Can the war on terror be won?

Who knows?

If there is one thing history has taught us is that there will always be some yahoo thinking that blowing up innocent people is the best way to put his political/religious view across. If anything terrorism is just that an 'ism,' and you can't completely destroy an 'ism.' Take communism for example, it was an utter failure, but there are still people who would love to see it all over the world.

So the answer is probably no.

There is no way to 'win' the war on terrorism.

However, unlike Senator Kerry, we shouldn't just classify it as a 'nuisance,' ignore it and hope that it goes away. Just because it's an idea doesn't make it indestructible. We may not be able to defeat terrorism, but we can make damn sure that it's incredibly inconvenient, and most certainly deadly to become a terrorist or for a state to offer aid and comfort to terrorists.

But before I go on, let's look at the root causes of modern Islamist, or as I prefer to call it Usamist, terrorism.

Now Senator Kerry and his financial sugardaddy George Soros seems to think that poverty and ignorance seem to be the root of terrorism. That's an interesting theory, but it's kinda shot down by the fact that the majority of terrorist tend to be from the Arab world's educated middle and upper classes. In fact quite a few seem to be studying engineering. It's like the now beatified Che Guevera, who was shot while trying to organise a 'peasant's revolution' in Bolivia. His 'rebel army' didn't have a single peasant in its ranks, instead it was made up mostly of upper class college kids rebelling against their parents.

And it's not that the average Usamist Jihadi doesn't know what life in the Western world is really. Most of the educated terrorists have spent at least some time in schools in Europe and/or North America and they still hate us. The reason why? Well they come over, taste our free western life, and then declare that we're a nest of foul sinners, and that it's our corrupt, decadent, and thoroughly 'evil' way of life is the real reason their homelands are stuck in the dark ages. Exposure to the west radicalizes them even more, and they believe that the Islamic world can be restored to some glorious global caliphate based on a historical model that never really existed.

How do we stop them?

Kerry says we should treat them like the South American drug cartels, as a law enforcement problem. Okay, but if you'll step down from Bizarro world, then we can let you in on a few subtle differences. Drug Cartels exist to make their their members rich and powerful. Terrorist Jihad factions exist to kill as many people as they can until the world surrenders and adopts the demented interpretation of religion and law that guides their lives.

Billionaire profiteer & Kerry backer George Soros stated recently that he would combat Islamic terrorism by having the USA adopt the Kyoto Accord and sign on to the UN's International War Crimes Tribunal. Maybe I heard wrong, but Usama and his followers don't give a camel's hairy backside about Kyoto, and I don't think the USA will ever join an organisation that would see it's leaders frivolously charged as war criminals by the likes of Syria, Sudan, and North Korea.

But what to do about terrorism if acting nice won't make them go away?

What you have to do is use direct military power to smash the countries that support terrorism, and at the same time use covert action to crush terrorist cells operating worldwide. We must make it impossible for them to recruit new killers and raise money, to be blunt, we must terrorize the terrorist.

One politically incorrect method was used by General "Black Jack" Pershing in the Philippines. During the 1900's the Moro tribe rebelled, fuelled by Wahabi Islamic fundamentalism recently imported from Arabia. Pershing capture 5 prominent Moro leaders. He had 4 shot with bullets greased with pig fat and ordered the 5th to tell the others what happened. By using the 'pig fat' bullets Pershing turned their own fundamentalism against them, denying them their ticket to heaven and their 77 virgins.

The tactic was brutal but effective, ending the uprising within days.

We may not completely destroy the idea of terrorism, but if we make it very dangerous to support or become a terrorist, we might be able to bring it under control.

At least until the next wave of nutbars arrive.