What Is To Be Done
The title of this missive is disquietingly
reminescent of Lenin's 1902 pamphlet of the same name, itself inspired
by Chernyshevsky's 1863 social-utopian novel, again of the same title.
Lenin's work, however, was an interrogatory, a philosophical pleading
written almost two decades before the Revolution. The West is too far
advanced in existential struggle against militant Islam for
philosophical tracts exhorting the common man to overthrow his
tormentors. We are all the common man now, and our tormentors arise not
from our own one-percenters (lucky though they be), but from foreign
nihilists aspiring to worldwide medieval bloodlust.
No, the wretched fact is, and remains, that the
West has been at war with militant Islam, off and on, for 1,400 years.
As has the Caucasus, the Subcontinent, and Saharan and sub-Saharan
Africa. It was not until the defenestration of the Ottoman Empire at the
end of the Great War, in fact, that Balkan peoples could sleep without a
weapon by the bedside and a weather eye turned south. Indeed, 1.5 million
Armenians were slaughtered by the Turks in the very midst of that Great
War. Fully half their population destroyed in a genocide many still
refuse to name. Islamic aggression has surged and ebbed over the
centuries as necessity dictated, but every opportunity for conquest has
historically been exploited; it is a thirst that continues to this day.
The greater history of medieval to modern Europe
is painted upon a canvas of Islamic aggression, interspersed by
internicine quarrels, and ultimately two world wars. We can not put that
away, therefore it must be dealt with, and in the larger context of
Western civilization as a whole, including the Western Hemisphere. From
The Crusades to Charles Martel at Tours in 732 to the Fall of Granada in
1492 to the Siege of Vienna in 1683 the West's interaction with
militant Islam was all of a defensive nature. Islam was a savage
interloper. A brutish scourge to be repelled.
A brief reflection on anti-semitism: a vile and
ancient fault, it appears to have accompanied the arrival of diaspora
Jews as they fled the Saracen blade. Just as Muslim rage erupts
metronomically in Europe, so does anti-semitism. It is as if the
superstitious Europeans have always cast a jaundiced eye upon Jewry as
the cause of their Islamic problems. As if, perhaps, the Jews had
brought ancient Near East rivalries to the heart of Europe itself. The
clamoring Musselmen surely could not want to attack the Europeans for no
good reason. They must loathe us because we harbor their ancient foes
the Jews.
So much for the pop history lesson. That was
mere table-setting, and uncontroversial stuff. Facts are not prejudiced,
history is not a bigot. And I do have point, which I shall address
directly, but first one more point: the "moderate" Muslim.
I for one have no doubt that the majority of
Muslims are not allied to terror. They are as most humans have been
since the beginning of time: hunkered souls trying to keep roof above
head, food upon table. That has been man's lot forever, and it shall not
change in our lifetimes. Having said that, the average Muslim must be
assessing his/her situation, and prospects. I'm sure they generally
despise radical Islamism, however what are their options? The vaunted
saviors of the West are far beyond the horizon, no aid to kith and kin,
and exhibit traits of fear, self-loathing, and impotence. In bin Laden's
assessment they seek the strong horse, or at least do little to incite
the strong horse. The Islamists, after all, are in their countries. In
their provinces. In their neighborhoods. Who would assail that on a bet
from a feckless and confused and self-doubting Western nation?
If ISIS is running your neighborhood you are
likely a mute soul. Even if the Palestinian Authority runs your
neighborhood, or Hamas, you are likely a mute soul. It's a tough slog
from self-preservation to courage. We all cannot make that trip.
Self-preservation is hard-wired into our DNA. Courage is a learned
aspiration, ephemerally floated upon the air of a tribal fire. The pen
might be mightier than the sword to essayists, but the scimitar always
beats paper and scissors. There is no need to demand all of Islam to
decry the Islamists, however it would be wise if they got out of the
way.
Which brings us to the nub: What is to be done.
No question mark adorns this phrase. What is to be done must be done.
And there is no soft way to say this:
First we kill the clerics.
Western apologists insist that Islamic terrorism
does not represent Islam. Yet all of the radicalized Muslims, be they
"lone wolves" or ISIS or AQAP, were radicalized by some of the most
powerful religious leaders in Islam. The imams preach the hate, run the
madrassas, and foment violence on a daily basis. If terrorism is not a
central tenet of Islam why do the most prominent imams preach it, while
the other imams remain silent?
Islamic nations that observe sharia law have no
real civic institutions. The clerics rule all, and the warrior caste
are their enforcers. Rule of law, property rights, due process, and
social behavior are all administered by the imams and ayatollahs. The
mufti determine what is Islam, who are blasphemers and apostates, and
what punishment is ordained. The clerics incite the warrior caste,
creating shock troops that enforce prescribed behavior among the
population, and wage terror against the rest of the world. The clerics
are just as guilty of conspiracy to commit murder as Charles Manson, and
this is why they must be confined or killed. They are the head of the
serpent. This is neither cruel nor barbaric; it is merely the
acknowledgement that crimes carry penalties, and punishment must be
served to preserve the scales of justice.
As the imams are dispatched so must the shock
troops be annihilated. They are immune to reason and rationale, and
operate as Terminators. The West must also operate as Terminators to
defeat them: large, vicious strikes, great destruction, and tactical
retreat. No long-term boots on the ground, no nation-building, no
prisoners. Special forces with air support without standing armies.
Strike and leave, repeatedly. Destroy them all, one battalion at a time.
There are likely 50,000 to 100,000 active
jihadists in the middle east. Although this appears to be a vast number,
they are as susceptible to destruction as any other army. It took only
five months for the Soviets to capture the entire 107,000 man Sixth Army
at Stalingrad. The jihadis congregate for strength, which is also their
weakness. Should the West truly have the resolve to destroy them, they
are easily found. The sorrow of collateral damage is mitigated by the
fact the jihadis are slaughtering the innocent anyway. Brute force will
actually lessen the victim toll, in what one might consider collateral
mercy.
There is no reason to believe the West will
stiffen and respond to Islamic terror for any number of reasons:
multiculturalism, cowardice, appeasement, denial. But What Is To Be Done
must be done, otherwise Europe will become an enormous, radicalized
Muslim ghetto a decade hence, and America will eventually suffer
calamities far greater than 9/11. War is rotten business, and no one
should exult in the obliteration of others, but war is already upon the
West. It is in our neighborhoods, our stores, our military bases, our
campuses. War is here, and without strategy and willpower there looms
only defeat.
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