SENSELESS ACTS?

On the news recently we heard of another would-be American jihadist itching to earn his spurs. He'd traveled to Syria to get training, but instead of buckling down to the bloody job he was recruited to return to this country and work his magic in a more target-rich environment.

He is said to have harbored a strong desire to enter an army base in Texas and kill a few soldiers, execution style.

I suppose there are large numbers of Americans who still wonder why such a desire would be held by anyone.

In the Boston bombing trial, the actions of the accused (and now convicted) were characterized as "senseless." And I'm pretty sure that comment came from the man's own defense attorney.

The problem is, these "terroristic" actions and desires for action are far from senseless. Unfortunately, they are to a large extent religious in nature.

Politicians play down this angle, as I've said before. They can't afford to antagonize their religious constituents. (This is especially true in America.)

But removing this exotic motivation forces pundits to supply another one (unless "senseless" is still on the table). What's left is pure politics.

Or maybe politics seasoned with good old-fashioned revenge.

Revenge for the actions of American military personnel is certainly an understandable reason for action (even if wrong-headed). Many lives have been lost in Muslim countries, a substantial number of them those of innocent civilians.

(As for those guys actually engaged in fighting us, a case could be made they were simply defending their country from invaders. It's not entirely far-fetched.)

Put religion back on the table, and now our devout enemies can take "senseless" out of their equation for explaining why Americans act the way they do.

Which brings them back to the obvious conclusion: the U.S. is waging a war-to-the-death against Islam.

Revenge politics riding to work on God's holy word: It's a devastating combination, one especially difficult for humans to resist.

When you know the unknowable, all things make perfect sense. Including what to do next.

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In case it has escaped your notice, this blog is meant to support a book currently available on Amazon in the Kindle e-book format. Starting tomorrow (Tuesday, April 21) the book will be offered at a discount for a week. Early birds get the best price. Double-clicking the book's cover image (in the margin on your right) takes you to Amazon where you can see what's what.

And by the way, if you're an Amazon Prime member, I believe you can borrow this book for free. You might want to look into that....