This is a hard piece to read, but it spells things out pretty clearly.
It's important to read it because it is the truth.
It talks about the reality of terrorism-why children in particular are targeted.
"Terrorists are nihilists par excellence: they strike at the
foundation of the mainstream culture, seeking to wipe out its pivotal
symbols and meanings. In the new millennium, amid a raging sea of
conflicting concepts, pluralistic connotations, confusing priorities,
habitual skepticism, intellectual and ethical relativism, perhaps our
only enduring value is concern for children. Whatever else we believe,
we believe unconditionally in securing the welfare, health, and
security of children. No sane person will claim that while it is not
nice to hurt children, there is another side to the argument. Today,
children are the last consecrated absolute. For its part, militant
nihilism strives to ruin first and foremost what their contemporaries
hold sacred."
"Terror stipulates unceasing acceleration. When successful, perpetrators
seek to take advantage of intensifying anxiety and strive to build up
momentum. Random, en masse brutality against civilians—emblematic for the 20th-century
terror–culminated in a spectacular act of apocalyptic destruction on
9/11. It made conspicuous that real targets are not those who die. The
violent act is a ghastly message whose purpose is to intimidate the
broader public, physically unaffected by bloodshed. The next round of
sustained terrorization required increasingly severe psychological and
emotional impact, not necessarily measured by casualty count."
“Nothing horrifies more than the murder of children” because it “is the ultimate rejection of life.”
Please read the whole thing. This is one to keep and file.
Via Instapundit.