Hanson writes of the challenge:
There are many theaters in this global war. The nation-states of Afghanistan and Iraq are now foci. Eventually hearts and minds inside Iran, Syria, and Saudi Arabia must be persuaded — by varying means — that it makes no moral, and still less practical, sense to subsidize the hatred and killing of Americans. All that is an impossible task unless we can stabilize Iraq and restore the sense of American prowess and unpredictability.
At the second tier, organized terrorist cells, whether al Qaeda, Hezbollah, Hamas, or the various other appendages, have to be cut off from their sanctuaries and cash through counterinsurgency, better intelligence, and constant pressure on their state sponsors. The sooner we get over the fact that a Hamas or Hezbollah differs from al Qaeda only in method and capability, but not in venom or desire, the better off we will be.
But there is also a third war that we saw at Fort Dix, at this more insidious al Qaedistic level. Thousands of seething Muslims in Europe and America — fill in the blanks for the reasons for their anger — must come to learn that shooting up a mall, or driving an SUV into students, or killing soldiers, is going to ensure long incarceration for the guilty. More importantly, such serial provocations are also creating a larger culture of anger and, with it, zero tolerance for any activity deemed a precursor to Muslim extremism — whether flying imams flaunting airline protocols or demands for special dispensations deemed at odds with traditional American custom and practice.
Winning in Iraq or Afghanistan is necessary but not sufficient. Knocking off al Qaeda is necessary but not sufficient. Killing the ideology that inspires such problems is key. We hope democracy in Iraq will help strangle this ideology in time by providing an alternative to Islamism for those tired of corrupt and inept (except at oppression and stealing) autocracies in the Moslem world.
Hanson notes that until we can achieve this, one day the jihadis will go too far. On 9/11, they inspired us to fight a war to save Islam from the worst among them. Fighting jihadis goes hand-in-hand with official recitations about the "religion of peace." And many Americans have focused so much on the latter that they don't really believe we are at war--even as they pretend to be focused on that fight as a tactical matter to get out of Iraq.
But another attack on the order of 9/11 will inspire more Americans to wage a war to defend ourselves--period. No matter what the cost to the Islamic world.
We have the power to win brutally. Thus far we have chosen not to.
