A Different view than Dr. Juan Cole
Dr. Juan Cole, often lauded as an expert on the Middle East and Islam, in particular Shi’a Islam, took the anniversary of the attacks on America, this weekend to offer an analysis of September 11th and Its Aftermath.
Rather than detailing the actions of al-Qaeda, Dr. Cole goes on to describe the objectives of al-Qaeda, as he sees them, and to question U.S. strategy and motivations in the War. He offers that in order to “gauge their success or failure” we must first understand their objectives.
Let us not seek the objectives of al-Qaeda, which are not born of rational thought or defensible values, instead this reply will focus on the U.S. objectives, the driving values behind the effort, and a refutation of Dr. Cole’s premise that the “US is not winning the war on terror.”
In response to many attacks on the U.S. and our democratic allies around the world, the United States, finally came to the realization that we were at war with an ideological and fascistic force, most notably in the organization known as al-Qaeda. The objectives of the enemy, driven by an ideological misrepresentation of Islam, is simple and pervasive in all their actions, strategies and tactics, to convert or kill those who support free and open societies rather than accepting Islam and life in an Islamic state, ruled by theocratic dictators and supposed holy men.
Our objectives therefore are to defeat both the Islamo Fascist organizations, which terrorize the world today, and to defeat their ideology by offering values and ideas more appropriate to the creation of free and open societies in the Middle East and throughout Muslim majority nations.
From this we can surmise that the first objective must be to defeat the organizations currently terrorizing non-Muslim and Muslim portions of the world. To do so, the U.S. attacked, with the aid of a Afghanistan’s Northern Alliance, the Taliban rulers of Afghanistan, an example of the Islamo Fascist rule al-Qaeda supports. The removal of the Taliban from Afghanistan did not end the battle in Afghanistan, as the systems and institutions required to create a free and prosperous society did not exist. The U.S. then moved to create an interim government and with the support of preexisting militia’s and the allies, the coalition of the willing, to stabilize the nation while building a base for which true self-governance can be achieved.
In addition to the initial conflict in Afghanistan, the U.S. took strong measures to eradicate the financial and moral support of the terror organizations, and to ally current governments in the Middle East to our objectives. This of course was not a popular stance among some, most notably Syria, Iraq, Iran and Saudi Arabia, where civil liberties and the rights of men where abused and constrained through both religious, in Saudi Arabia and Iran, and Ba’ath, Syria and Iraq, governments.
In a continuing effort to combat the Islamo Fascist, the U.S. turned to eliminating the future threats to the U.S. and our allies. The first step in this effort was to contain and eliminate the possibility of weapons of mass destruction falling (through coercion, the black market, or direct support) into the hands of Islamo Fascist. In order to do this, the U.S. requested and received U.N. Security Council approval to enforce the previous resolutions requiring Saddam Hussein to disclose the status of his weapons of mass destruction and their affiliated programs. Hussein’s failure to properly disclose the status of these weapons, and the programs behind them, ultimately led to the decision to remove Saddam Hussein from power in Iraq.
Just as had occurred in Afghanistan, the U.S. forces quickly dispatched and destroyed the opposing regime. This was followed by the development of an interim government, and the intense efforts to reawaken the Iraqi people to a new and free society, replete with economic opportunities, civic responsibilities and the freedom to chose their government.
The weapons of mass destruction that Saddam Hussein failed to account for, have as of yet not been located, and are most likely in Syria or the Bekaa Valley in Lebanon. Either way, the pursuit continues and our forces are nearer the truth of their whereabouts than Saddam would ever have permitted.
Dr. Cole asserts that the “insurgency” in Iraq, in fact, our attack of Iraq, plays into the hands of al-Qaeda, as it creates the opportunity for the development of an Islamic super state of beginning with Iraq and Syria. This is contingent on U.S. withdrawal from Iraq and a Sunni government aligning itself with Syria or Syria being overthrown by al-Qaeda. Additionally, Dr. Cole relates that the Turks are turning against the U.S. despite being a mostly secular nation, favoring bin Laden over President Bush in polls. He asserts this is a result of failed U.S. policy in Iraq.
The truth is something an apologist for Islamo Fascism will not readily accept. The Turks favoring bin Laden have been duped by their Imam’s into believing that the U.S. and Israel are the Great Satan and that our aim is to destroy their religion, their culture and if need be to kill them. When the Muslim people of the Middle East are offered the opportunity to live free lives, practicing their faith independently, and seeking economic and personal growth, the icons of Islamo Fascism fade quickly from glory to infamy.
In Iraq, our speedy defeat of the forces backing Hussein, opened the country up to Islamo Fascist, Nationalist and race or tribal oriented conflicts. To date, the U.S., and the new Iraqi Armed Forces continue to pursue two objectives. The elimination of those carrying out acts of terror, and the securing of the people of Iraq, so that they too may begin the process of developing a free and open, self-governed nation. The challenge in Iraq is greater than in Afghanistan, due to the size of the population, the varied religious and ethnic bigotries that preexisted our arrival and the failure on the part of our former Allies to take part in the effort. Nations such as France, Germany and Russia, chose the economic benefit of working with Hussein and the failed oil for food program of the U.N. over the possibility of creating a free and vibrant Iraq under the new interim government. In lieu of their failure to support the effort, they are not in Iraq today, and will have little role in the restructure and rebuilding of Iraq.
The second major component to winning the War on Terror is to defeat the ideology behind it. This effort has begun, but in large part will depend on the establishment of systems to support freedom in Iraq and Afghanistan. Given the freedom to live without religious compulsion and tyranny, the people of Iraq and Afghanistan will inspire truth rather than hatred in other Muslim nations. Fear is defeated not by force alone, but through success which will inevitably follow the freeing of Iraqi citizens from the likes of Muqtada al-Sadr and Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. Our error thus far has been in having the will to do that when the opportunity presented itself, it is an error that will not be repeated, as we see daily the cost of having been so reluctant to create "martyrs" in Najaf and Falujah.
Terrorist activities in Indonesia, Russia, Spain and Turkey and elsewhere shows the potential for a modified al-Qaeda like force, actively recruiting men throughout the many disaffected young Muslims around the world. There is truth to the assertion that these cells continue to operate and to plot and attack. The greater truth is that they do so now without the benefit of Afghanistan’s training grounds and the support of the Taliban, they do so without the financial support of world wide networks of false charities, and they do so without the ease of movement, access to weapons, and singular voice of Islam they had just three short years ago.
Dr. Cole is wrong. al-Qaeda is losing the war. The U.S. is clearly winning the war, has the enemy on the run, and has the ability to both recognize and strike those who might move to replace the Taliban or Hussein as supporters of a doomed ideology.
