Opinion: Islamic Jihadists must be destroyed

Well, in the spirit of moving forward, Governor Rick has temporarily cast his indictments aside and headed to the more hospitable climes in New Hampshire. Never mind his problems at home; he has his eye on the Big Prize – the Presidency of the United States of America. Personally, I’m glad to have him out of the state for a bit.

Now, Governor Rick, never being a shy sort, has targeted his wisdom on foreign policy, namely what to do in Syria and Iraq, both bastions of democratic government. Actually, the truth be told, such is not the case, in spite of Dubya’s best efforts to democratize Babylon, lesser Iraq, and the greater portion of the Levant. Never mind that Dick “Darth Vader” Cheney pulled one over Dubya’s eyes; Iraq and the greater Levant cannot be democratized because they remain too close to their roots in the Stone Age.

Even so, Governor Rick has decided that we need to open a large can of whip-ass upon those irksome Islamic terrorists currently galloping around the Levant, showering mayhem and murder upon the citizens of the Arab world. For some reason, he thinks that spending more of our treasure and American blood to whip them into shape will somehow change thousands of years of animosity and angst against us, the “Infidel Crusaders.” He thinks we can put our steel-toed military boots upon their necks and force them into capitulation. It ain’t happening.

Our less than astute political leaders, including Governor Rick, need to understand the long history of the Levant if they are to effectively deal with those people. For example, Iraq was created by uppity British colonialists during the days leading up to World War I, better known as the Great War, or the War to End All Wars. They simply took a map of Mesopotamia, drew a few lines here and there, and shoe-horned three distinct ethnic groups – the Kurds, the Shiite Muslims, and the Sunni Muslims – into the new country, and viola, we had Iraq. Never mind that the three groups fiercely hate each other and can probably never get along. Sure enough, civil war erupted thereafter and remained a pestilence upon the land until Saddam Hussein eventually murdered his way into power and forced the different ethnic groups to get along or perish. We all know that this is a bit of an over simplification, but it remains reasonably accurate and saves precious space.

Governor Rick, allowing his somewhat limited intellect to soar to unfamiliar heights, has also decreed that we need to be more aggressive in Syria, arming and empowering the enemies of Bashar al-Assad’s government to throw the scoundrel out of office. Well, most of his enemies, it turns out. You see, the Islamic State folks, who have declared an Islamic Caliphate in parts of Syria and Iraq, are the cold-blooded Dark Age religious wackos who are kicking up so much dust and terror through the Levant. So, we are actually, going to be fighting on the same side as Bashar’s boys in this case. In short, we are going to be part-time allies, and part-time enemies of Bashar.

Someone needs to realize that in both Iraq and Syria, folks are vigorously engaged in horrific civil wars. These people are as primitive and ignorant as anyone in the history of the world. Good grief, they are excited about being killed in the conduct of their respective jihads, so they can get an express train to paradise and be able to frolic throughout the eternities with 72 virgins of renowned beauty. How in the world can you reason with people who are so perverted and stupid?

It seems like the whole point of a civil war is that other countries are not invited to participate: otherwise it would not constitute a civil war. These civil wars are bloody, brutal, and absolutely horrific. The needless death and suffering of so many innocents – women, children, and old people – is an abomination. Unfortunately, there is little that can be done to alleviate the suffering without a full-blown invasion of the country in question.

Consider our “ally” Pakistan: Since independence, Pakistanis have been told that their country is a “citadel of Islam,” that it is destined to be an Islamic state and its military is “the sword of Islam.” Supporters of modern, secular values, even pluralism, are belittled as “enemies of the ideology of Pakistan.” Pakistan’s political elite, led by its military, also seeks parity with India, not only in the legal sense of sovereign equality between nations but in military and political terms as well. This ideological situation has helped religious and political groups to exercise greater influence on national discourse than is justified, and led to the outgrowth of jihadi groups, each more extreme than the other.

We must come to grips with the fact that Islam harbors our enemy, Islamic Jihadists, and we are in a cultural war for survival. Islamic jihad is an existential threat to our way of life and we must prevail or perish. We must remain vigilant against Islamic terrorists and kill the jihadists wherever they are, without regard to national borders. If we fail to do so, they will eventually destroy us.

Their hatred for us goes back to the time of the Kurd, Ṣalāḥ ad-Dīn Yūsuf ibn Ayyūb, and his battles and ultimate victory against the Christian Crusaders, way back in the 12th Century. We ignore this threat at our own peril and the peril of our children and grandchildren. We cannot invade and pacify every Islamic country, but we can use our superior technology to continually remove the head of the beast, wherever it may be.