Agreements and Disagreements

Submitted by Irfan Khawaja (United States), Sep 8, 2002 at 15:59

This is a very useful article. I can't think of any other place where a reader can find ready access in one place to (almost) all of the Islamist attacks against Americans. It's a useful reminder that the Islamist war against Americans long precedes 9/11/01.

I think Dr. Pipes misses one significant attack in his list: the attack against the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad, Pakistan in 1979, after the take-over of Haram-Sharif in Mecca. (The rumor in Pakistan was that the U.S. government had taken over the mosque; I believe the rumor was spread by the Khomeini government.) I know that two Pakistanis were killed in that attack, but I seem to remember that one American died, too. Even if no Americans died there, that attack belongs on the list if only because it ended up destroying the embassy.

A disagreement: I haven't seen any convincing evidence that the EgyptAir crash was a case of Islamic terrorism. There's little doubt that the crash was deliberate, but what's the evidence that it was an act of terrorism (as opposed to being an act of suicide by a deranged individual)?

Finally, a question: is that idiot policy of not shooting at attackers still in place at our embassies? Say it ain't so.

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