Nowhere to Run, Nowhere to Hide

The U.S. government was derided for producing decks of cards with terrorists and wanted criminals, but those decks are long forgotten today. Why? Because most of the cards have big X's through them now. Strike another one up, possibly two.

Yesterday an AC-130 gunship rained fire and death down on terrorists fleeing from Somali and Ethiopian forces in Hayi and on an island training camp.

Today helicopters killed an estimated 30 terrorists hiding under foilage near Afmadow, about 30 miles from Hayi. There were reports the helicopters were American, but the military has denied operating the helicopters, which witnesses did not see any markings on.

Today's strike was aimed at Tariq Abdullah, aka Abu Talha al-Sudani, known as an explosive expert, Al Qaeda trainer, and planner for at least one terrorist attack against U.S. forces. Fazul Abdullah Mohammad, one of the two major planners of the twin bombings in Kenya and Tanzania, was also reported to be killed. Both fatalities have yet to be confirmed, and will be difficult to confirm in the near future.

Who owned those helicopters? I don't know. It doesn't really matter, when you get down to it. Somalia and Ethiopia have both stated that they believe the best way to stablize the region is to eliminate terrorists as they find them. As a result, they are allowing U.S. forces the right to attack when and where we find them. America, Somalia, and Ethiopia are freely sharing intelligence on the location of terrorists, and whoever is best positioned to take advantage of the intelligence is doing so. Thus, the USS Eisenhower stationed off the Somalia coast.

The bottom line? Nevermind what the Democrats and Peacemongers are saying. America has not given up on chasing down terrorists and killing them. We're no longer in a target-rich environment, but key Al Qaeda leaders are continuing to die across the world. Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, Iraq, Yemen, Syria, Somalia... everywhere they hide, they find enemies. Period.

Labels: Somalia, terrorism

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Saudis Speak Out

Saudi Arabia is a net exporter of Salafist theology, and probably contains more radical imams than any other country. But just as America has more Pat Robertsons and Louis Farrakhans that any other country, that doesn't mean we're all radicals.

If you listen to CNN, the entire Middle East is full of hatred for America. I was watching Blackhawk Down on DVD earlier this week, with commentary from veterans of the battle. In the final scenes, as the Americans returned to the safe zone, you saw hundreds of Somali's cheering the Americans on. The soldiers commented that this was very accurate, and esitmated that eighty percent of Somali's were grateful for the US intervention. The disparity between soldiers' observations and the media's observations seemed oddly reminiscient of Iraq.

Do all Arabs hate the US? Not at all. Nor do they all believe in violence. Sheikh Salman Al-Oadah, a widely respected religious scholar in Saudi Arabia, writes (translated from the original Arabic):

This brings us to the concept of jihâd. There is no such thing as “holy war” in Islam. This is a mistranslation of the word. Holy war is carried out to forcibly subject others to one’s religious beliefs. As we have seen, this is expressly forbidden in Islam. The word jihâd literally means struggle and applies to any colossal effort, not just to warfare. Jihâd may be against one’s own desires or evil inclinations....

The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) forbade the killing of non-combatants. Ibn `Umar, a Companion of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), said: “I saw the body of a slain woman during one of the battles of the Prophet (peace be upon him), so he forbade the killing of women and children.” [Sahîh al-Bukhârî and Sahîh Muslim]

Recently, Muhammad bin 'Abd Al-Latif Aal Al-Sheikh printed two columns in the Saudi daily Al-Jazirah. A choice quote: "In my opinion, the ideology of Al-Salafiyya Al-Jihadiyya is very similar to Nazism in terms of its causes and reasons." A slightly longer one, deriding the idea that terrorists are true Muslims who "strayed from the path" and should be treated with forgiveness:

The question that must be asked courageously is: Have the clerics of our times fulfilled their duty, as our forefathers did when they [fought] against the Khawarij? The most direct answer is: Sadly, no! Let's assume that the government decides to allow women to drive without obligating them, for instance, to wear a veil; what would be the reaction of these clerics and students? How many protest delegations would come to Riyadh from all the provinces? How many fatwas would be signed? How many accusations would be leveled? How many noisy sermons would be delivered by many imams in the mosques?... Is a woman driving a car, or even not wearing a veil, a more serious prohibition in Allah's eyes... than the acts of murder, slaughter, destruction, and violation of women's honor [committed] by these 'sick people?' Why in the name of God [do we how] all this gentleness, forgiveness, and a tendency to 'speak gently' when it comes to terrorists, while [we show] extreme blatancy and harshness when it comes to women, for instance?

What's the point of all this? America needs to help Arab moderates take control of Islam. Isolationism is not the answer; engagement is. By supporting and working with the moderates, we can help elminate the driving factors behind radicalism.

Closing note: If you feel like getting angry, take a look at what Time Magazine has done. In the Bullpen covers the story here.

Labels: media, Saudi Arabia, Somalia

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