Self Criticism in Arab Media

Self criticism in Arab media is apparently now happening with the horrifying aftermath of the hostage taking at a school in Russia. Finally, terrorists have crossed a line that no one can stomach.

I guess I was there a long time ago. William Kole talks about extremists aiming for maximum attention and the escalation to soft targets as opposed to government buildings and such. The thinking now seems to be that such targets as schools and other civilian structures will become the "vogue" for terrorists, that after 9/11 only such targets will get our attention.

Funny, I thought there were plenty of soft targets when the American embassy in Nairobi was blown up. I thought there were plenty of soft targets at the Federal Building in Oklahoma City. And there were a fair number of soft targets at the Thirty Two Degrees North Pub in Belfast when someone rammed a backhoe filled with flammable materials into the front of it--yesterday. The latter event came within days of yet another attempt to shore up the often-broken "cease fire" in Northern Ireland, where soft targets have been hit for decades.

It's good that Arab media are looking at the fact that most of the terrorism in the world today seems to come from extremist Muslims. It's good that they recognize that such acts do more harm than good to any world concern for the issues at stake.

What I'm waiting for is their Ghandi. Their Martin Luther King, Jr. Maybe he/she is there, but we don't see? Dunno. But I'm glad that the discussion of tactics is now happening in Arab media. I only hope that it continues--and that some of those media actually reflect the views of their viewing audience.