Yes We Can, and We Must!

Lest we forget, days like November 26, 2008 remind us of what extreme religiosity – “my way is the only true faith, and you must believe” – can do to humanity. As explosions and gunfire rocked Mumbai, India, directed at luxury hotels, hospitals, a Jewish center, movie theater, transportation points, as hostages were taken, American and British citizens were particular targets, the crimson flowing blood of intolerance ran through the streets, shocking the world much as the 9/11 attacks on the Pentagon and the Twin Towers did back in 2001. Untold numbers of people were injured (over 300) or killed (well over 100), the casualty toll mounted as the tourism met terrorism. While the Indian government blamed “external elements,” Muslim extremists, fighting the continuing battle that began in the late 1940s with the partition of India into mostly Muslim Pakistan and mostly Hindu India, staked their territory and inflicted pain on the innocents.

As the world slumps into global economic disarray, it is easy to forget about the “other” tensions in the world. This particular group of extremists appears to be a new faction of unknown affiliation – calling themselves the Deccan Mujahideen – of a hateful Islamist minority determined to punish the world for innumerable perceived crimes against Islam. In the coming days or weeks, we will begin to understand more about these deranged killers as the killing is stopped, hostages freed and the investigation fills in the information gaps.

We’ve received other little reminders of that hate recently as well – Al Qaeda issued an 11-minute 23-second video, made sometime after November 5, which features an audio message by Al-Qaeda’s second in command, Ayman al-Zawahri, who appears only in a still photograph. The video also contains other images, such as President Elect Barack Obama’s wearing a Jewish skullcap as he meets with Jewish leaders. Osama bin Laden’s voice is not part of this presentation, but the hate-mongering message was both clear and clearly racist.

While extolling the virtues of Malcom X, an extremist African-American leader who was assassinated for his beliefs, al-Zawahri groups President-Elect Barack Obama with former Secretary of State Colin Powell and current Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice as "abeed al-beit" (house slaves in Arabic), but their subtitles used the term “house Negroes,” servile to their pro-Jewish White masters. His words continued: “America has put on a new face, but its heart full of hate, mind drowning in greed, and spirit which spreads evil, murder, repression and despotism continue to be the same as always.” Of course, he cried for a continuation of the Jihad (holy war) against America and her allies. Was the attack on Mumbai a response to this rallying cry?

Obama represents a threat to Al Qaeda – a Black face with an Islamic middle name who could easily dilute Al Qaeda’s rhetoric and power. He does not fit the image that al-Zawahri and bin Laden have cultivated for so many years. Which brings me to a part of the tribal spirit that underlies so much of the Islamic world – tribalism that preceded Islam and has been so absorbed into the practice of that faith by so many that it sometimes is confused as a basic part of that religion. In fact, that tribalism and the more sophisticated application of Islam are not one and the same.

But in tribalism, as least the kind practiced in the Middle East (I spent four and half years in the Middle East as the step-son of a U.S. diplomat), places disproportionate value on examples of power. Our invasion of Iraq showed our powerlessness, and many in the Islamic world – even many Americans – are worried that a man with “Hussein” as a middle name cannot cope with this threat. Our presence in Iraq is no longer the testing ground; Afghanistan still is. We must believe that our President-Elect is more than up to the challenge. India – with our help if she asks for it – will find the network of culprits responsible for this heinous act, but America has its own statement to make.

If the new President does in fact kill or capture these two legends of the Islamist movement – Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahri – his force and power in the Middle East will rise, provided that it is tempered thereafter with wisdom and moderation. The forces of moderate Islam – and yes, they do exist in the majority of Muslims – find the militant barbarism evidenced by the attack in Mumbai to be as brutal and unforgivable as do the rest of us on this planet.

It is true that these two self-proclaimed masters of the Universe (bin Laden and al-Zawahri) are no longer essential to the operation of Al Qaeda – there are more than enough lieutenants to replace them – but the message of their demise will go a long way to gain the begrudging respect of many in the Islamic world and purge us of the stigma of national embarrassment embodied in our failure to kill or capture these malevolent leaders for so many years. It is a symbolic gesture that will carry great power and render our efforts that much more effective; I believe that this should be an unannounced priority in President Obama’s early term in office. Don’t talk about it. Just do it!

Al-Zawahri’s racist taunt, his direct and personal insult to the President-Elect of the United States, is, to most tribalists in the region, more than enough justification for Obama to remove that leadership while still maintaining sufficient cachet to retain a role as an effective negotiator and peacemaker. They will most certainly understand and respect that effort by the American President. With those menaces to society gone, the new President’s stature will be sufficiently strong to permit meaningful progress to longer-term Middle Eastern stability and better relations with the U.S., a vastly cheaper alternative than spending our dwindling capital on avoidable wars.

If we feared retaliation from killing or capturing these malevolent leaders, the attack on Mumbai, with a heavy focus on Americans and Britons, shows what happens when you do not act. Can we kill or capture these notorious symbols of our perceived failures in the Middle East? Yes we can! And we must! And if India asks for our assistance, we must oblige.

I’m Peter Dekom, and I reluctantly approve this message.