"Blowback" blown away

Samizdata makes the same point that I have done before, that to always blame the West for Islamic terrorism rather misses an obvious point:

'It makes me wonder when the "blame-the-West-First" crowd are going to understand that it was always idiotic to claim that 9/11, or the Madrid atrocities, or the London bombings/etc could ever be described as the West getting some sort of "blowback" for its allegedly dastardly deeds against Muslim lands. Whenever this argument is made, the implication, explicit or not, is that the appropriate policy to adopt is the equivalent of hiding under the bed.

...

But it makes no difference. Whether you are an isolationist, multilaterialist, or neocon interventionist, the outcome is the same: the Islamists will try and kill you and your fellow citizens without discrimination. We can try and placate the crocodile, but it is ultimately a futile strategy. It is occasionally necessary to remind people of this grim fact.'

Indeed it is but so long as media outlets such as the BBC endlessly pump out the messages that 'Islam is the religion of peace' and 'the West has provoked the 'militants'', the true message will not get out to the wider public.