Terrorism Is Not New
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Terrorism is not new although it has gone under many names.

From the year 1096 till 1229 some large armies of Christian soldiers, left Europe for Palestine and because they bore the Cross, their campaigns were called the Crusades.  They were promised by church leaders that if they died, even on the way to Palestine, they would go straight to heaven; modern day suicide bombers appear to have a similar arrangement.

These Christian Crusaders over a hundred year period killed thousands and thousands of Muslims who had been living in peace with other religious groups for centuries.  Some of these Crusaders while on the way to Palestine killed thousands of local Christians as well.  However, most Christians would never condone these actions in the name of Christianity, just as most Muslims would not condone terrorism in the name of Islam.

Starting around the year 1500 and lasting until the 19th Century in the Americas, the Christians repeated the whole thing again, although this time they were not called Crusaders, they were just normal people like: adventurers, settlers, explorers and, there were others who were there to save souls.

The farther south in the Americas, the more the killings were carried out in the name of the cross.  There were thousands upon thousands of people killed.  Does the name ‘Conquistador’ ring a bell?  Well, if it does, what do you think they were doing there?  They were bringing the people Christianity to save their souls; unfortunately they killed most of the people whilst they did it.  They saved countless souls of men, women, children and babies in this way.  Oh, and they were looking for a bit of gold as well.

In much of the Americas, and Australia for that matter, many of the original inhabitants were killed by disease that was brought in by the explorers.  It is amazing that these diseases wiped out so many of the locals and were most virulent in areas where the land was fertile and valuable for farming.  As history shows, you just can’t trust a disease.

Since the Second World War, some very nasty terrorism has occurred unabated in the poorest of countries, especially in those parts of the world that just happen to have some valuable resources available.  These resources can come in the form of: forestry, minerals, oil or cheap labour.  Though be careful in your research, as the old saying goes “the victors write the history”.

A few years back New York experienced a rather frightening hit of terrorism.  Recently in Russia, Muslim terrorists were responsible for the deaths of at least 300 innocent Christians, many of those lost were children, a horrible thing to do by anybody’s standards.  Those terrorists in Russia probably came from Chechnya, where Russian state sanctioned murder has been going on for years.  Mr. Putin and his Christian soldiers have killed over 3000 Chechens in Chechnya, many women and children.  There are also horrific ongoing human rights abuses against the people; but Mr. Putin and his men are fighting for peace in Chechnya.

The Americans have already lost over 2000 soldiers in Iraq and the number is still growing.  The Iraqi people have already lost twenty five thousand civilians and that number is still growing; unfortunately many of them are innocent children.

Yes, Saddam has been knocked off his perch, he was brutalising his people with a reign of terror, and was supported during his reign of terror by those who eventually deposed him.  Those that kept him armed to the teeth, while he brutalised his own people, knew exactly what he was doing; so it is a little disingenuous to say “well we had to get rid of him because he was a tyrant to his people”.

By today’s standards, would the Crusaders and the Conquistadors be called terrorists?  In the history of the world, peace loving Christians, have killed more Christians and non Christians than any other group.  Most of those fighting for peace in Iraq believe what they are told, but do they have any idea what they are actually doing there?  Does anybody know what they are really doing or going to do?  Because i can’t see the future.