column # two

World War III has begun. Are any of us surprised? We shouldn't be; we should have seen it coming. Fascism, or oppressive control that seeks to eliminate all non-supported factions from society, is incompatible with the pluralistic and generally tolerant societies of the Western World. Presumably, this incompatibity would be fine, should the reasonably just societies of the West not come into direct cultural conflict with hard-line terrorist groups, or the Fundamentalist Islamic regiemes that support them. This, however, is impossible. We live in a world society, where the exchange of goods and services across national boundaries is indispensable.

Contact was achieved when Mir Aimal Kansi fired an AK-47 assault rifle into cars waiting at a stoplight in front of the CIA agency headquarters on January 25, 1993, and on February 26 of the same year when Islamic terrorists placed a car bomb in a parking garage below the World Trade Center.

And, what about Khobar Towers bombing in 1996 that killed 19 United States service men and wounded 372? Or, in 1997, when an armed man opened fire on tourists from atop the Empire State Building, killing a Danish national and wounding visitors from the United States, Switzerland, France and Argentina. A handwritten note that was found on the man claimed the attack was punishment for the "enemies of Palestine."

In 1998, multiple United States Embassy buildings were bombed in East Africa. These attacks killed hundreds, and landed Osama bin Laden on the F.B.I's Ten Most Wanted list. Osama bin Laden's next attack took place in 2000, against the USS Cole, a United States Navy ship harbored in Yemen. An inflatable raft that was pilated by suicide bombers was loaded with explosives and used to destroy the side of the ship.

All of these attacks occured in the ten years between 1990 and 2000, which means we're leaving out the multiple attacks against the United States on 9/11, against Madrid, Spain, and against London, England and against Egypt.

Indeed, contact has been achieved, and the message should be clear: The United States, along with other peace loving nations, must fight to protect not only its own citizens, but the very ideals that characterize a free-and-open society.

lslamofascism seeks "Islamic theocratic rule -- a rule void of sophistification, of a seperation of church and state, of tolerance and equality," four of the major premises that any just society must be built upon. More than that, Islamofascism is on the march, as evidenced by the most recent terrorist attacks and the intense rhetoric of our enemies.

Just as the forces of freedom and compassion marched to war in the two previous World Wars, fighting against the evils of fascism and unbridled intolerance, they must again bear this terrible cost in the pursuit of securing liberty.