Belgium put the capital Brussels on maximum security alert on Saturday, shutting the metro and warning people to avoid crowds because of a "serious and imminent" threat of coordinated, multiple attacks by militants.
Why did Belgium have to go and provoke the Islamists?
We all remember the prominent role that Belgium played in the invasion of Iraq in 2003, right? That really angered the jihadis.
Or perhaps it was the Belgian guard contingent at Guantanamo Bay that earned a justifiably horrible reputation for their substandard preparation of rice pilaf for the sad poet-jihadis held there?
Because if I understand it, those things are what the jihadis point to when they justify their assault on our cities, planes, and people.
Or maybe it was Belgium's role in the Crusades. That must be it. It's all understandable, now, as our secretary of state might muse.
UPDATE: Here, of course, we're on the verge of going to Alert Level "Code Pink" as jihadis inexplicably fail to respond to the soothing balms of hope and change.
And while I believe our response to the jihadi threat has been completely insufficient under this administration, I stand by my statement that any attack is purely the fault of the jihadis who carry it out.
Blame on our side is limited to whether or not we effectively respond to their hateful murderous intent, both on defense and offense.
UPDATE: Sanctuary: Belgium:
The family homes of the suspected mastermind of the Paris attacks and one of the suicide bombers stand only a few blocks apart in the Belgian capital's Molenbeek neighborhood. After a string of attacks in recent years linked to its grimy streets in central Brussels, a key question arises: Why Belgium?
The tiny nation renowned for beer, chocolates and the comic book hero Tintin is now suddenly infamous for Islamic extremism — and the easy availability of illegal weapons.
Maybe George W. Bush was right: you're either with us to fight jihadis or you are effectively against us--even if you just wittingly or unwittingly serve as a sanctuary for those against us.
UPDATE: Related:
Brussels this week has been paralyzed by its failures. The metro isn’t running; the city is in a complete security lockdown, including the glittering Grande Place; schools will remain shut tomorrow. Its citizens, cowering at home, uneasily contemplate the enemy within that European policy failure and Belgian paralysis have allowed to grow. Brussels today is the West’s tomorrow; unless we change course we will find ourselves more and more living in a world in which reality mocks our aspirations and the whitewash on our institutions can no longer conceal the rot within.
Tip to Instapundit.
