Analyst's note: Absolutely must read. This article helps to understand why the U.S. has not been able until now to defeat Islamic jihadists. This discussion makes it crystal clear, time and time again, that it is time to drop the political correctness and rid ourselves of this insidious enemy. Study the six points mentioned below and we can see a path forward especially as it pertains to points #1, #2, #4,and #6.
Dr. Tawfik Hamid (aka Tarek Abdelhamid), is an Islamic thinker and reformer, and one time Islamic extremist from Egypt. He was a member of a terrorist Islamic organization JI with Dr. Ayman Al-Zawaherri who became later on the second in command of Al-Qaeda. Dr. Hamid is currently a Senior Fellow and Chair of the study of Islamic Radicalism at the Potomac Institute for Policy Studies.
"Ten years after September 11, 2001, the war on terror has not yet ended with a clear result. When we compare the huge power of the US and its vast resources to the power and resources of Islamic jihadists, we must feel surprised how the US is still struggling to achieve a clear victory. The US has spent trillions of dollars since 9/11 and has been engaged in its longest war in its history, but yet, it is unable to declare victory.
One of the reasons that led to this situation is failure to understand the concept of 'defeat' against a non-state actor.
Defeating an enemy can occur if the enemy is completely unable to launch or organize significant attacks and more importantly if the enemy lost its 'will' to continue fighting.
The first option (to make the enemy lose the ability to launch attacks) is difficult to achieve since the enemy uses primitive methods and focuses on attacking soft targets. We can try to defend the maximum number of soft targets but this still cannot be called 'victory' as the enemy continues its attempts to attack us.
The central idea to defeat an enemy is to make it lose the will or the desire to continue fighting. This can occur if the enemy is:
1- Afraid of death
2- Afraid of humiliation (if caught)
3- Afraid of being tortured
4- Afraid of a backlash against its cause
5- Become convinced that its ideology or core beliefs are wrong
6- Recognizes beyond doubt that it is losing the war and not accomplishing its strategic objectives
Let us now take these items one by one to understand why - despite the enormous costs to the US economy, the greatest nation in human history is still struggling with ending the Jihadism phenomenon.
1- The ideology of the enemy make the Jihadists unafraid of death and willing to die for Allah as martyrs to inherit paradise[i]
. This is, for example, in sharp contrast to the situation in World War II when the emperor of Japan surrendered as he did not want his people to die and thus ended the kamikaze attacks.
2- The enemy knows well that if they are taken as prisoners of war they are likely to be protected by the values of Human Rights in the West. Caring for giving Halal meat to the Guantanamo Bay detainees
and allowing them to pray and read the Quran in the prison confirmed to the Jihadists that they will not be humiliated if they are caught by the US.
3- The Jihadists are aware that the US government does not allow torture any more.
4- The defense of Sharia law by Islamic apologists, the defense of building a mosque at Ground Zero, and the support of the Islamic Hijab by some US officials reassured the Jihadists that despite the criticism of Islam in the media, the real actions of the US government give the perception of supporting
, instead of directly countering, their ultimate aim of establishing Sharia all over the world.
5- Unlike communist ideology that can be proven wrong on an economical basis (in this life), proving to the Jihadists that their ideology is wrong is virtually impossible as they expect its outcome to be in the second life (NOT in this life).
6- The definition of victory and defeat is a relative term. For example, a Jihadist will still feel victorious in the war against the US when he sees US diplomats and soldiers wearing the Hijab as he considers this as a 'surrender' to Islamic Law.
In brief, it is vital that the US makes the Jihadists feel 'defeated'; otherwise it can continue to spend enormous resources without achieving real victory. Defining 'Defeat' is the first step towards achieving victory.
[i] Quran 3:169 Think not of those who are slain in Allah's way as dead. Nay, they live, finding their sustenance in the presence of their Lord.
[ii] One of the reasons that partially explain why France, unlike UK and Spain, has not been attacked by a significant terror act after Sep 11 is that it sent the Jihadists a clear message that its response to the attacks would be against the Hijab. The hijab, along with all religious symbols, was banned in French schools in 2004 This is a huge blow to the Jihadists' strategic objective of creating an Islamic state which typically starts by making Muslim women wears the Hijab.
