Position: The Global War on Terror

[level_head]

In short, I believe that there IS a global conflict now going on, and that this conflict threatens the United States as well as all civilization on the planet, Western, Asian, Islamic or whatever

Comments

[prester_scott]

Here, I think, is the key question:

In your view, what must happen to (or in) Islam, or the Muslim populations of the world, in order to bring this war to a definite end?

[jordan179]

In your view, what must happen to (or in) Islam, or the Muslim populations of the world, in order to bring this war to a definite end?

They need to have all the Terrorist State regimes overthrown and replaced with anti-Terrorist ones, so that Terrorists have no safe homes. Also, we need to be willing to kill a lot of people, if we have to, and demonstrate this willingness at least once. It is less important that they love us than that they fear us, and despair of victory.

[level_head]

When Muslim populations and leadership reject jihad-as-policy, the war will end.

Instead, almost all Muslim voices are acting as apologists and use various rationales to justify jihad.

You cannot say "we reject terrorism" and in the next sentence support Palestinian missiles fired into the homes of the Israeli "oppressors". This dual stance is taken by the most vocal of US Muslim groups, such as CAIR and ISNA.

Thus, the war continues, fueled by them and others.

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[prester_scott]

When Muslim populations and leadership reject jihad-as-policy, the war will end.

And is that possible without a complete theological rewrite of Islam?

The Ancient War

[jordan179]

The US has been occasionally involved in this war since its founding -- Thomas Jefferson was the first U.S. commander in chief to fight battles against Islamic terrorists.

Indeed, terrorism is simply the continuation of the ancient human practices of raiding, brigandage and piracy. What many people -- mostly those rather ignorant of military history -- don't realize is that war-by-raiding is actually far older than set-piece battles: chimpanzees raid other chimpanzee groups, and it is quite possible that our LCA of about 6 million years ago did the same.

I have had people angrily (or contemptuously) tell me that states can't wage "war" on non-states, but in history there are many examples of such wars, the most obvious being the various large jacqueries (and suppressions of same) in the Late Middle Ages and Renaissance. Or, for that matter, any occasion on which a rebellion is put down before it can rise to the status of a state.

It's true that modern terrorists are more overtly political than were most brigands and pirates of

Re: The Ancient War

[level_head]

The reason that modern jihadists are more overtly political, in my opinion, is that modern politics provides them some support. As bizarre as the notion is, jihadists have substantial approval in political and academic and journalistic circles in the West. Were that not true, the appeal to "politics" for justification would never have taken hold, outside of local efforts.

I greatly enjoy reading your analyses, by the way, and others do as well. Thank you for writing them!

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The Turkish Influence

[jordan179]

Resentments from European division of the Middle East after WWI and WWII gave a focus -- to some -- for hatred, and someone to blame for the downfall of the Ottoman Empire.

Also keep in mind that the Ottoman Sultans, in part because they were the official Defenders of the Faith, acted to suppress Muslim extremism. The Ottomans were in it for themselves: even during the era of their great expansion, they were essentially using Islam as a way of recruiting large numbers of dedicated warriors into their army. As secular rulers, they had to consider diplomatic realities: the Ottoman Empire could not encourage constant resistance against the West when much of their strategy hinged upon playing one Western kingdom against the next

Re: The Turkish Influence

[level_head]

Once the Turkish Empire fell in 1918, however, there was a power vacuum, and the forces of religious and nationalistic fanaticism were set loose.

True enough -- though it's not as bad in Turkey as in other Islamic countries.

Turkey has been, officially at least, pretty secular -- though right at the moment this battle is being fought, and Turkey's rule may fall to jihadists sometime in 2008.

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[sir_dave]

I watched with interest in December 2001 as the conflict almost became a nuclear exchange. That day, December 13th, nuclear war was averted -- but we were lucky, and the threat remains.

Memory fails, or I missed that bit. Please remind me ---

[level_head]

This is the first of two parts I wrote on "The Unclear War". The link to the second part is on the bottom of that, and also here.

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[level_head]

The link to the third part is not in the original post -- but it's here: Nuclear Three-Way.

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[sir_dave]

Ah. Hadn't thought of it so much as nuclear war as nuclear terrorism. I forget too easily, and no doubt most people forget easier still.

[jordan179]

I think that al Qaeda is only one facet of this problem. Palestine is another, the Saudi and Pakistani and other radical clerics from many countries -- including the US -- are all facets of the problem. Those who tend to blame the US for the rise of Islamic radicalism have, in my opinion, an odd and incomplete view of history.

A lot of people, especially younger people, seem to believe that history began whenever they started paying attention. This is in part because of the extremely incomplete and distorted history they are learning from "multiculturally" themed courses, which often fail to even tell history as a coherent story.

[eric_hinkle]

A lot of people, especially younger people, seem to believe that history began whenever they started paying attention.

Sadly true. I sometimes suspect that the current enthusiasm for 'end of the world' scenarios, be they secular or religious, lies along much the same lines. That the Boomers are getting to the end of the line and can't conceive of the world going on without them.