The very nexus of the current war, the 9/11 attacks, were themselves a series of mass-casualty suicide bombings on the American homeland. Suicide bombings provide a defining difference between the Jihadist enemy and other threats to America. The continuing success of suicide bombers in Iraq, Pakistan, Afghanistan demonstrate the Jihadist motivation to reach an afterlife as a "martyr", which is the primary objective in any true Jihadist's supernatural existence.
Today, the Taliban calls for increased suicide bombing attacks both throughout Afghanistan and Pakistan, despite the efforts of both Presidents Karzai and Musharraf to negotiate peace treaties with the Taliban and offer them a role in the Afghanistan government as a mainstreamed political organization. This should be no surprise to those who understand the ideology of Jihad and its basis in political Islamism.
In Afghanistan, on October 3 in a video message, Taliban leader Mullah Mansour Dadullah exhorted 200 masked Jihadists to carry out suicide bombings across Afghanistan: "every single mujahid must ready himself for sacrifice like Haji Dadullah" (his brother). Mullah Mansour's exhortations for increased suicide bombings were clearly heard, and today, yet another suicide bombing in Afghanistan claimed the life of two children. Just a day earlier, another Afghanistan suicide bombing killed 13 people including women and children. The day that Karzai offered the Taliban a role in the Afghanistan government, a Taliban suicide bomber blew up a bus killing 30 people.
This is the same Taliban that the U.S. State Department and U.N. believe deserves negotiations and a role in the Afghanistan government. The lack of an overall strategy on Jihad as a basis for tactical decisions is painfully obvious. How can any organization with an ideology that "loves death" be a partner in any peace or in any type of friendly government?
In Pakistan, the Taliban in that country has responded to Musharraf's jirga outreach with more hate and violence. Today this has included a Taliban threat of more suicide bombings in Pakistan when Benazir Bhutto returns on October 18, as well as the death and mutilation of kidnapped Pakistan soldiers, and promises of more bodies to follow. The London Times reports that Pakistan's "radical" Lal Masjid mosque has been reopened and handed back over to its former Jihadist clerical leaders by the Pakistan Supreme Court. The Jihadist Lal Masjid clerical leaders are hardly contrite in their return, and immediately broadcast a speech from Lal Masjid cleric Abdul Aziz Ghazi stating: "Our movement for enforcement of Sharia has been stained with our blood and it must continue... The problems of this country can only be overcome with Islamic law... We are ready for sacrifice!"
This same week, Hamas is reported to continue its broadcasting television programs that promote Jihad, and that encourage small children to embrace "martyrdom" and to become "mujahideen", including broadcast of a two year old boy being taught to kill. IPT reports that the Hamas broadcast states: " 'We'll wear the battle-vest of self sacrifice and follow the path of the Shahids,' a child narrator says as the younger boy, his face hooded, stoops down with his weapon."
In UK this week, the London police department was marched to court to be criticized for their failures resulting in the death of an innocent man who they believed was a suicide bomber, while in another UK court, a failed UK suicide bomber was discovered to have a bomb list with notes on "Steps to Martyrdom". What military and law enforcement tactics effectively apply to suicide bombers with supernatural ideologies? What strategy would such tactics be based on, when Jihadists "love death"?
Is there any doubt that Jihadists in Iran (despite their different sect of Islam) -- or other nations where America has a conflict -- hold a similar point of view to that of the Lal Masjid clerics on the subject and imperatives of Jihad? As Iran's President Ahmadinejad calls for the destruction of Israel, AFP reports that Ahmadinejad's defiance on nuclear sanctions are addressed by his belief in a 12th imam who he expects imminently: "Let it be known that in whatever we do, I see the hand of God and the hidden imam at every moment." This "divine mission" is fundamental to his Islamist government and his commitment to Jihad.
In the flurry of tactical debate and monofocus on the Iraq theater of war, the big picture connecting all these stories is lost. The American political leadership has no true strategic basis to fight Jihad's "love of death" or Jihad's suicide bombers, because it has no agreement on the definition of Jihad or a strategic approach on global Jihad itself. It has a series of disjointed tactics, which ignore the supernatural ideology and dimension of the enemy.
General George S. Patton's frequently quoted remark on war was that war was won by making the other poor dumb individual die for his country. This remains a core belief in traditional military tactical planning. But the Jihadist poses a different problem -- the Jihadist ideology embraces death, which is why suicide bombers are such an effective strategy. Indeed it is the only strategy that has allowed a mass-casualty attack by foreigners on the American homeland since the War of 1812. The Jihadist strategy of embracing death negates "Mutually Assured Destruction" tactics, it negates traditional military tactics, it negates traditional diplomatic tactics, and it requires new thinking and strategy based on the reality of the Jihadist ideology.
Fighting an enemy whose focus is supernatural and who "loves death" is first and foremost an ideological war. This must be the same ideological war that our law enforcement are led to believe that they have no role in. Traditional warfare tactics will have the same limited results as they would in fighting an enemy army of the undead, as the concept of death itself being a worst case result is not a part of the Jihadist ideology.
America and the West remain in denial regarding the supernatural nature of the enemy's ideology. Viewing the enemy only as "terrorists" is fighting with blinders on. A policy on the ideology of Jihad and a policy on political Islamism remains absent from America's war tactics. Early in the war, FOX News decided that it would not give the enemy the right to call their "martyrs" the term "suicide bombers", and has instead for years called them "homicide bombers". But the "suicide" aspect to suicide bombings is vitally important to understanding the ideology of Jihadists. Is ignoring or denying the supernatural aspirations of the enemy a path to success?
It was this ideology that Osama Bin Laden called upon in the July 14, 2007 As Sahab video where he called upon Muslims to become "martyrs" and where he quotes Muhammad in Hadeeth Sunnah Sahih Bukhari, Volume 4, Book 52, Number 54, and Bin Laden says:
"He himself said 'By Him in Whose Hands my life is! I would love to attack and be martyred, then attack again and be martyred, then attack again and be martyred.' So this whole broad life is summarized by he who was inspired by God, the lord of the heavens and earth, praised and exalted is He. This glorious prophet who was inspired by God summarized this entire life by these words. He wished upon himself this status. Happy is the one who was chosen by god as a martyr."
Qu'ran Surah 9:111 states: "Allah hath purchased of the believers their persons and their goods; for theirs (in return) is the garden (of Paradise): they fight in His cause, and slay and are slain: a promise binding on Him in truth, through the Law, the Gospel, and the Qur'an: and who is more faithful to his covenant than Allah? then rejoice in the bargain which ye have concluded: that is the achievement supreme."
Jihadists interpret these as a supernatural call and validation for their actions. The failure to address and combat the "war of ideas" and this supernatural dimension of the enemy disarms any tactical measures used based on previous wars or previous military engagements. In fighting a new enemy with a supernatural ideological basis, the only strategy that can lead to effective tactics is one that recognizes and develops a policy addressing the ideology of Jihad and the supporting ideology of political Islamism itself.
For every Mufti Abd Al-'Aziz bin Abdallah Aal Al-Sheikh "discouraging" Jihad, there appear to be numerous Mufti Khalid Shahs demanding Jihad as a responsibility of Muslims. Yet even Saudi Mufti Abd Al-'Aziz bin Abdallah Aal Al-Sheikh only discouraged "unauthorized" Jihad not promoted by an Islamic ruler (not Jihad itself). And Americans view the Saudi Mufti's fatwa as "worthy progress". That too speaks volumes as to the desperate gap in the strategic understanding of Jihad and political Islamism and its impact on America's national security.
