War on terror - Who is the enemy? We commonly refer to the war against terror as if it we were threatened by
some amorphous blob. However, in this context, the word terror connotes a
behavior, a tactic used by an enemy to achieve its goals. We are not at war with behavior no matter
how reprehensible. We are at war with people, organizations and perhaps nations. Who
are these people? By what standards do we decide they are our enemies, constituting a clear and present danger and requiring a military response?
After 9/11, Al Qaeda was identified
as our prime enemy in the new century.
The attack transformed them from a dangerous outlaw group, to be dealt
with essentially as criminals, to a threat as dangerous as any we have
faced. We know that Bin Laden set
himself against the regime in Saudi Arabia because he considers it ‘oppressive,
corrupt and tyrannical’. His reasons
for singling out America as an enemy include the support of the Saudi regime
and the presence of American troops in that country as well s the support for Israel. He believes that Israel is bent on expanding to include the entire Arabian peninsula. He
also says that his call for holy war is reflected in the beliefs of Muslims
world wide. ‘They should all unite in the fight
against polytheism and they should pool all their resources and their energy to
fight the Americans and the Zionists and those with them. They should, however,
avoid side fronts and rise over the small problems for these are less
detrimental. Their fight should be directed against unbelief and unbelievers.”
(http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/binladen/who/interview.html) By his words, Bin Laden has
proclaimed a holy war between all Muslims and America and its allies and we are
at war with him and his organization. Therefore, the minimal standards for
declaring an enemy are:
1.
They declare they are our enemy
2.They actually attack us.
The Taliaban in Afghanistan had never attacked us, but
they were a prime support of Al Qaeda. So we
added a third standard.
3.
They support enemies who have attacked us. America has attempted to convince itself and the
Arab
world that it is not at war with all Muslims, only the radicals. We
hope that most of the world's Muslims do not see holy war against
America as their own personal jihad. Only time will
tell if we are correct in that assessment. Other than the Arab governments whom
we support, we don’t hear much
friendship in any other quarters.
Coming soon. What about the evil empire? How does Iraq fit into the picture?
3:29:06 PM 
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