The war on terror
Rauf Naqishbendi
July 02, 2007
In every stage of history, mankind has grave challenges to face. Today’s challenge for humanity is a new phenomenon, an international terrorism unlike those in the past that were limited to a certain people, group or selected nations. The realm of today’s terrorism is the world as a whole, and therefore it is the responsibility of every citizen of the world to combat this new danger so that it can be stopped before it consumes any more lives and becomes the uncontrollable crisis of our time.
There is no doubt this is quite a challenge - the ferocious attacks of terrorists happen to the most innocent people, anywhere in the world and at any time. The terrorists fight on their own terms - they have no address or uniform, they choose their target and the time and place of attack. Living in hiding, they are nowhere to be found, yet everywhere to be feared. They fear no threat for they diabolically sacrifice their lives for causes - this alone is discouraging to so many. They don’t accrue gigantic expenses for they have no large army or sophisticated war machinery, instead they recruit lowlifes willing to kill and be killed. They cannot be negotiated with because they are concealed, but even so, they refuse to negotiate for their ultimate goal is to dominate the entire Middle East and its treasured oil resources, and subsequently to subdue the western civilizations and bring their civilizations to a halt, or at the very least to misery.
How do we fight this challenge? In the wake of 9-11 our technological superiority and the destructive ability of our fire power have proven to be obsolete in the face of primitive tools when masterminded by the hijackers. Therefore, it must be realized that our reliance must be headed more in the direction of human interactions. There is not a universal weapon for all battlefields as every battle has to be fought in the most effective way possible. However, in general, success can be achieved by attacking the source and the root cause rather than fighting the symptoms. The current plan to fight until every terrorist is captured or killed is a self-defeating proposition. Instead, we need to work with the countries where terrorism is born and through cooperation and education, eliminate it at the source rather than fighting it at a distance and, so often, after the horror has already been wreaked. Since the present strategy for fighting terrorism has not yielded favourable results, an alternative plan must be considered.
The Islamic world has a primary responsibility to take the fight to every terror cell. Think of what terrorism has made of Islam - they have attached violence and bloodshed to the heart of that same faith which is greatly resentful of violence; they have hijacked Islam, tamed its reputation and made it into a connotation for violence and bloodshed. In general, the Muslims are the ones most qualified to fight terrorism. To see how this can be achieved Kurds are to be looked upon for their bravery in fighting terrorism, as through national awareness almost every Kurd has had to play the role of intelligence officer, and they have been successful. And since the Muslim world is capable of fighting war against terror, any failure to do so demonstrates delinquency and deflection. Terrorists have been breeding amongst them, they are from them, and they are trained in their neighbourhoods. That doesn’t mean all Muslims are endorsing terrorism, actually, terror groups and their supporters are a very tiny minority and that should give a sense of relief and optimism to the hopefuls. It is tragic when a small tiny minority can go as far as they have gone, and it is even more tragic that the overwhelming majority has been so silent and indifferent. It must be said that the little support terrorism receives from a tiny ignorant portion of the Muslim world has empowered them to carry out their mission. Thus in order to root out terrorism this support must be thwarted and disgraced, primarily by the general Islamic population.
Furthermore, the media of America’s allies in the Middle East and the rest of the Islamic world need to restrain themselves from embarking on anti-American and anti-Western campaigns and thereby irresponsibly becoming propaganda machines against the West. Just take Al-Jazeera and the other Arab media that has been broadcasting every tape of Osama Bin Laden or Al-Zawaheri. In doing so, they publicize and glorify terror knowing that their actions help terrorists and their sinister causes. This must cease. Also, the media in America and other western countries have been inappropriately broadcasting and publicizing every threat and intimidation from terror groups not understanding that this doesn’t harm terrorism but rather it feeds the public’s fear by showing these thugs to be bigger and more dangerous than they really are.
The United States lavishly and generously extends its financial aid to many countries as a part of the war against terror and this aid must be used appropriately as well to properly meet the challenge facing us. While the sole purpose of this aid is for it to be allocated for fighting terror, a very small portion of it is used as intended. This is wrong and counter-productive - so many corrupted authorities are taking advantage of the US’s good intention and terror can’t be fought with corruption. Moreover, as America leads the war against terror, they must clearly acknowledge that the world as a whole needs to be mobilized for this endeavour. This should be done with humility rather than arrogance, cooperation not imposition, and persuasion not confrontation.
The rapid growth of terrorism in past decades is alarming and the ramifications of their future atrocities against humanity are entirely unpredictable. This needs to be taken seriously. Just imagine for a moment if terrorists were able to get a supply of chemical or biological weapons! The fact is the longer they live the more they acquire to fortify their destructive actions.
There is no doubt this is quite a challenge - the ferocious attacks of terrorists happen to the most innocent people, anywhere in the world and at any time. The terrorists fight on their own terms - they have no address or uniform, they choose their target and the time and place of attack. Living in hiding, they are nowhere to be found, yet everywhere to be feared. They fear no threat for they diabolically sacrifice their lives for causes - this alone is discouraging to so many. They don’t accrue gigantic expenses for they have no large army or sophisticated war machinery, instead they recruit lowlifes willing to kill and be killed. They cannot be negotiated with because they are concealed, but even so, they refuse to negotiate for their ultimate goal is to dominate the entire Middle East and its treasured oil resources, and subsequently to subdue the western civilizations and bring their civilizations to a halt, or at the very least to misery.
How do we fight this challenge? In the wake of 9-11 our technological superiority and the destructive ability of our fire power have proven to be obsolete in the face of primitive tools when masterminded by the hijackers. Therefore, it must be realized that our reliance must be headed more in the direction of human interactions. There is not a universal weapon for all battlefields as every battle has to be fought in the most effective way possible. However, in general, success can be achieved by attacking the source and the root cause rather than fighting the symptoms. The current plan to fight until every terrorist is captured or killed is a self-defeating proposition. Instead, we need to work with the countries where terrorism is born and through cooperation and education, eliminate it at the source rather than fighting it at a distance and, so often, after the horror has already been wreaked. Since the present strategy for fighting terrorism has not yielded favourable results, an alternative plan must be considered.
The Islamic world has a primary responsibility to take the fight to every terror cell. Think of what terrorism has made of Islam - they have attached violence and bloodshed to the heart of that same faith which is greatly resentful of violence; they have hijacked Islam, tamed its reputation and made it into a connotation for violence and bloodshed. In general, the Muslims are the ones most qualified to fight terrorism. To see how this can be achieved Kurds are to be looked upon for their bravery in fighting terrorism, as through national awareness almost every Kurd has had to play the role of intelligence officer, and they have been successful. And since the Muslim world is capable of fighting war against terror, any failure to do so demonstrates delinquency and deflection. Terrorists have been breeding amongst them, they are from them, and they are trained in their neighbourhoods. That doesn’t mean all Muslims are endorsing terrorism, actually, terror groups and their supporters are a very tiny minority and that should give a sense of relief and optimism to the hopefuls. It is tragic when a small tiny minority can go as far as they have gone, and it is even more tragic that the overwhelming majority has been so silent and indifferent. It must be said that the little support terrorism receives from a tiny ignorant portion of the Muslim world has empowered them to carry out their mission. Thus in order to root out terrorism this support must be thwarted and disgraced, primarily by the general Islamic population.
Furthermore, the media of America’s allies in the Middle East and the rest of the Islamic world need to restrain themselves from embarking on anti-American and anti-Western campaigns and thereby irresponsibly becoming propaganda machines against the West. Just take Al-Jazeera and the other Arab media that has been broadcasting every tape of Osama Bin Laden or Al-Zawaheri. In doing so, they publicize and glorify terror knowing that their actions help terrorists and their sinister causes. This must cease. Also, the media in America and other western countries have been inappropriately broadcasting and publicizing every threat and intimidation from terror groups not understanding that this doesn’t harm terrorism but rather it feeds the public’s fear by showing these thugs to be bigger and more dangerous than they really are.
The United States lavishly and generously extends its financial aid to many countries as a part of the war against terror and this aid must be used appropriately as well to properly meet the challenge facing us. While the sole purpose of this aid is for it to be allocated for fighting terror, a very small portion of it is used as intended. This is wrong and counter-productive - so many corrupted authorities are taking advantage of the US’s good intention and terror can’t be fought with corruption. Moreover, as America leads the war against terror, they must clearly acknowledge that the world as a whole needs to be mobilized for this endeavour. This should be done with humility rather than arrogance, cooperation not imposition, and persuasion not confrontation.
The rapid growth of terrorism in past decades is alarming and the ramifications of their future atrocities against humanity are entirely unpredictable. This needs to be taken seriously. Just imagine for a moment if terrorists were able to get a supply of chemical or biological weapons! The fact is the longer they live the more they acquire to fortify their destructive actions.
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