AFP photo
By
Tom Arms
The number of times that President Donald Trump and I agree can be counted on one knuckle, of one finger of one hand.
That one occasion was on Monday after the Manchester bombing atrocity. He stood behind the lectern at a press conference in Ramallah and expressed his condolences to the families of the victims of the attack. Then he went on to describe the perpetrators of such attacks as “losers.”
He refused to call them monsters. “They would like that term.” He said, “They would think that was a great name. But they are not that. They are evil losers.”
He was right, in the twisted logic of their extremist followers, vilification by the Leader of the West only justifies the rightness of their cause. But there is no right. There is no justification. There is no sane logic to strapping on a bomb belt packed with nails, nuts and bolts, marching into a music concert filled with children and blowing up yourself and dozens of others.
Manchester bomber Salman Abedi is not languishing in an oasis being fed dates by scantily-clad beautiful virgins. If there is life after death then his involves his skin perpetually blistering and melting from the heat of Hell.
But let’s go back to Trump’s speech. Abedi is a loser. I generally dislike Trump’s rhetoric. But in this instance he has come up with a wonderfully dismissive term for people who deserve to be dismissed. And by airily dismissing them you are saying that they do not deserve to be glorified, eulogized, honoured, lionized, celebrated or in any way emulated by anyone anywhere.
Abedi, as already stated, is a loser. A quick look at the highlights of his short life reveals that his contribution to society was virtually non-existent and—if he had lived—was likely to be even less in the future. And a look at the bombers who have carried out attacks elsewhere in the West over the past 12 months exposes the common theme.
Let’s start with the stabbing of a policeman and his partner in Maganville, France on June 13th 2016. 25-year-old Larossi Aballa was a French citizen of Moroccan descent. Unemployed, he had a police record for theft and violence. In 2013 he had been convicted for associating with a terrorist group—Loser.
How about the Orlando night club shooting? 49 dead, 53 wounded on June 29th 2016. 29-year-old Omar Mateen was a habitual steroid user with an ambivalent sexuality. He flunked out of the Florida Police Academy and was reported to have a strange affinity with guns. His first wife described him as “mentally unstable and mentally ill”—Loser.
Then there is the Bastille Day outrage. A 19-tonne truck ploughs through a Nice crowd killing 86 people and injuring 434 on July 14th 2016. Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel was a Tunisian with French residency permit. His Tunisian wife (who happened to be a cousin) reported him for domestic violence and he had five prior criminal offences for threatening behaviour, violence and petty theft—Loser.
Let’s not forget the bombing in a wine bar in Ansbach, Germany. 15 people injured on July 24th 2016. Mohammad Daleel was a Syrian refugee who reached Germany in 2014 and applied for asylum. He was refused twice and twice he attempted suicide. He was under psychiatric care at the time of the bombing. Just over a week before Mohammad had been told he would be deported to Bulgaria. – Loser.
The machete attack on two policewomen in Charleroi, Belgium on August 6th 2016. Khaled Babbouri was an illegal Algerian immigrant with a criminal record. The Belgian authorities were unable to deport him because there is no Belgian-Algerian agreement to allow involuntary deportations—Loser.
There were big headlines for the car attack and stabbing on Westminister Bridge and outside the British Parliament on March 22nd 2017. 52-year-old Khalid Masood was born Adrian Russell Elms and is believed to have converted to Islam in 2005. He dropped out of school at 16 and by 18 he was a heavy cocaine user. He served two prison sentences, one for a knife attack and one for possessing an offensive weapon—Loser.
Just before the French presidential election, two policemen were shot on Champs Elysee in Paris on April 20th 2017. 39-year-old Karim Cheurfi had been recently released from prison on parole after being sentenced to 20 years for twice trying to murder police officers, once in a high-speed car chase and once when the policeman tried to relieve him of his weapon. He was under surveillance for terrorism offences when he attacked—Loser.
The Manchester Arena bombing, 22 killed (so far) and 59 injured, mainly children on June 22nd, 2017. Details about 22-year-old Salman Abedi are still sketchy but we know he was a university dropout; that the Imam at his mosque described him as displaying “a face of hate”. Neighbours said that he was deeply religious, withdrawn, abrasive and friendless—Loser.
These are not fine upstanding citizens who have given their lives for a great and noble cause. They are drug addicts, criminals, wife beaters, quitters, thieves, murderers and mentally unstable zealots. They are the marginalized dregs of society who hide behind religion to mask their criminal instincts. They are, as Donald Trump said, Losers.
Tom Arms is the editor of LookAheadnews.com. Sign up now for the weekly diary of world news events
LookAhead Radio World Report for week commencing 29 May 2017:
Tom Arms
I am a journalist, entrepreneur and historian with extensive experience in print, web and broadcast journalism. I started as a diplomatic correspondent, wrote several books (The Falklands Crisis, World Elections On File and the Encyclopedia of the Cold War), and then in 1987 started my own business (Future Events News Service, www.fensinformation.com) which over 25 years established itself as the world and UK media’s diary. Our strapline was: “We set the world’s news agenda.” I sold FENS in December 2012 but retained the exclusive broadcast rights to all of FENS data. To exploit these rights I set up LookAhead TV which produces unique programmes which “Broadcasts Tomorrow Today” so that viewers can “Plan to Participate.” LookAhead has appeared regularly on Vox Africa, Radio Tatras International, The Conversation and Voice of Africa Radio.
In addition to being a syndicated broadcaster and columnist on global affairs, Tom is also available for speaking engagements and can be contacted on Twitter, Linkedin and email: [email protected].
well said, Tom.