Condemnation Not Enough

Arab News reports The barbaric terrorist attacks in London yesterday were condemned by all civilized nations. In addition to condemning the atrocities, Muslim and Middle Eastern leaders were among the first to send messages of support, sympathy and solidarity with Britain. Words of condemnation and solidarity are fine and great in their symbolic value, but they are not enough unless backed by practical measures in cooperation with Britain and the rest of the civilized world to defeat the evil forces of terrorism.

Absolutely!!!

To win the war against terror, and it must be won, we need to understand the terrorists’ strategy and tactics. First they need a motive, second an operational capability to carry out attacks, and third an aim. The last is almost impossible to identify in the case of Al-Qaeda, since it is not clear what constitutes a strategic “victory” for them. Unlike the IRA, the PLO, or ETA, who want recognition and are ready to decommission arms for political gain, Al-Qaeda’s strategy is terror for the sake of terror. And their aim is to destroy our way of life and what our democracy represents. Hence while the IRA for example gives warning before bombs designed to cause maximum disruption and economic harm go off, Al-Qaeda’s terrorists have no respect for human life. It is important, when fighting terrorists, to address the three areas of their tactics. And it is important to get the balance right between the three (removing the motives, depriving terrorists of operational capabilities and denying them the chance to claim success by changing our way of life). It would be meaningless to deploy heavy military tactics against terrorists in a way that would increase anger and animosity and create more terrorists.

I would not worry about that. We can kill them faster than they can grow new ones. If there is an obvious military target (like the training camps in Afganistan) they should be targeted.

For example while the war in Afghanistan was successful in destroying Al-Qaeda the war in Iraq has created more anger.

Perhaps, but the anger is not because of the use of force, but the fact that the Iraqis seem to like the idea of Democracy.

Britain, which still enjoys the support and admiration in the Middle East and Muslim world, must work hard not to lose this support; but it is also the duty of Muslims to join the alliance in fighting terrorism. Muslims countries suffered from Al-Qaeda’s terrorism long before London bombs, and it is important that political leaders, clergy, Arab and Muslim commentators make an unequivocal statement condemning terrorism in all its forms. It is not right to call a suicide bomber a “shaheed” or martyr, just because he supports a cause those commentators and clergy consider just or right. Murder is murder, as one respected Muslim scholar after another told me yesterday, quoting from the Qur’an (“Who he destroys one human soul destroys the whole of humanity”). Thus they must declare that any attack on civilians, or even on off-duty soldiers is an act of terrorism. As millions of Muslims congregate for Friday prayers today, I hope the message from their imams will be clear in condemning terrorism and ruling that Islamic teachings forbid killing. It is also important that commentators and media here in Britain do not fall into a trap of giving the terrorists a victory by deepening a division between Muslims and the rest of the community. Most importantly, terrorists should not be allowed to force us to change our way of life. Yesterday several commentators in the Middle East admired the bravery and the calm of the British people as they went about their business, and many recalled Sir Winston Churchill’s spirit that defeated the Nazis, saying the same spirit would prevail and defeat terrorism. One Muslim Arab friend e-mailed me a message of solidarity in the name of his colleagues in his newsroom saying, “We stand shoulder to shoulder with Britain, as an attack on London is an attack on all Arabs, London is and will remain, the capital of the whole of Middle East and the capital of the free world.’’ Let’s prove him right.