Defeatist Compromising Commentary From Reason Magazine

[Paul Spirito]

In the Name of God, the Nonexistent,

At <http://www.reason.com/cy/cy092401.html>,
   Cathy Young wrote:

> There are libertarians who say that it doesn't have to be that way. 
> They argue that, if our government only withdrew from meddling in 
> regions where we have no real interest, stop playing global 
> policeman, and limited itself to providing for a national defense 
> against foreign attack, we wouldn't be a terrorist target.
> 
> Alas, this is a myopic position. Aside from whether a 21st century 
> democracy can survive in isolation, the sort of people who carried 
> out this monstrous act hate us for much more than our foreign policy.
> 
> Note that their targets included not only the Pentagon and 
> (apparently) Capitol Hill or the White House, but the World Trade 
> Center - a symbol and a bastion of international capitalism, not of 
> US military power.

I'd like to believe this -- it would make the struggle more heroic --
but I can't. As they say, all politics is local. I don't think most
people in the Middle East care whether Americans are enjoying freedom &
democracy any more than most Americans care whether people in the Middle
East are (alas!). If they were really upset about capitalism they'd be
bombing Swiss banks; instead, they probably keep their money in them.

In fact, when was the last time terrorists struck Switzerland?*

-- 
Paul

*See
<http://www.state.gov/www/global/terrorism/1999report/europe.html#Switzerland>.
Mostly Kurds protesting against Greeks. Nothing to do with the Swiss. 

Nothing at all listed for 1995-1998, 2000:

gopher://gopher.state.gov/00ftp:DOSFan:Gopher:03%20Publications%20-%20Major%20Reports:Patterns%20of%20Global%20Terrorism:1995%20PGT%20Report
or: http://www.hri.org/docs/USSD-Terror/95/
http://www.state.gov/www/global/terrorism/1996Report/1996index.html
http://www.state.gov/www/global/terrorism/1997Report/1997index.html
http://www.state.gov/www/global/terrorism/1998Report/1998index.html
http://www.state.gov/s/ct/rls/pgtrpt/2000/