Post Saddam Miasma

Friday, October 31, 2003
By: Tashbih Sayyed

Can we win a war without acknowledging that we are at war. No, we cannot. The quandary in which coalition forces find themselves in Iraq today, is a proof that unless the enemy is totally subjugated, we cannot even pretend that the war is over. And the premature proclamation, "Mission Accomplished," on the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, on May 1, 2003, only helped our adversaries.
We must know that our enemy, has no scruples. It respects nothing and is totally ruthless. We can not overwhelm it by being scrupulous. We will have to rearrange our priorities by accepting that we are at war and all is fair in a war against terror. Our enemy, in this respect, is very clear headed. It is leaving no stone unturned in his mission of frustrating our efforts to win peace in the region. They did not even show any respect for the most sacred month of Islam.

It was the first day of the Muslim holy month, Ramazan. It was during this month that Islam's Prophet received his call. Muslim holy book, Quran, was also revealed in this month. "The month of Ramazan in which was revealed the Quran, a guidance for mankind, and clear proofs of the guidance, and the criterion (of right and wrong) - 2:185." Muslims everywhere, in this month, keep themselves engaged in prayers.

They take extra care in fulfilling their duties towards God. The gift of revelation comes with fasting. They know that this devotion purifies the soul and results in the enhancement of noble actions. Moses fasted for 40 days prior to revelation (Exodus 24:18) and Jesus as well for the same number of days before his attainment to Prophethood (Matthew 4:2). Muslims believe that the advent of the Divine message ushered in a new era to establish wisdom and knowledge to dispel all darkness. But the enemies of civilization in Iraq, claiming to be Muslims, did not want a new era to dispel the darkness. They unleashed, on the very first day of this noble month, a reign of terror and destruction, killing at least 34 fasting faithful.

The sacrilegious act reconfirmed the fact that the US campaign against terror is also a war to liberate Islam from the choke hold of radical Islamism. Muslims, in Ramazan, do not kill. They fast. The whole purpose of fasting is to promote righteousness. In the gravest of provocation, no Muslim is expected to give up just and kind behavior. God's message, "The believer men and women are the protectors of one another. They enjoin what is just, and forbid what is evil." It has been interpreted as a command that, "refers to two situations: (1) even to your enemies and the enemies of God, you should speak fair: who are you to judge others. Judgment belongs to Allah alone, for he knows mankind best and your personal knowledge at best is imperfect. (2) Amongst yourselves (believers) you should not entertain suspicion but speak politely according to best standards of human speech.

The carnage in Baghdad on the first day of Ramazan proves beyond any doubt that the forces trying to keep Iraq in chaos have nothing to do with Islam. They are radical Islamists. They hate freedoms and want to destroy civilization at any cost. Muslims, know them very well. Under the tyranny of radical Islamism, they have been living in scarcity and fear for a very long time. Muslims have always known that the real target of radical Islamism is the United States of America. They were convinced that if allowed to entrench itself in places like Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Iraq, radical Islam will attack the bastion of freedoms one day. Since the Muslims realize that it is only the United States of America that can save them from the Fascist ideology of Wahhabism - radical Islam, they have always prayed for her success. That's why they celebrated the fall of Taleban in Afghanistan.

Al-Qaeda, having been dislodged from Afghanistan, was now looking for a new home. It found it in Baghdad. Defeat in Kuwait made Saddam Hussein realize that he cannot even dream of defeating the U.S. in a conventional war. He started on a plan to create a new kind of army that can fight an urban guerrilla war. He convinced other anti-Semitic and anti-U.S. groups to forge an alliance. Secular Baathists, Wahhabi Al-Qaeda, fundamentalist Hezbollah, jihadi Ansar-ul-Islam and Arab nationalists formed a unified army of Islam. Almost everyone living in a Muslim community was aware of the planning. The signs were there for everyone to see but the West, somehow failed to recognize the threat. The free world needed a tragedy to realize the seriousness of the threat.

President George W. Bush, speaking at the American Enterprise Institute on February 27, 2003, said, "On a September morning, threats that had gathered for years, in secret and far away, led to murder in our country on a massive scale. As a result, we must look at security in a new way, because our country is a battlefield in the first war of the 21st century."

Radical Islamists heard the declaration loud and clear. President Bush's resolve left no doubt in the minds of radical Islamists that the war to liberate Iraq is in fact a war against them. They could not allow this to happen. They were ready. They decided to have their last stand in Iraq. They were confident that they can frustrate the U.S. efforts to liberate Iraqis by becoming invisible. The events that followed the fall of Saddam Hussein confirmed, in some respects, that the confidence of radical Islamists was not misplaced. The U.S. declaration of victory prematurely confirmed the fears that Washington had no idea of the true nature of the enemy.

In order for a major combat to be over, there has to be a clear proof that the enemy has been defeated as we had at the end of the 2nd world war. Nazism's capitulation was total. Not only German armies surrendered totally and completely but their leader also committed suicide. It is unwise to have a victory parade without having a confirmation that enemy's has surrendered absolutely. In the case of our war against radical Islam, it was wrong to assume that the removal of Saddam Hussein will signal the defeat of the real threat.

Saddam Hussein, now every one knows, had prepared for a different kind of war. He was not alone in his anti-Semitism. He had gathered a large group of religious extremists, Arab nationalists, Al-Qaeda diehards and Ansar-ul-Islam fanatics around himself. He had stoked the age old Muslim inferiority complexes into fires of anti-U.S. hatred. Defeats suffered by Muslims at the hands of Western powers had already created a very sympathetic social environment for these jihadis. Radical Islamists knew they could use these complexes as a cover. Iraq had become a hub of anti-Americanism. One person's fall should not have been taken as a victory. _We do not know the real location of the enemy.
_Our enemy knows where we are.
_We have only a shallow idea of the weapons and forces that radical Islamism employs against us.
_Our enemy is fully aware of our limitations and weaknesses.
_Our enemy uses the openness of our societies and democratic traditions of debate and demonstration to manipulate our public opinions.
_It always keeps us guessing as to what it is going to do.
_It always keeps us on edge as where it might attack next.
_We do not know for a fact as to how he is going to implement his next aggression.
_We are only vaguely aware of the extent of its reach and depth.
_It has successfully planted a very effective fifth column within our own territories.
_Whereas we are constrained by our moral principals and commitment to our democratic values, our enemy does not operate under any such restrictions.
_We are very visible.
_Our societies are very open, and
_Our enemy through its agents uses our constitution and the freedoms accorded by it, to undermine our efforts to secure ourselves.
_Our commitment to our civilization forbids us to be ruthless even in our wars we are always worried about hurting civilians.
_Our enemy does not discriminate between civilians and troops. It has no qualms about anything.
Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld's Oct. 16, 2003, memo on the war on terrorism, recognized the novel and asymmetrical nature of the situation.

Rumsfeld asked, if the Department of Defense (DoD) was changing fast enough to deal with the new 21st century security environment. He was concerned whether a big institution as DoD can change fast enough. He seemed unsure if the U.S. government was changing fast enough to handle the new kind of enemy.

Rumsfeld's memo pointed out that Department of Defense has been organized, trained and equipped to fight big armies, navies and air forces. It was not possible to change DoD fast enough to successfully fight the global war on terror; an alternative might be to try to fashion a new institution, either within DoD or elsewhere — one that seamlessly focuses the capabilities of several departments and agencies on this key problem.

Recognizing the unfamiliar ways of the enemy, the Defense Secretary stressed that DoD need to think through new ways to organize, train, equip and focus to deal with the global war on terror. He seemed to recognize the need for bolder moves to counter the threat. He underlined the need for a long term plan to prevent the production of terrorists. He asked, "Does the US need to fashion a broad, integrated plan to stop the next generation of terrorists? The US is putting relatively little effort into a long-range plan, but we are putting a great deal of effort into trying to stop terrorists. The cost-benefit ratio is against us! Our cost is billions against the terrorists' costs of millions."

Rumsfeld was realistic in his assuming, "It is pretty clear that the coalition can win in Afghanistan and Iraq in one way or another, but it will be a long, hard slog."

All the points raised in the memo are valid and most pertinent. But first we will have to win this war in Iraq. And in order to win this war we will have to stop pretending that we are not at war. And in war, everything is fair. The U.S. should not be reluctant to use its full might against the terrorists. The fear that the use of force will turn the civilians against the occupation and will inflame the world public opinion is misplaced. We must not forget that the hearts and mind of the people of Iraq can only be won by successfully eradicating the scourge of radical Islam from the region. Our reluctance to use our full might is helping in the spread of post Saddam miasma and is turning the civilians against the occupation.