Amid the talk of September 11th, March 11 in Spain and July 7 in London, one date always seems to go unmentioned. October 12, 2002 was the day - or evening, to be more accurate - that bombs shook the entertainment district of Bali, killing 202 people.
Many of those murdered by Islamists in the name of Allah were Australians, vacationing in Indonesia.
“Six years ago, 88 Australians lost their lives and many more were injured in the bombings in Bali. Today we honor their memory,” Australia’s ambassador to Indonesia, Bill Farmer, said in a speech read on behalf of Prime Minister Kevin Rudd.
“We pause also to remember the 38 Indonesians and 76 people from other countries who were killed in that dreadful attack.”
It would be inconceivable to hold a vigil for every Muslim atrocity committed around the globe, or we would never again be able to speak or work or blow the candles out. However, when these large-scale attacks on freedom and democracy occur, they should be marked. We should strive to remember those innocents who died for no other reason than Allah seeks vengeance against those who are free.
Remember Bali today. It might be your vacation/city/friends next time.
October 12th, 2008 at 9:53 am
Yea, so lets not forget why we cant have Obama in office or I can pretty hear much some sh*thead in his staff saying the next time it will of been our fault.
October 12th, 2008 at 12:51 pm
According to the news coming out of Pakisitan and Afghan al queda and the taliban have been taking huge losses lately at a greater rate than before. How much can they take? They have been losing some senior people too and supposedly the talibani’s are putting out peace feelers. It seems the Pakis are going after them more on their side too and changed the head of their intelligence services for playing both sides. And if anything things are going to get even worse for the taliban and al queda soon. They underestimated the staying power of the US and Nato. Bin laden has dropped off the face of the earth and al zawhari is ducking missles and a number of their chief underlings have been killed. Thier terror cells are being rolled up in europe and in parts of the middle east. I don’t think anyone is covering this well at all either.
October 12th, 2008 at 2:46 pm
Obama is a Christian.
October 12th, 2008 at 3:18 pm
There is an ideoligy being taught and spread.
Operatives no longer need to be smuggled across borders.
Homegrowns are the next biggest threat.
And I have a sneaky feeling many of them are here already and approaching maturation.
October 12th, 2008 at 4:32 pm
There was a wave of homegrowns in britain, europe and pakistan that seems to have passed. In fact Al queda ideology is falling on deaf ears in many places now as it just isn’t a winning philosophy. We have had our mcveigh’s and rudolphs and probably always will if we don’t make them highly esteemed professors who teach our kids. I think there is a lot to say that al queda is going to go the way of the ash heap of history if they cannot pull off spectactular attacks. Movements have momentums and theirs seems to be spinning its wheels anymoe.
October 12th, 2008 at 5:01 pm
Bali Bombing October 12, 2002 (Photos Video)…
Today is the sixth anniversary of the Bali Bombing. The attack on Westerners by Islamic Extremists, connected to al-Qaeda’s global jihad, killed 202 people, mostly Australians. Read about it below and see photos and videos about the bombing.
Bal…
October 12th, 2008 at 7:04 pm
Is it just me or is Wendy’s slant to ths article reek of discrimination and ignorance..
“It would be inconceivable to hold a vigil for every Muslim atrocity committed around the globe, or we would never again be able to speak or work or blow the candles out.”
Not all muslims are extremist terrorist.. how ignorant are you.. Christians hands are not clean in history either.. I seem to remember not to long ago in our history, Black churches being burned with children in them by radical Christian groups in the name of the bible!
October 12th, 2008 at 7:14 pm
… which is why we have an MLK Day. But more importantly, KV, are you comparing comtemporary Muslim violence with the Christian Wars of the middle ages? I think that’s pretty much Wendy’s point that you couldn’t possibly hold a vigil for each atrocity. You seem to be agreeing broadly while wallowing on specifics. Can you clarify your position?
October 12th, 2008 at 7:32 pm
Yep - those peace loving Muslims are out there every day protesting in front of radical Mosques, appearing on all of the major radio and television shows denouncing terrorists, and working feverishly to root out the evil doers in their communities.
Oooops - I guess they’re not.
October 12th, 2008 at 8:15 pm
have you had to deal with passive aggressive islamists who though peaceful will actively obstruct or try and dominate you on sa things knowing you can’t say anything back to them and they quietly smile about it. They tell you to your face you stole America from the Indians and have a terrible government while they say the dictator of sudan is a nice guy? They avoid discussing bin laden or al queda or the taliban or pakistan, but they heap derision on your country even while they are on immigrant visas. And they are quick to tell you they don’t celebrate christmas and look at you like your a nonbeliver if you do, and once in a while they give you their homespun tribal philosophy on the jews. And again if you say anything back they claim discrimination to their friends and family and maybe even to their lawyers. They are willing to work hard, but at the same time they like to wheedle the needle. Mention islam and they smile with a glow that is a bit disconcerting as they go into another state. In europe its even worse as they are less integrated with the native population and look at the French youth riots, burnings, and molitove cocktails. Would you even want to hire some of these people if they work with you seeing you as a subhuman nonbeliver? And they do believe in time the whole world will be like them to be pure. Its a weird mindset and difficult to work with people who believe they are better than you when in fact they are pretty average overall. By being polite and understanding to them buys you little. They see us like we see mindless rednecks throwing stools in bars in drunken rages. Basically, yep.
October 12th, 2008 at 8:29 pm
The fact of the matter is that we dont hear as much renouncement or condemnation of radical Islam coming from moderate Islamiics as I think we should.
Where are the moderates that you would think would like to see the image of their faith cleaned up ?
Frankly, I dont believe theres as many as we would like there to be seeing as how in Pakistan alone 1/2 the population has a favorable opinion of Osama.
Worldwide at least ten percent of Muslims somehow justify homicide bombings.
At slightly more than a billion that gives us 10 million to consider.
Consider that only a small percentage would actually do such a thing and thats still enough for me to worry and cop a little bias
October 12th, 2008 at 8:48 pm
nice blog you have, I checked it out through your link on your posts. Those meth pictures and descriptions you gave were very interesting and better than what the gov and organizations give out. Yes the hollywood brats are light weights compared to that and more alcoholics than anyone wants to admit. Lots of young people go through a phase of this but outside of family no-one pays it much attention and they grow out of it. But the celebs give sensational storys’ I just keep in mind that these celebs are little cottage industrys, and Parris Hilton makes about 20 mil a year just going to functions, her tv shows that all quickly bomb out, and her endorsement to designer clothes. She actually goes out to clubs in an organized fashion to get the paparazzi in tow for the free publicity since she’s not a movie or pop singer star. Even Maddonna makes 25 mil on a bad year and she also plans out her promo antics to a tee and knows her audience. Parris mom seems involved a lot, and she isn’t just some radical kid out to be a bad girl. Its her job. People don’t understand the mindset of meth or what it can do to you. I think they should educated people more on the physical effects and less demonizing it on simply moral and law enforcement grounds. So your pics should scare away at least some sensible people. A lot of that is really horrible looking. I can’t imagine what it would be like in prison with half of them hard core drug heads like meth, crack, heroin, mixtures of pills and the above, plus haveing to rob, be violent, and steal or join gangs to get it, or be foreced to partake if your in one till you quickly get hooked. I know in restaurants a lot of people drink a lot. I worked in one where the manger was drunk as a skunk when he hired me to start out and then again when he promoted me an the chef had shaky hands in the morning and was hung over and the stream of dishwashers who came in seemed doomed. Three chefs seemed always hung over. Probably not as much with the newer younger culinary trained yuppie chefs who drink bottled water and fruit plates for lunch. Nice greyhound. As far as Islam goes, I think it was pushed on fairly aggressive warring tribes to civilize them 1400 years ago. Christianity also had a civilizing effect but its more open to internal debate and personal interpretation now that its out of the hands of the state. Islam never made it out of the hands of the state though and its more tied in with every aspect of their way of life. While Christians can be aggessive, they tend to turn that into mastery of their natural environment, science and technologies, and diverse growth economies. The jesuits were really a busy group of scientists and academics who helped propel their fields. Islam is really been weak in science if you read some of their current theorys even if they invented arithmetical math. Islam is really for a different people plainly as its too static and rigid. Only now as the richer countrys there adopt western ways are they advancing rapidly after hundreds of years of stasis. This is a big threat to the fundamentalists who want a military type of sexist society.
October 13th, 2008 at 7:43 am
OK, look. I understand now what is going on here. It is obvious. I had to sleep on it. I don’t have the keenest mind politically.
Another terrorist attack would benefit McCain. I can say that. If everyone can go on and on about how the current economic crisis is benefitting Obama, then I can say that. So, lacking another terrorist attack, this is what we do. We bring up one that happened a year ago. Anything that gets the emphasis, the discussion back to terrorism is going to benefit McCain.
Now we have Huckabee raising the specter of “economic terrorism,” that perhaps somehow the near-second-Great-Depression we are experiencing is the product of terrorism. Such an idea is, of course, ridiculous to the extreme, but it is also a stroke of genius. I doubt if Huckabee is smart enough to have thought of it. But, it requires evidence. And there is no credible evidence of this–yet. I would not be surprised to soon see headlines proclaiming that some evidence has been uncovered that Al Qaeda has somehow manipulated the financial markets, somehow hacked into computer systems, in an attempt to bring the global economy down. We all understand perfectly clearly how good the current crowd in power is at manufacturing evidence. Everyone could then breathe a sigh of relief. Countrywide didn’t do it, Osama did. And his name rhymes with Obama.
You know, when all this is over, McCain really is going to be remembered as striking a new low in politics. I like to think that maybe the reason he took the microphone away from that woman was that he just couldn’t stomach it anymore. I am sure that he is at the core a decent fellow, and not an evil bastard like, say, Karl Rove, or Rush Limbaugh. Doing what he did may have been the best thing he could have done. His poll nos. went up in Ohio a little. I am from Ohio. People are pretty decent in Ohio. They know in their hearts that Obama is not a “terrorist,” or a Muslim (not that’s there is anything wrong with that, in and of itself), that he is not a wealthy elitist, and on, and on, and on. I am sure they also know that John Kerry did not fake his wounds in Vietnam, or lie about his service there, or whatever, too.
So this is all pretty evil stuff. Certainly not very Christian, like Obama is. Trying to take a United States senator and brand him as a terrorist is just sick. Maybe McCain has hit on a new way to win: have a little faith in the inherent decency of the American people.
July 2nd, 2009 at 7:21 pm
Very nice. Thanks for this.