Another hotspot in the war on terror has flared up. It’s been brewing for about a year now, but is just starting to find space in the western consciousness. Fighting for headline prominence with Lance Armstrong’s blood chemistry and the US gun control debate.
Mali, the West African, former French colony, has been struggling with hard line militant Islamists occupying its broad northern territory. If you haven’t yet read up on it, CNN has a decent synopsis here: Mali
Add this to the never ending problems in Afghanistan, ongoing problems in Syria, destabilizing factors in Yemen and Pakistan, and still fragile new governments in Iraq, Egypt, Libya, and others… Not to mention the vilified Iran and the borderless entity of Al Qaeda with its fingers in all of these pies. It’s quite a list, and it’s meant to intimidate us, the same way the Soviet Union, and its Warsaw Pact allies did for 40 years. Like with the communists, the Islamists are a monster created by the west. Both were propped up, supported, armed, and welcomed as allies against old enemies. The Communists were our main ally and front line soldiers against the fascists, then the Islamists played the same roll against the communists. Convenient.
This isn’t to say that Islamist extremists aren’t dangerous, or that we should leave them alone. Not at all! They’re crazier than a bag of Slinkies.
BUT, it’s a losing battle without reason!!! It’s time to reassess what we are doing about it. Fighting conventional wars against a religious fanaticism is a lost cause. Whether you are using swords and spears, as they did during the Crusades, or the Drones and missiles the US currently employs. At best you can hold the line, and maintain tense occupation of territory. Unless or until a new enemy develops that scares both sides into cooperating, this is all conventional power will ever achieve in the Islamic world… A few friendly Islamic governments that tolerate the west as long as the personal gain is appropriate, and a roiling general anti-western sentiment among the population that spawns a constant stream of militant zealots.
With all the might that the greatest military power the world has ever seen can bring to bear, we are still fighting terrorism with one hand tied behind our backs. That doesn’t mean we should increase military spending or institute the draft. There is a far cheaper weapon at our disposal which has been kept off the battlefield. Education… reason… rational thought.
The western powers are not attacking the root cause of the disease, the irrational blind faith in supernatural legends; the brainwashing that allows imams to convince young Muslims to sacrifice their lives for the faith. We have to tolerate it, even support it... because it’s no different than the delusions of a large segment of our own population. We support all religions through tax free status, and public acceptance. We placate the religious. If we equate this to fighting a pandemic, we are simply treating the worst symptoms by fighting terrorists. We can’t cure the disease until we admit we suffer from a slightly different variety ourselves.
It’s time to change our ways. We can maintain freedom without sponsoring delusions. Revoke tax free status for religions. Why is this necessary? Stop incorporating fantasies into public events. Education needs to be refocused on critical thinking. When we stop placating nonsense at home, we can then avoid at least this flavour of hypocrisy in our foreign policy. Stop treating theocratic dictatorships with legitimacy and feigning understanding and tolerance when they base their policies on superstition. Hold them accountable for human rights regardless of scriptural foundations for discrimination.
We can’t allow the religious in our country to use ancient superstitions to justify discriminating against our own citizens based on gender and sexual orientation, and retain any moral authority in condemning any action abroad based on a different flavour of superstition.
If in Mali, and all nations of the world, the general population was taught to question the validity of religions, to think rationally and critically, then maybe, possibly, over time, the base from which the radicals draw their fodder for war would decrease. If we stopped venerating the Pope in public, giving him equal regards with world leaders; then perhaps the Imams would slowly lose some of their lustre.
No longer can we tolerate anyone splitting hairs with an argument that Christians aren’t as bad as Muslims. No longer can we remain silent when leaders base their arguments on an irrational premise.
This is a very long term fix, but we need to start. For the status quo is killing us. Don’t take it anymore, neither at home nor abroad. It’s time to use our best weapon against terrorism… questions and reason.
It’s time to cry Bullshit, and restrain the dogs of war!!
