This time they have gone too far

OK, killing a bunch of American's for no good reason is bad thing to do. I'm not saying it isn't. I'm saying that this really pisses me off.

PARIS | After 29 consecutive years of an epic event that saw drivers enduring extreme heat and cold crossing the Sahara Desert, organizers canceled the world’s biggest off-road race Friday after an al-Qaida-linked group threatened the 5,760-mile Dakar Rally. ... In recent days, French intelligence officials had become increasingly concerned after al-Qaida in the Islamic Magreb, a northern African group, made explicit threats against the rally. The group was blamed for the murder the day before Christmas of a French family vacationing in Mauritania. Eight of the 15 days of the race were to take place in Mauritania. As it fights off a crackdown by North African authorities, the regional offshoot of al-Qaida increasingly has focused on international targets, hitting the U.N. headquarters in Algiers last month in one of a pair of bombings that left 37 people dead. ... Caprioli said the extremists want to show, “They can chase out the infidels. The cancellation was wise. But it gives the impression that the terrorists have won.” But organizers vowed Friday that next year the race would go on. “The Dakar is a symbol, and nothing can destroy symbols,” they said. “The cancellation of the 2008 edition does not endanger the future of the Dakar.” Kansas City

But you are wrong. Symbols are the precise thing that can be destroyed. Faith can be broken, withered, lost, but not destroyed. You have no faith. Your symbols of whatever are just trinkets that can be smote to dust.

This is the sort of thing that makes me think the terrorists are winning. It is impossible to protect people in a race like this where contestants are slung across a three hundred kilometer or more leg. The racers are paying attention to flying across the terrain. They shouldn't have to dodge the odd sniper in the process. It might be interesting to have a race of armored vehicles, but I doubt any records would be broken.

There will be no clips of trucks barreling down a road that would take out a tank. The dune buggies that go 300 kph across ruts that you can barely walk across will not make me wince and cheer. The videos of vehicles flipping and continuing down the hard path made me smile every time.

Now it is all silent. I look forward to the new crash videos. I don't pay any attention to who wins. Just what happens during the race. I would have been even more angry if a terrorist action happened during the race. What are the jihadis doing to our world? What they want and what I am willing to live with are completely at odds with one another. They want their religious rules to govern every one in the world. I do not. The only way to please them is to let them win. The only way to live in piece with them is to live under their thumb.

How many people devote their lives and careers to this and other related races? What will the countries do without the money that comes in from the tourism? The Al Quida folks think it is just great that all that money is not going to the countries because the Al Quida folks are fighting the established governments. The less money the local governments have to spare, the less they can afford to fight Al Quida.

What's next? The Olympics sound like a great place to start. If I were Al Quida, I would think very hard of disrupting the games every single time they occur, no matter where they occur. Even an attack in parallel would steel a great deal of news time from the games. This has been done before. The Israeli athletes were slaughtered many years ago.

Why risk it? Al Quida simply has to phone up the French and say something like "Hey, we are going to do something you won't like if you have your little car race. So, surrender now and save us all a lot of time." They are phoning it in. Total cost to law abiding citizens, well, one hell of a lot. From multiple countries and from multiple walks of life. Cost to terrorists, a dime for the phone call. Sounds about right.