Fighting Militant Islam

I'm currently reading a great book called The Secret History of the Iraq War by Yossef Bodansky. It's an incredibly authoritative and detailed account of the preparation for and conduct of the Iraq War, to include Saddam's support of Islamic terrorist organizations and his WMD programs.

As I've been reading it, I've been thinking about my previous post about the Apaches and Al Qaeda. It's true that our current strategy of killing terrorist leaders is not working. Computer simulations have shown it is not a viable strategy against decentralized organizations, and real-world studies have born out the same. I made the comment that the solution probably exists in the non-military realm, which, if I were to say such a thing aloud at work, would make me a virtual parriah, a left-wing nutball. It's bad enough I'm an environmentalist animal-lover. (Which is very weird, since in my family, I am the RIGHT-wing nutball.)

But long-term, I'm skeptical there's anything we can do but to continue killing as many militant Muslims as we can, while trying to cut off their funding and deny them refuge anywhere in the world.

I was reminded of a couple of crucial things in this book that neither I, nor anyone else, should ever forget.

1. Militant Muslims have claimed again and again that they will not rest until we are destroyed. Not until we've left Iraq. Not until we're friendly with other nations. Not until we stop helping Israel. Until we are DESTROYED. Until, "The flag of Islam flies over the White House," as more than one terrorist has put it.

2. There is no concept of peace, coexistence, truce, or anything other than war in the religion of Islam. The phrase, "Religion of Peace" is a joke. They didn't conquer northern Africa, Spain, Indonesia, etc by being peaceful. You'll never hear them claim the "Religion of Peace" when they are in power. They will seek a truce when they are weak, and fight again when they are strong. Mohamud once made a 10 year truce with his enemies, and broke it 2 years later when his armies were strong, and now all Muslims believe it is thier duty to do the same. When you hear Muslims seeking a truce or peace and calling theirs the "Religion of Peace," it is simply a ruse to buy time until they are strong again. When Usama bin Laden was on the run early in the war, he made a tape seeking a truce. Once he was safe, he started calling for attacks again. And if you read their literature, they are waiting until there is a Democrat in the White House until they strike again. They know if they strike the US now, we will fight.

So what do you do against such an enemy? There is no politically correct solution. There is no humane way of dealing with them. There is no way of making peace and going home. We can't turn our backs on them. What's hardest to grasp is that it is not just a handful of terrorists that are the problem. All Muslims believe the world belongs to Islam, and everyone else should be killed or converted. That's not an extremist point of view, but rather a central part of their religious teachings.

In the lead up to the Iraq War, Iran, Syria, Iraq, and others conspired to instigate Isreal into entering the war in order to draw other Arab nations into it as well, to include using various WMDs. Saddam figured it was the only way to stay in power. What's really scary, is that they almost succeeded. We came incredbly close to WW III, certainly closer than the Bay of Pigs, and I think it's only a matter of time before it erupts. I just hope the Western world wakes up and takes this fight seriously.