Daniel J. Pipes

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The man behind the man behind the bomb

Reader comment on item: Salman Rushdie and British Backbone
in response to reader comment: These sort of things will end when makers of threats are treated as fathers of deeds

Submitted by Monte Gardner (United States), Jun 29, 2007 at 11:36

In World War II, the factory workers at the munitions plants and naval assembly yards were praised as heroes, as "the man behind the man behind the gun". In a converse fashion, at some point, we need to start talking about "The man behind the man behind the bomb", that is, the terrorists. In some communities, parents can be held responsible, to a degree, for the crimes of their children if it is shown that they didnt take sufficient corrective steps to prevent such acts.

Similarly, when arrested terrorists are shown to have come from the same madrassas, listened to the same sermons, read the same books or websites, etc, some of the consequences must continue on to the men behind the terrorists. Just as we no longer distinguish between terrorists and the nations who harbor them, we should no longer distinguish between terrorists and the men who teach them.


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Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".

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