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Politics & Policies: Is the war on terror winnable?
By Claude Salhani
UPI International Editor
Published February 17, 2006


WASHINGTON -- Are we losing the war on terrorism? Not according to President George W. Bush, who keeps telling us we are making progress in Iraq and in the war on terror. In what turned out to be a case of premature jubilation, the president had declared "major combat operations over." Several analysts whose business is to closely monitor terrorist trends tell us this is hardly the picture they see. Almost three years later, the fighting continues.

What is really worrisome is that we are on completely different galaxies when it comes to understanding the other side's mindset. Mao Zedong wrote in one of his little red books, "The first step in defeating your enemy is to know him." I'm not sure how much we know him. I very much doubt we understand what makes an Iraqi insurgent tick, no pun intended. Or what motivates the anger directed at the West.


Abdel Bari Atwan's book, "The Secret History of al-Qaida," reveals much of the inner psyche of the mujahideen. Atwan is editor in chief of the London-based newspaper, Al-Quds al-Arabi, and one of maybe a handful of journalists to have interviewed Osama bin Laden. While in bin Laden's camp in Afghanistan, Atwan relates a story told to him by bin Laden about a group of mujahideen fighters who were in tears at the end of a particularly fierce Soviet artillery bombardment on their camp. They were crying not because they were frightened, but because they were still alive and had failed to become "martyrs."

When you stop to think about it, it's an outright frightening thought. How do you fight an enemy who is not afraid to die? One who welcomes death? How do you fight parents who rejoice over their children becoming human bombs?

The answer is you give them an incentive to live. With rare exceptions, people don't turn that radical unless they are pushed into it. They welcome death because their lives have become a living hell. They welcome death because they don't see a future for themselves other than with unemployment, misery, violence, occupation and more humiliation.

So you create a better environment for them. You give them a reason to want to live. You improve their living conditions. You start off by giving them better social services and education. This is what Hamas and Hezbollah have been doing, and is why they are popular with the people.

Case in point is the Palestinian territories, where the Palestinian economy is dependent on Israel by about 80 percent. You build factories and automobile plants, creating thousands of jobs which in turn will feed thousands more. Labor is inexpensive and plentiful.

Hamas, the radical Islamist movement in the Palestinian territories, is due to form the next government Saturday, having won the majority of parliamentary seats in the recent elections. However, they risk finding themselves boycotted by the United States and by Israel. If that were to occur, monies collected by the Israeli Customs on their behalf will be held back, as will U.S. subsidies. And if that were to happen, Iran, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, as well as millions of individual Saudis (and other Muslims) will jump in to ensure the Palestinians get needed funds, one way or another.

With Hamas in power controlling the finances, chances are every donated dollar will be delivered to its rightful place. Hamas is known for clamping down on corruption. Funds will no longer disappear into the Holy Land ozone, as was often the case with Fatah, where corruption was rampant.

In fact, cutting off the PA will fail to accomplish the aim of isolating Hamas and will only backfire, pushing Hamas further into the arms of Tehran. Sanctions against the PA will be perceived by an already irate Muslim world as yet another attempt by the West to control, abuse and humiliate fellow Muslims.

The anger over the Danish cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammed with a bomb in his turban, newly released photographs of Iraqi prisoners being abused and tortured in the infamous Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad and a recent video of British troops beating up Iraqi youths in Basra are not about to help the West much. These images could not have come at a worst time for the West -- or at a better time for the Islamists. In fact, these are recruiting posters for Osama bin Laden and his al-Qaida organization.

As for Hamas and the Palestinian territories, don't isolate them. Don't create a Middle Eastern Cuba. Instead, drown them in capitalism. Give the PA the funds to pay the salaries of their civil servants; better to have a satisfied, employed, nourished man than someone who will be ripe for the recruiter looking for human bombs. Give Hamas a little bit of breathing room to demonstrate that they can become politically responsible. There will always be time for bombing raids later should they choose not to abandon terrorism. The window of opportunity for violence remains open, but the window of opportunity for peace is a very narrow one.