Columns

The war on religious fanaticism

J.G. NASH, Of Cabbages, Of Cabbages
Published: September 16, 2012

As of that recently observed anniversary (Sept. 11th), we've been fighting a war against Islamic fanaticism for 11 years — and we're losing.

The opening battle of that world war — it's "Pearl Harbor" — was the savage, inhumane use of four civilian aircraft, filled with innocent humans, as guided bombs aimed at non-military targets.

It's painfully clear that we lost that battle, just as we lost the day on Dec. 7, 1941.

The difference is in that, we quickly recovered from the dastardly attack on our Hawaii-based military forces, and went on to relatively quickly crush the enemy, which subsequently, and mainly through our help, became one of the world's exemplary nations: while, in more than twice the time it took to bring a successful end to World War II.

We seem to be losing the World's new war – the one against militant, fanatical Mohammedans [followers of Christ are called "Christians"; Buddha's adherents are properly referred to as "Buddhists": Mohammed's minions are "Mohammedans," rather than the strange term "Moslems," which they seem to prefer being called].

Back in the 40's and 50's, I never heard anyone refer to them as other than Mohammedans; so what's the big problem with that now? A religious terrorist, by whatever name, is still despicable and intolerable.

Allegedly, we sent our military into Iraq and Afghanistan as necessary steps to root out and eradicate the evil represented by radical, rabid followers of Mohammed. We eventually left Iraq — Mission accomplished! But everyday reports from there indicate that the new government is incapable (or unwilling) of controlling religious fanatics regularly blowing each other up in the name of their god or his prophet. It now seems quite likely that the more brutal, inhumane, and effectively ungodly, of those fanatical groups will soon be in control of Iraq, where a dictator, which we eliminated at great cost, once managed to keep them in check.

Our costly (in human lives and shrinking dollars) war in Afghanistan has been a loser from the start. There's just no way to make a silk purse from that sow's ear. There's no central ethnic group in Afghanistan: just a rag-tag collection of primitive tribes, which hate and distrust each other, although they share a common blind faith in a religion that kills non-believers, turns women into property of men, and uses stoning as the preferred method of capital punishment.

That social and political basket case is surrounded by primitive nations with similarly destructive religious beliefs (Islam), disastrously destructive and corrupt governments, and warlike populations of fragmented tribes. We continue to pour money and young lives into that cesspool, which becomes more toxic, day by dreadful day.

Here at home, the evidence that the Islamic enemy is winning is seen by everyone, every day. The best (i.e., "worst") example is in the uncounted trillions of increasingly scarce dollars wasted on transportation security, in futile, if temporarily and seemingly partially effective, effort to prevent another attack such as that on Sept. 11th.

Because of the unforgivable, but terribly effective, attack on the Trade Towers, travel by commercial air has become a nightmare of personal searches, embarrassing pat downs, avoidable delays, and hundreds of limitations on what we can carry aboard an aircraft (e.g., no bottled water brought from home).

Yes, that expensive performance does, to many, seem to have been effective in reducing the chance of terrorist attack, but the system is so filled with holes that dedicated terrorists can, if they want, blow a huge aircraft out of the sky, over the city of their choice.

Without getting into specifics, which the serious terrorists surely already know about anyway, allow me to simply point out that, in just the past couple of months, there were reported two incidents (one at JFK, in New York, the other at Atlanta's International Airport) in which unauthorized personnel easily obtained access to runways, taxiways, and aircraft parking areas. They apparently had no evil intent — unless their purpose was just to test security — but the ease with which they gained access, after 11 years of time in which we should have set up effective protection, should concern everyone.

Yes, Islamic terrorists won the first battle, and they are winning the war by forcing us to divert increasingly scarce funds from worthwhile projects to questionable and most inconvenient security measures. If allowed to continue, along with our wars in hopeless places, the expensive, inefficient, and ineffective Transportation Security Agency will gradually financially bleed us to death. I wonder if that wasn't Osama's plan in the first place?

Of Cabbages and Kings is a syndicated column by j.g.nash. Pertinent comments may be sent to him at jgn@jgnash.com.