Posted by
Scott Ott on Saturday, September 06, 2008 11:29:47 AM
Imagine the post-Usama world -- that Utopian realm which emerges after President Barack Obama orders the Pentagon to rupture U.S. relations with Pakistan, and sends planes and troops into the lawless tribal borderlands of Waziristan, easily snatching al Qaeda leader Usama bin Laden from his subterranean condo and putting him on trial at The Hague.
Now what happens?
Sen. Obama has campaigned for president under the assumption that for the past seven years the Pentagon and the CIA have barely, or rarely, attempted to capture the world's most-wanted man. Of course, our military and intel community have all been distracted by Iraq and by spying on innocent Americans at home, so we lacked the resources to go after Usama. Sen. Obama believes that once we bring the troops home from Iraq, nabbing the terror mastermind will be a cinch, and peace will be upon us.
Let's say he's right, and we get Usama. Is that the end of al Qaeda?
Does Sen. Obama believe that Usama is the only jihadist smart enough to lead the decentralized terror network? Once he's safely in prison (no doubt serving 20-years to life) will our nation will again be safe?
What if there's another leader, or dozens of others? What if we get Usama but the terror attacks don't stop? Senator, do you know the definition of the word 'decentralized'?
Presumably, he would go after the new leader of al Qaeda, put him in jail, then pursue his replacement, and so on.
Sen. Obama's Usama-centric view of jihad fails to comprehend that radical Islam is not a personality, it's an ideology, a worldview, a movement. As a Muslim martyr in suicide sportswear prepares to trigger his package, distributing his entrails and hot shrapnel over a crowded marketplace, he doesn't shout "Usama Akbar!" He shouts the name of his bloodthirsty God, proclaiming Allah's greatness in the slaughter of the innocents. Capturing or killing Usama won't stop this terror.
Sen. Obama utterly fails to comprehend what we're fighting -- a "nation" without borders, a kingdom without a king, and a fighting force without medics whose best "soldiers" almost invariably die the first time they do battle.
We should, and eventually will, get Usama. But that's not a plan for fighting jihad. It's a tactic in an overall strategy...a strategy which Sen. Obama has failed to develop or reveal.