Yesterday’s news about the death of Islamic terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi has been welcomed by the entire civilized world as something to celebrate. An almost universal cheer could be heard when the announcement was made. And indeed it is something to celebrate. But it is not a victory. I’m not entirely certain it will do much to reduce in the short term the amount of terror perpetrated by Muslims in the name of Islam. We should all take this victory which it certainly is with a huge grain of salt.
The fact happens to be that what the world is really fighting is not terrorism, but Islam. Indeed Islamists have declared it as such by using the term Jihad (holy war). And I say this full well realizing that there is a difference between Islam and Radical Islam. But the fact that there is a strain of believers in the extermination of innocent human beings in pursuit of their goals and that belief is based on a sincere belief that this the will of God. That Islam tolerates such belief makes the entire religion culpable. And they DO tolerate it. Because I have yet to hear any of them condemn in the clearest of terms. At bets it is always a tepid reponse in the context of condemning al terrorist acts (meaning Israel of course). This means that the religion itself is intolerable in any kind of civilized world.
However we are not going to be able to eradicate the entire religion even if it deserves to be. What we then need focus on are that strain that believes that murder is justified and that innocents that get in the way of those goals and die end up as martyrs. This is what allows them “in good conscience” to kill innocent people including their own. It is a “whatever it takes” for the glory of Islam mentality.
But for the most part it has been referred to until recently the war was considered a war on terror. In fact even He may have even coined the phrase "War on Terror". But as sincere and focused as the President is and as convinced as I am that is doing the right thing he is incorrect in calling it a war on terror. It is a war on Islam. And it can’t be won until we defeat the religion. How this is done is a real problem because in essence you must kill something which is not “killable”… an idea.
Now no one really expects to kill an entire religion. But what can be done is to so demoralize Islamists as to make them despair of achieving their goals. As of the moment we aren’t even close to doing that. But killing al-Zarqawi is a step in that direction, although Islamists are calling it a victry for Islam in that it adds yet another martyr to their cause and motivates them even more. At the moment, that may be true. And they seem to have an endless supply of suicide bombers to fill their call. But that feeling cannot be sustained by then forever if we continue to inflict major casualties’ against their leaders. And to that end the capture and assassination of Bin Laden would be another step.
But the ultimate step would be not to kill a leader out in the field like Zarqui or Bin Laden. They are just the “military” wing of Islamism. The people who would make the biggest impact on these religious murderers (if that isn’t a contradictory phrase) are the clerics… the Mullahs… in other words the Khomenis. These are their true spiritual leaders. Assassinating them would send the most effective message possible to them. If their religious leaders are being killed they may very well re-think their religious beliefs.
And it can’t stop with the fanatics in Iraq. To be carried out in Iran, Lebanon, and the Palestinian areas. Once we send “that” message it will turn the tide. To that end it would behoove the world wide intelligence community to concentrate all their efforts in that direction.
And that is the key to winning the war. That is the key to preventing another attack like the one on 9/11. Because only then will the fervent Islamist change and turn toward the more moderate clerics (and yes they do exist) that have been opposed to their behavior theologically. There can be no mercy on the cruel. It requires the total focus and determination of the entire civilized world. Islamism must be defeated. Creating a democracy in Iraq is not going to work by itself. If Islamism spread to the average man. Then Islamists will be democratically elected into office has to be accompanied by a victory and the only victory that has any meaning is the total destruction of Radical Islam.
