If Terrorism Is a Cancer, Treat It Like One

In the spirit of President-elect Obama's call for unity, the present divide between opponents and supporters of the war in Iraq needs to be healed. On one side, as represented by President Bush in his exit interviews, the war is seen, post-surge, as a key success in the war on terror. On the other side, as voiced by peace advocates, the war has been a dismal, shameful failure that did nothing to lessen the threat of terror around the world.

Continue reading the rest of this article in the San Francisco Chronicle

Comments

[jeffreyindc]

There are ample examples around the world of the identity-based supremacist ideology of Islamic supremacism. To ignore daily examples of Islamic supremacism in the world is to choose to be deliberately blind to this ideological threat. To ignore the reality of this political ideology and simply reject it as "demonization," is just as impractical as it would have been to fight the Ku Klux Klan terrorist tactics, and ignore the reality of the political ideology of white supremacism. Certainly apologists for the George Wallace crowd in the 1960s also complained that whites were being "demonized" as well, when white supremacism was challenged also. The ideology of Islamic supremacism is no more a "myth created by the Neocons" to recognize this reality of Islamic supremacism as it was to recognize the reality of white supremacism. Moreover, such Islamic supremacism is not confined to either "regional" areas such as the Middle East, nor is it confined to factions such as Sunni or Shia. Such Islamic supremacism remains a global threat. In Pakistan today, Islamic supremacist Taliban are taking over the northwest through beheading and burning, but what was the source of the Taliban? The Pakistan people themselves and Islamic supremacists among their own people. This is why many in Pakistan support and agree with the Islamic supremacist Taliban's goals, if not their tactics.

[MAsbury]

Mr. Bush's "war on terror" is rooted in the conviction that terrorists are irrational: we are thus helpless to have an impact upon them without the use of force.

But terrorism's spikes in recruitment after events at Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo Bay, and (US-backed rights abuses in) Israel reveal that these supposed irrationals do make decisions based, in part, on US provocations.

Whatever one's opinion about the main source of terrorism, ignoring the contribution of inflammatory American acts is a grave and costly mistake. The cancer simile is apt.

[jeffreyindc]

But the challenge remains that the enemy is not "terrorism" or "terrorist tactics" alone. Rather the challenge is the Islamic supremacist ideology that inspires such tactics. Therefore Deepak Chopra wants to treat the "cancer" of terrorism, but has made the wrong diagnosis in the first place - this is what happens when the ideology of Islamic supremacism is not identified as the true threat.

[JGatsby]

"Islamo facism" or "Islamic supremacist" is a myth created by the Neocons. There is no one ideology bent on world domination by Islam (as if such a thing were even remotely possible given the balance of power in the world). In fact the mideast consists of various factions: Sunni, Shia, secular, and others many of whom hate each other as much or more than they hate the west. If we are going to have a chance of reversing the madness that Bush has let loose on the world we need to realize this and deal with the various factions accordingly rather than falling back on stereotypes and demonizations.

[jeffreyindc]

Islamic supremacism can also be seen around the world - in frequent killings near schools in Thailand, in Afghanistan were schoolgirls are burned with acid by Islamic supremacists, in Somalia where a 13 year old girl was stoned to death by Islamic supremacists for the crime of being raped - while 1,000 Islamic supremacists watched. Islamic supremacist nations reject the inalienable human rights of equality and liberty, and therefore also reject the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, instead declaring that Human Rights exist only as Islamic Supremacist Sharia law defines them (Cairo Declaration). It would be convenient for some to blame "Neocons," Bush, US, etc., for the global problem of the ideology of Islamic supremacism - regardless of its individual faction or location - but that global problem will never begin to be solver until we recognize what Islamic supremacism is - a threat to equality, liberty, and human rights for all people.

[jeffreyindc]

JGatsby states that Islamic supremacism "is a myth created by the Neocons." In fact, there are ample examples around the world on a daily basis of the identity-based supremacist ideology of Islamic supremacism. To ignore the daily examples of Islamic supremacism in the world news is to choose to be deliberately blind to this ideological threat. To ignore the reality of this political ideology and simply reject it as "demonization," is just as impractical as it would have been to fight the Ku Klux Klan terrorist tactics, and ignore the reality of the political ideology of white supremacism. Certainly apologists for the George Wallace crowd in the 1960s also complained that whites were being "demonized" as well, when white supremacism was challenged also. The ideology of Islamic supremacism is no more a "myth created by the Neocons" to recognize this reality of Islamic supremacism as it was to recognize the reality of white supremacism. Moreover, such Islamic supremacism is not confined to either "regional" areas such as the Middle East, nor is it confined to factions such as Sunni or Shia. Such Islamic supremacism remains a global threat. In Pakistan today, Islamic supremacist Taliban are taking over the northwest through beheading and burning, but what was the source of the Taliban? The Pakistan people themselves and Islamic supremacists among their own people. This is why many in Pakistan support and agree with the Islamic supremacist Taliban's goals, if not their tactics.