of murder. Please God, they are.
Philip O'Carroll