The Odds Against
16th February 2015
Richad Fernandez lays out some inconvenient truth.
Max Fisher tweeted, “people who think Christian sectarian militias are the solution to Iraq’s problems could stand to read a history of the Lebanese civil war.” I did, and the history of the Lebanese civil war reports that the Christian communities survived. That’s probably not what Fisher meant with the phrase “solution to Iraq’s problems” but survival is no mean feat. Militias aren’t usually formed to do good or noble things. They largely exist to maximize the chances that their members will wake to see tomorrow.
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But what’s old is new again. Lately we get a new snuff film for each day of the week from a bunch of masked guys we don’t even want to name. The subliminal message of each Islamist atrocity, whether it is burning people alive in cages or beheading them by the beach; the essential content of attacking schoolchildren in Peshawar or flying airliners into buildings in New York City; the inner punch line of “lone wolves” showing up at newspaper offices, cafes or synagogues is that the Great Father in Washington can’t protect you. It’s every man for himself.