The Bali Bombings
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.

This time it was families eating at restaurants rather than young people dancing at nightclubs, but the intention and outcome of the weekend’s terrorist attacks at Bali was the same as it was almost three years ago. The terrorists – who left 202 dead after the October 12, 2002, attacks, and so far have left 19 dead and more than 100 injured after Saturday’s attacks – sought to slay innocent individuals, destroy the idyllic peace of Bali, and shift Indonesia away from democracy and toward Islamic theocracy. The latest bombing only underlines the fact that there can be no appeasement of the radical Islamists.
The Bali bombings once again dismiss the arguments of those who speak of “finding common ground” with the terrorists. The attacks in Indonesia were nothing to do with the policies of President Bush or Prime Ministers Blair or Sharon. The Indonesian government is not “occupying” Iraq, Afghanistan, or Judea and Samaria. It is not “mistreating” Palestinian Arabs. There is no land to be given up or issues to be resolved.
Indonesia is an Islamic country, the world’s largest, with a population of 220 million. Its fault in the eyes of the terrorists is that it is also a democracy. Prime Minister Howard, in Canberra, said after the attacks: “I see this primarily as an attack on Indonesia and the democratic instincts of the Indonesian people.” The enemy knows that once democracy takes hold, once people get used to electing their own leaders and determining their own future, they’ll never voluntarily accept a theocratic state. Indonesia was attacked to stop her journey toward a fully functioning consolidated democracy. The aim of the terrorists is the removal of anything western – such as democracy – from the Muslim world. After that it’s the imposition of a theocratic state on the Muslim world, and eventually on the rest of the world.
Bali is a favorite vacation destination for many westerners. But the main victims of the attacks, both in the immediate and long term, are Indonesians. The majority of those injured were Indonesians, and the attacks scare tourists away from the island, and thereby destroy its main source of revenue – tourism. Poverty and unemployment is the consequence for locals. Killing westerners, as Mr. Howard said, “is regarded as something of a bonus as far as the terrorists are concerned.”
Many successes have been scored so far in the war on terror. Iraq and Afghanistan have been liberated, and top al Qaeda leaders have been captured. But the Bali attacks are a reminder that while we’re fighting a war, the terrorists are not. They’re fighting a cowardly campaign against anyone enjoying freedom rather than Islamic theocracy. They’ll attack anywhere in the world, whether in New York, Madrid, London, Jerusalem, or Bali. The Bali bombings are a reminder that their grievance is not about Israel, it’s not about Iraq, it’s about a free world.