Year Four of the defense against global jihad begins with a word from V. S. Naipaul, may God bless him, who has never been one to mince words or shy away from controversy. From PTI:
Naipaul said the thing he saw in the current terrorism was the exulting in other people’s death.
“We are told the people who killed the children in Russia were smiling. The liberal voices were ready to explain the reasons for their actions. But this has no good side. It is as bad as it appears,” he said.
Asked about a proper response of the West, Naipaul said: “Well, clearly Iraq is not the place to have gone. But religious war is so threatening to the rest of us that it cannot be avoided.
“It will have to be fought… there are certain countries which foment it, and they probably should be destroyed, actually.”
What about Saudi Arabia? Naipaul said: “I would like to think so, yes”, adding that “I think Iran has to be dealt with, too.”
Naipaul believes that the world is yet to confront the implications of the rise of Islamic states.
“The blowing up of the twin towers; people could deal with it as an act of terror, but the idea of religious war is too frightening for people to manage. The word used is jihad. We like to translate it as holy war, but really it is religious war,” he said.