The Slow Death of Terror and Radical Islam

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The Slow Death of Terror and Radical Islam

21 February 2009 2 Comments

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BY: NCVIKING

Terrorism is a scary and horrible method of warfare and coercion, and the worst thing about terrorism is that it works … for a time.

As a father, I can at least imagine being placed in a terror situation. If somebody kidnapped my children and said to me that I must do what they tell me or my kids die, I certainly would. These methods can grip a family, town or country with so much fear that control and manipulation is easy. In 2004, a coordinated train bombing in Madrid may have tipped Spain’s elections to different political leadership and foreign policy. The 2007 Subway Bombings in Britain may also have been the fear catalyst that has lead the government to incorporate sharia law into their judicial system. And anyone who has flown in the last several years knows how one single jackass can make a whole nation get barefoot in airports. But there is only so far people will go before fighting back.

Eventually people get over their fear, get tired of being oppressed and begin to defend themselves. Human nature is inherently good with a strong desire to be free. The brutal and radical Islamic terror movement is unsustainable because of this fact and is doomed to the ash heap of failed totalitarian ideology with Communism and Nazism.

There was a significant sign recently that the slow death of terror and radical Islam may be underway. Dr. Fadl, one of the founders of al-Qaeda has come out in absolute condemnation of its methods and ideology, attacking bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri.

Twenty years ago, Dr Fadl became al-Qaeda’s intellectual figurehead with a crucial book setting out the rationale for global jihad against the West.

Today, however, he believes the murder of innocent people is both contrary to Islam and a strategic error. “Every drop of blood that was shed or is being shed in Afghanistan and Iraq is the responsibility of bin Laden and Zawahiri and their followers,” writes Dr Fadl.

The terrorist attacks on September 11 were both immoral and counterproductive, he writes. “Ramming America has become the shortest road to fame and leadership among the Arabs and Muslims. But what good is it if you destroy one of your enemy’s buildings, and he destroys one of your countries? What good is it if you kill one of his people, and he kills a thousand of yours?” asks Dr Fadl. “That, in short, is my evaluation of 9/11.”

He is equally unsparing about Muslims who move to the West and then take up terrorism. “If they gave you permission to enter their homes and live with them, and if they gave you security for yourself and your money, and if they gave you the opportunity to work or study, or they granted you political asylum,” writes Dr Fadl, then it is “not honourable” to “betray them, through killing and destruction”.

If the intent of al-Qaeda and other militant Islamic groups is to convert all to their ideology it will never happen at the point of a gun. The people who made the world’s greatest ideological changes in history did so through their message, not violence. Examples like Martin Luther King, Mahatma Ghandi, Jesus of Nazareth without a doubt significantly changed human history. The successful spread of Islam in history can arguably be attributed to the appeal of it’s message, not the sword. If radical Islam is the ‘way’ that they say it is, let it stand on its own merit and history will be the judge.

In the mean time, getting over fear, standing up for what is right, defending ourselves and liberating others from this brutal method of coercion is imperative. President Bush ‘got it’ and his courage for action (whether agreed with or not) in the face of ridicule, condemnation and unpopularity may have delivered the gradual death blow to this movement. Obama has a tremendous opportunity with his world popularity to finish the job. I hope and pray that he has the courage to do what is right, not what is popular. FDR got this in his day, I hope Obama gets it in ours.