What we now can expect from the Jihaddis

Too many people think that the threat from Islamic fundamentalism is suicide planes. That is a mistake. It is highly doubtful that the Jihaddis have in mind to defeat the West through a series of terror attacks; their goals are much more ambitious. They seek to place the whole world under Sharia law, i.e., make illegal any act that does not conform to their interpretation of the Koran. To accomplish this, they must first reduce the governments of the West, including the United States, to a position of immobility and irrelevance in foreign affairs. The War in Iraq has provided them with a starting point, and our democratic system of government has provided the means by which they can accomplish this goal. Last week's election results have de-fanged the American government. Bush and his successors will be unable to conduct even a defensive military operation until it threatens U.S. citizens on U.S. soil. Even a response to attacks here will be severely muted as we attempt to return to the time when terrorism was treated as a strictly criminal matter. This gives our enemies ample time to begin step-by-step takeovers of smaller, then larger communities, first in Europe, then in the U.S., through "democratic" action.

This forecast should not be taken lightly. With our government paralyzed around the world, the Jihaddis have an open pathway --if they are patient-- to accomplishing all their aims. Mark Steyn says it well in his most recent column:

"What does it mean when the world's hyperpower, responsible for 40 percent of the planet's military spending, decides that it cannot withstand a guerrilla war with historically low casualties against a ragbag of local insurgents and imported terrorists? You can call it "redeployment" or "exit strategy" or "peace with honor" but, by the time it's announced on al-Jazeera, you can pretty much bet that whatever official euphemism was agreed on back in Washington will have been lost in translation.

"As it is, we're in a very dark place right now. It has been a long time since America unambiguously won a war, and to choose to lose Iraq would be an act of such parochial self-indulgence that the American moment would not endure, and would not deserve to. Europe is becoming semi-Muslim, Third World basket-case states are going nuclear, and, for all that 40 percent of planetary military spending, America can't muster the will to take on pipsqueak enemies. We think we can just call off the game early, and go back home and watch TV.

"It doesn't work like that. Whatever it started out as, Iraq is a test of American seriousness. And, if the Great Satan can't win in Vietnam or Iraq, where can it win? That's how China, Russia, Iran, North Korea, Sudan, Venezuela and a whole lot of others look at it. "These Colors Don't Run" is a fine T-shirt slogan, but in reality these colors have spent 40 years running from the jungles of Southeast Asia, the helicopters in the Persian desert, the streets of Mogadishu. ... To add the sands of Mesopotamia to the list will be an act of weakness from which America will never recover."

-- Mark Steyn, November 12, 2006